ESPN attempted to squash Bill Raftery’s ‘onions’

What would March Madness and the NCAA Tournament be without Bill Raftery’s onions? ESPN attempted to make us find out.

Raftery joined the latest episode of Pardon My Take with Dan “Big Cat” Katz and PFT Commenter (Eric Sollenberger) to discuss his career and becoming an icon in college basketball ahead of the NCAA Tournament. And during the interview, Raftery was asked about the origin of his “onions” calls.

Raftery doesn’t necessarily remember how it started, but Ian Eagle does. According to Eagle, it began while they were calling a 1995 game between the New Jersey Nets and Orlando Magic. Kevin Edwards made a big shot, Raftery said “onions” and the rest was history.  Although ESPN later attempted to rewrite that history.

“The interesting thing about it,” Raftery continued, “I used it a couple more times and ESPN said to me, ‘We don’t want you to use that.’ So I stopped using it knowing that they were sending the checks, obviously.”

That’s so ESPN of ESPN. Attempting to stop the word “onions” from being used on their airwaves. Imagine Pat McAfee trying to work under those restrictions. Thankfully, ESPN had a change of heart after they saw other people attempt to grab hold of Raftery’s “onions.”

“And then some writers started using it in their articles,” Raftery remembered. “And I got a call from ESPN and they said, ‘You know what? You can use that again.’”

What an interesting call that must have been to Raftery’s home. Who else can say they received a call from their bosses asking them to start using the term “onions” again?

ESPN may have briefly had an issue with it, but CBS didn’t. CBS even celebrated the return of March Madness earlier this month by honoring Raftery’s onions with three minutes of the analyst’s best calls. When Raftery says onions, nothing else needs to be said. Not only is it now a staple of March and his career, but it allows Raftery to put his stamp on a play without saying too much or stepping on the call.