I have to give Vitale some props

[jec1521]

He is all personality, not much substance. His love for the game bleeds through his commentary, which is good during any other game, but almost unbearable during a duke game. He can't help himself.

 

[MSOrange]

I was so intently into the game once it became apparent we were going to hang in there that I didn't even notice the announcers most of the second half - even with Vitale. That's unusual for me to be able to ignore him. I know who most of the players are on each team so as long as they give me updated information on fouls and stats, I'm good.

 

[orangefog]

We just disagree.

How babbling about "Diaper Dandies" could help grow the college game is a mystery to me.

The college game grew. Vitale and his "Schtick" were riding on the bus, not driving it.

He may know something about basketball. But I've never ever heard him say anything insightful. Jay Bilas is miles better and Rafftery is clearly superior as an analyst. In fact, there is no analysis from DV I've ever heard.

"Ewww Duke is great" "Coach K., Baby!" It's Schtick. He is there, I presume, to provide information. Instead, its like going to a game with a talkative friend.

There was a time when he wasn't all schtick. He used to do a great job, from my recollection. I learned a lot about the game from his commentary when I was in my early teens. Then he started with the PTP'ers and things like that and it became more and more of that, and then the infatuation with Duke. I stopped listening to him when he would talk incessantly about Duke when they weren't even playing in the game he was working. But, I think he has come a bit back down to earth and as mentioned, I believe he is a good man, and he does a lot of good.

 

[JoeSU]

I thought he was fairly restrained and well-spoken, although he failed to mention who he had dinner with the previous night, how beautiful and charming the guy's wife is, the name of the restaurant where they ate, what he ordered, etc.. Maybe it's just for nostalgic reasons, but I've grown to enjoy his shtick from time to time.

 

[Townie72]

I thought he was fairly restrained and well-spoken, although he failed to mention who he had dinner with the previous night, how beautiful and charming the guy's wife is, the name of the restaurant where they ate, what he ordered, etc.. Maybe it's just for nostalgic reasons, but I've grown to enjoy his shtick from time to time.

I'll take Bobby Knight instead.

How good a human being the guy is seems to me to be irrelevant.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I'll take Bobby Knight instead.

How good a human being the guy is seems to me to be irrelevant.

Bobby was great when he started but he's losing it badly now. Tough to listen to him for any length of time at all. But when he started, I'd learn things from his observations everytime I watched a game he was doing.

 

[Flacusian]

Dick Vitale is the most important person in the history of college basketball, in my opinion.

Eric... perhaps some hyperbole but spot on for the most part. Vitale's illustrious career has paralleled the rise of the Big East and has been concurrent with Syracuse's modern era under Jimmy B.
While some people criticize and berate him for his uber energetic style of broadcasting I appreciate his uniqueness and the fact that he has tirelessly promoted the game of college basketball on account of his love of the game and the people in it. It was his voice that was bringing attention and sensationalizing the phenomenons that became known as the Big East and the Final Four. His neologisms like "PTPer" "Diaper Dandies" along with phrases like "showtime Baby" will likely be forever etched into the vernacular of college basketball and rightly so. He has been a staunch defender of players and coaches alike when they were in need of support. What he lacks in technical acumen for the finer points of the game he more than makes up for with his exuberant and contagious enthusiasm for the game itself and the people in it.

Vitale, as a broadcaster did much to help shape the images of coaches like Rollie Massimino, Lou Carneseca, Jimmy B. and the other Big East coaches of the early era of the Big East. Dick Vitale was part of all that magic... the hiked ball from Sherm... 2/3 chuck from Pearl, the GMAC run through the Big East tournament...

When I think of those incredible moments I often associate them with the over the top excitement of Vitale's commentary of the events. Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion but my opinion is that there are plenty of people and things to carp about in college basketball that deserve criticism more than Dicky V. Can he be overbearing and irritating at times... any honest person would have to say yes. But if everyone spent more time focusing on the positives associated with people, places, and things wouldn't the world be an infinitely more pleasant place to be?

It seems to me that anyone who loves the game should be able to appreciate the fact that Dicky V. has been one of the biggest contributors to the game of College Basketball ever.

I mean... " ARE YOU KIDDING MEEEEEEEEE?"

 

[Zelda Zonk]

Oh well, what goes around comes around, and all you youngsters will be wearing bellbottoms and paisley shirts before you know it. All the stuff you come up with has already been done, you are just too young to know it. Put your crap on fb or twitter, you have nothing to say that hasn't been said b4. lol,omg, I'm so tired I have to use anachronism's all the time

You're off the rails. Nothing you're saying actually relates to what you've quoted. But. That's consistent with your approach in other threads. Personal attacks, even as you seem to be agreeing with he text...

And how are you defining "youngster?" I'm 48. But I'll remember to stay off your damned lawn, 'gramps.'

 

[pulaski74]

You're off the rails. Nothing you're saying actually relates to what you've quoted. But. That's consistent with your approach in other threads. Personal attacks, even as you seem to be agreeing with he text...

And how are you defining "youngster?" I'm 48. But I'll remember to stay off your damned lawn, 'gramps.'

