The story behind Bill Raftery’s iconic “onions” call in college hoops.
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Video Transcript
You might be familiar with Bill Raftery’s onions catchphrase, but what is it and where did it come from?
Three-pointer.
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Onions!
There are onions, Jim, and then there are nature.
Onions.
Hey, guys, what would you call this game?
Onions.
Onions.
Bill Raftery is a March Madness broadcasting staple, and onions is used when a player hits a clutch shot late in the game.
He even trademarked the saying in 2014.
Ian Eagle, who called play-by-play for the New Jersey Nets with Raftery for eight years, said the 71-year-old’s first use of onions was during a Nets-Orlando Magic game back in November 8th, 1995.
In an interview with ESPN, Ian said that when they went to break, he asked Raftery, “What was that?
So good you had to cry?”
And Bill said to him, “No, big .”
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Raftery later softened the meaning in an interview and said, “It’s like a nice way of describing the toughness of a person.
It could go in other directions, which some people sort of do.”
Either way, there will be a lot of onions coming up in March Madness
