It's easy to mock Dick Vitale for his over-the-top on-camera antics, particularly if he's working a Duke game. But for all the perceived homerism, he's seems like a good guy.
Sort of like John Madden in that his exuberance can sometimes be distracting to the point that you want to throw a brick through your television. But what separates them from most of their colleagues is that they seldom utter a malicious word about the players or coaches they're covering.
And if you need more confirmation that Vitale is a swell dude, this should do it (via the Tampa Tribune):
TEQUESTA, Fla. -- This looked like a Bad Boys reunion.
The NBA came from around the country Wednesday to celebrate the life and mourn the death of Chuck Daly, but nothing was more impressive than his collection of pallbearers.
It was the nucleus of his two championship teams in Detroit, the ones that transformed him from just another coaching lifer into a Hall of Famer and Olympic Gold Medalist revered by all.
"I think when you go through the things we did together, there is a bond that never breaks,'' said Laimbeer. "This was a sad time, but a time to celebrate who he was, and what he did, and how loved he was.''
One of the things the Tampa Bay Rays can expect in 2009 after their trip to the World Series in 2008 is a lot more attention. They started to get a taste of it toward the end of last season and in the playoffs when they noticed they were no longer playing in front of 10,000 fans but instead full houses. This season the Rays will be playing in front of large crowds all year, and they're going to be finding themselves on national television a lot as well.
Their new-found popularity has also had an impact on the team in spring training. They're noticing more Rays fans in the stands during spring training games, and apparently they're not all human. The team's newest fan seems to be a wild boar that made his way into the team's complex over the weekend, causing quite a stir.
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Can you take any more March Madness inundated into your domepiece? Of course you can. It's the number one reason why you keep coming back to FanHouse's NCAA Tournament Coverage, and it's definitely the reason why you were waiting, desperately, of course, for the second half of FanHouse's NCAA Podcastactular.
In 6.2, Ryan Wilson and Will Brinson chat with FH's own Eamonn Brennan (who moonlights on the very, mucho excellente college basketball blog The Dagger) about nostalgic brackets, hating on North Carolina or Duke, sleepers, whether you should fill out a single bracket or not, and a myriad of other college basketball topics.
Hit the jump to listen to the whole thing in our embeddable player.
Say what you will for Dick Vitale, he's certainly passionate about college basketball. But does his passion get in the way of his ability to analyze the sport objectively? His colleagues Digger Phelps and Jay Bilas seemed to suggest so on ESPN Sunday night.
If it wasn't for the recent Alex Rodriguez news that has taken over ESPN's airwaves, the Duke and North Carolina game would be getting more hype than the new Eminem CD. For the Worldwide Leader, this game is a perfect storm of sorts. Full coverage, big names that draw two types of emotion and their very own Dicky V!
But it is one of those rare sporting events that mean a lot to just about everyone. I don't get pumped about the Red Sox and Yankees, and I have zero affiliation with Ohio State or Michigan. I grew up in Texas and went to school in Arizona and am as far from excited on a personal level for most of the big game match-ups as one could be.
The thing is, Duke and North Carolina do something for me.
And today, on ESPN radio, Knight spoke with Mike Tirico and Scott Van Pelt, presumably to dismiss those rumors; instead, Knight indicated exactly why they have legs. He later followed that up by mentioning his interest in returning to coaching during the Tennessee-Oklahoma women's game.
When it was put forth to Nantz that the opinion of his former partner among sports fans, blogs and radio types was, um, less-than-favorable, it clearly struck a nerve.
Packer is the "greatest friend college basketball has ever had," said Nantz, "He looked after the sport and made sure there was an honesty and an integrity to it."
Whoa! No offense but I cannot say "honesty" when thinking about Packer. Sure, he called it like he saw it but he never admitted when he saw it wrong. As for "integrity", does that mean making sexist comments to a couple of females at Duke or to continuously belittle mid-majors?
I'm not as down on Packer as most people since I grew up in ACC country listening to him call games. But there is a reason that it's taken this long to nominate him for enshrinement into the Hall.
Coach Knight will be paired with Brent Musburger on Thursday night games and will do some games with Dan Shulman on various other nights. His first gig will be next week at the 2k Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs Cancer in New York.
I'm still split on Bob Knight as a College Basketball analyst. On one hand, his knowledge and X's and O's are unrivaled. On the other, he still comes across like getting him to talk about the game is a chore. The negative could have been because Dickie V was hanging all over him on set, but whatever side you fall on, you're going to have to deal with him for another year on the "Leader".
What is the betting line on him slipping up with an expletive on air this season? Or on him saying something so controversial that ESPN removes him from the booth?
This morning news broke hard that University of Arizona head coach Lute Olson was stepping down a day after telling the Tucson Citizen he was "excited to get on the court."
After I contacted the Arizona Sports Information Desk and talked to Associate Media Relations Director Richard Paige, this might not be entirely correct.
"No status has changed, Lute Olson is still our coach."
ESPN's Dick Vitale reported that Olson was done but it appears that could be premature. Olson, who is 74, missed practice on Wednesday but according to Paige, was just because he wasn't feeling well, not because of a potential exit stage left.
"He missed practice with the flu," Paige said. "I have not yet seen him (today) but I suspect he's fine."
Talk out of Tucson has been that Olson could be out, but right now nobody is budging on the subject. While Vitale might have inside sources to Lute, no parties on the Arizona side are showing their cards.
This would be the second year in a row that Olson left the team before the season started.
It's easy to mock Dick Vitale for his over-the-top on-camera antics, particularly if he's working a Duke game. But for all the perceived homerism, he's seems like a good guy. 
TEQUESTA, Fla. -- This looked like a Bad Boys reunion.
One of the things the Tampa Bay Rays can expect in 2009 after their trip to the World Series in 2008 is a lot more attention. They started to get a taste of it toward the end of last season and in the playoffs when they noticed they were no longer playing in front of 10,000 fans but instead full houses. This season the Rays will be playing in front of large crowds all year, and they're going to be finding themselves on national television a lot as well.
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