Kevin Harlan Made Mention Of The Resurrection In Calling The End Of Syracuse's Comeback Win

Kevin Harlan’s final call: "Back from the dead on Easter Sunday" pic.twitter.com/RQ5akmGzDS

— Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) March 28, 2016

LBS- Announcer Kevin Harlan punctuated Syracuse’s comeback win over Virginia in the Elite Eight with a controversial line.

Syracuse, which trailed by 14 points at halftime and overcame a 13-point deficit with under nine minutes left, came back to beat the Cavaliers 68-62. Harlan, who announced the game for TBS, said that Virginia had come “back from the dead”.



Kevin Harlan is going to come under a lot of scrutiny for referencing religion to aide in his calling of a sporting event, and while I'm not the most spiritual of people - I understand the backlash. Not because I feel like it's worthy of getting upset over, but because you have to know - given the state of society - that a comment like that is going to over step the all-to-constricting bounds of what people consider politically correct. So while I wouldn't want to be friends with the people that are working themselves into a frenzy over an incredibly spot-on call - of a pretty unbelievable game - that happened to mention Jesus Christ, I am certainly not surprised that they exist.

I guess the main problem I have is that Kevin Harlan really had no choice. Syracuse, quite literally, came back from the dead. Down double digits to one of the most smothering defensive teams in the nation with mere minutes left in the contest? There's no good comparison for that type of revival other than the rising of Christ himself. I haven't gone to church enough to tell you whether or not Kevin Harlan jeopardized the teachings of the Bible by using them to his advantage during a basketball game, but I do know that he was suffering from a lack of options. If Jesus didn't want to be made sport of then maybe he shouldn't have gone around doing things that were irreplicable by the average man. Ever think of that? The guy basically cornered the resurrection market, and in doing so he cornered the market on topical resurgence comparisons on Easter Sunday. I suppose you can be upset with him for "using" the Lord's work to his benefit, but you can't find someone that had a more accurate call of the Syracuse-Virginia game. Maybe he didn't uphold his obligation to the church, but he upheld his obligation to the NCAA tournament. So let's just give him a pass this one time, because going cold turkey on something you love for 40 days can have quite the effect on a man's filter, but he should be commended for it not having an effect on his sharpness.