Larry Brown Sports

If I could watch the video above without laughing hysterically and feeling embarrassed for Dick Vitale, I could probably give you a better idea of what’s going on. The truth of the matter is I have no idea. Toward the beginning of his attempted interview with WGN in Chicago, it’s obvious Dickie V.’s earpiece wasn’t functioning properly and he couldn’t hear the news anchor. Toward the end, I can’t tell if he still can’t hear anything, or if he’s just confused because he thought he was supposed to be doing an interview for a Charlotte station instead of Chicago.

In any event, props to Dickie for rattling off random analysis about the tournament once he realized there were technical difficulties. Even more props to him for not going Chris Berman on everyone. Can’t everybody just stop for 10 minutes? Is that too much to ask?

H/T Sports Grid

You see them on the GameDay set analyzing college hoops games every week, so naturally you’re wondering who they all picked for the NCAA Tournament. Shortly after the brackets were released on Selection Sunday, ESPN experts Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale, Digger Phelps, and Hubert Davis began arguing and analyzing the tournament. With less than an hour to digest everything, the crew didn’t have a chance to predict the entire tournament, but they did make their Final Four selections. Those are below.

Jay Bilas went all chalk, picking all four No. 1 seeds to reach the Final Four. He has Kentucky beating Syracuse in the finals.

Dick Vitale had a few surprise teams in the Final Four. He picked Kentucky, (2) Missouri, (3) Florida State, and North Carolina to reach the Final Four. He picked Kentucky over North Carolina in the final game.

Digger Phelps also picked Florida State to reach the Final Four. He chose Kentucky, Michigan State, (3) FSU, (2) Kansas. He has Michigan St. over Kansas in the final game.

Hubert Davis‘ picks must be prefaced with the fact that he is partial to his alma mater, North Carolina. Like Bilas, Davis went all chalk picking all four No. 1 seeds to reach the Final Four. He has his school North Carolina beating Michigan St. in the final game.

Two analysts have Kentucky winning it all, and two have Michigan St. in the final game. Syracuse seemed to be the least popular top seed among their expert crew. Check back throughout the week to see the NCAA Tournament picks from the LBS staff.

It was only a matter of time.  With all the rambling and adrenaline rushing Dick Vitale experiences on a daily basis, his system was bound to overload itself.  You may not have thunk it possible, but even the most opinionated man in college basketball has a boiling point that is capable of closing the valve.  That phenomenon happens when you talk about John Calipari or any of his other long-time coaching friends.  Check out this audio of Dick Vitale hanging up on The Dan LeBatard Show, courtesy of Los That Sports Blog:

I have to be honest, I didn’t see that coming.  Even when I knew what I was listening to I still didn’t think he was going to hang up.  The conversation never really seemed like it got heated enough to warrant a hang up, but I guess Dickie V was steaming enough to channel his inner Don Cooper.  What a good friend.

There have been few times in sports history where a team has made an analyst insert their foot in their mouth quite like VCU has done with Dick Vitale and Jay Bilas.  Both ESPN analysts completely ripped the selection committee for even putting the Rams in the field of 68.  While both were probably right and it can be easily argued that VCU had no right being in the tournament, that should not take away from what they have been able to do over the past couple weeks.

Now that they have defied all odds and reached the Final Four, VCU decided it would treat itself to a $2,000 banner to hang on its campus.  Not just any banner, however.  Check out the Dickie V Eat Crow Baby banner, courtesy of SI Hot Clicks:

Like it or not, VCU has a legitimate chance to reach the National Championship game despite losing to teams like Georgia State and Northeastern in the regular season.  Their fans have been partying in the streets, the school has shelled out money for banners to rag on analysts, and the Rams faithful appear to be thoroughly enjoying the ride.

Every year, no matter how large the field is, there will always be teams that complain about being left out. This time I have to agree with Dick Vitale who made the point that VCU has no business being in the NCAA tournament as an at-large selection. We included Colorado, Virginia Tech, and Harvard as our most notable snubs, and I have no doubt they were all much more deserving than VCU, and UAB for that matter.

VCU lost to Georgia State, South Florida, and Northeastern and was 23-11. UAB at least was the best team in C-USA during the regular season and lost to fairly respectable opponents. Still, VCU, are you kidding me?

Thanks to Awful Announcing for the video

Duke suffered its first loss of the season Wednesday night, a 66-61 defeat at Florida State. The Noles held Duke to 31% shooting, though Kyle Singler led the Blue Devils with 20 points thanks to five threes. The game was close with about nine minutes left when Singler flopped, as is the Duke way. This thing was so bad it made Kaka angry, but I can’t figure out if Dick Vitale’s inability to see reality is worse than Singler’s fake job. What do you think?

They don’t call him Dukie-V for nothing. That’s disgraceful.

Many admire his passion for the game of college basketball.  Others want to throw up just having to listen to a two-hour ESPN broadcast that features college basketball’s most passionate figure –  a man who gives a new meaning to the word “color” in the title of color commentator.  It’s not difficult to imagine why so many people grow annoyed after listening to Dick Vitale for an extended period of time.  Maybe a raspy, energetic voice yelling, “slam, bam, jam, up up and away the elevator man!” gets under your skin and makes you want to mute your TV so you can enjoy the game.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I would strongly urge the Vitale bashers (of which there are many) to hate his style, his delivery, and even the way he goes about his job — not the man himself.

Vitale is twice as — if not more — passionate about fighting and finding a cure for cancer than he is toward anything that has to do with the game of college basketball.  Having already eclipsed the age of 70, he doesn’t need any extra attention or recognition on top of what he has already received throughout his illustrious Hall of Fame career.  The effort he puts toward raising money in the fight against cancer is for no other reason than to help save lives — and there are few who have done more to help the cause than Dick Vitale.

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