I'll appreciate that

 

[Eric15]

Eric... perhaps some hyperbole but spot on for the most part.

I honestly don't think it's hyperbole. I can't think of a single individual that contributed more to the popularity of CBB than him.

 

[Bayside44]

I honestly don't think it's hyperbole. I can't think of a single individual that contributed more to the popularity of CBB than him.

Tend to agree - minus the iconic players of course.

I hope Vitale broadcasts for a 1000 years. Sean called him out on that lousy first half call but he (Vitale) was solid with us from that point forward.

 

[djcon57]

Honestly, I don't think he's bad ON a Duke game. I can't stand him when it's like Cuse vs UConn or whatever and the game is going on and he's taking nonstop about some Duke player and some game he had on Wednesday.

 

[realorange]

Townie said Dickie V. is like going to a game with a talkative friend. I think that is part of what made him popular. He was that good old boy, smiling and yelling in your ear. You just couldn't get upset with him. You knew he was sincere in his craziness.

Berman on the other hand------don't get me started.

 

[iommi]

Dick is a love him or hate him kind of guy when it comes to his schtick.

One observation is that he has become more hoarse in his later years. Sometimes when he's in mellow mode, he can barely get out a whisper. And then suddenly he gets excited and yells and screams. Either way, I'm sort of sick of his act but do recognize his contributions to college hoops. More importantly, one has to acknowledge his philanthropic contributions to our society. And again, I'm sort of sick of him but he's the kind of guy who'll leave a huge void when he passes away.

Dick Vitale is an original but he's just very polarizing.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

Really? to each his own is right but a national guy doing a game should not be worse than the local guy doing the game for Duke. Dickie was more upset than K at the end of the game.

Surely you jest. The yelling at the NCAA guy instead of completing the handshake ritual? And the simply amazing press conference? But Vitale was more upset than K.

 

[NYCSUGrad]

I also liked him when he began, but dislike his schtick now. Not unlike Chris berman. Those old jokes and routines are just so worn. Do we really need to hear him call someone a PTPer again? And then have to tell us what the 'acronym' means? The bits are just stupid now. They were (almost) cute when they were original 25+ years ago. 25 years later, the same schtuff is just annoying earburrowing. Superficial, redundant gimmicks for the idiocracy. Like reality tv.

"He IS college basketball?" No. Games that he doesn't broadcast are no less interesting. But, saying all that doesn't diminish his early role in promoting the sport. He HAS done that. He has done a lot for charitable organizations. Critiquing his broadcasting isn't the same as critiquing the man. I'm not one for giving a guy a pass for being a nice guy if he's rubbish in his professional responsibilities.

A giant hole when he retires? That's overwrought. When he retires, we will barely notice. He may be the sport's biggest cheerleader, but he sport is bigger than a broadcaster. John Madden retired, and although I loved him, I missed him for half a season and then noticed the world was still spinning, and football was still great.

I just despised Vitale for years. But he has calmed down a lot in the past couple of seasons. I don't remember him referring to a PTP guy or a diaper dandy the last game. I suppose I could have missed it if the volume was lower than normal

 

[orangefan13]

Actually I had the call before the Ref did. It looked to me that G pushed a little to much with his left arm. And G seem to know it too with his sheepish reaction. Couldn't tell if the Duke player had his foot in the arc or not.

whens the last time someone got called for a pushoff with their arm against us?
Was it this year? Possibly last year?
Can anyone recall?

Probably not our first of the season either.
Hard for me to like a call if it only goes against us.

 

[jncuse]

Bobby was great when he started but he's losing it badly now. Tough to listen to him for any length of time at all. But when he started, I'd learn things from his observations everytime I watched a game he was doing.

Does Bobby Knight do any more games or did he quietly retire this past offseason? I have not heard him at all this year.

He was at the age that things could suddenly leave you, and unfortunately they did. He was very good when he first started.

 

[dasher]

Does Bobby Knight do any more games or did he quietly retire this past offseason? I have not heard him at all this year.

He was at the age that things could suddenly leave you, and unfortunately they did. He was very good when he first started.

Knight was not brought back by ESPN

 

[pulaski74]

You're off the rails. Nothing you're saying actually relates to what you've quoted. But. That's consistent with your approach in other threads. Personal attacks, even as you seem to be agreeing with he text...

And how are you defining "youngster?" I'm 48. But I'll remember to stay off your damned lawn, 'gramps.'[/QUOTE

 

[Dave85]

And how are you defining "youngster?" I'm 48. But I'll remember to stay off your damned lawn, 'gramps.'

The difference between 40 and 50 is when you are 40 and you get hurt playing sports it takes a really long time to heal. After 50, if you get a new injury it never heals and is something new you have to live with from that point on!

 

[pulaski74]

I am sorry to have posted things like that, I am quite a bit older than you and a rabid fan of su bb, sometimes my passion is stronger than my brain. Change is hard for some people, again sorry and you may trod on my lawn anytime

 

[Townie72]

As I re-read this thread, it seems obvious to me that there is a greater problem associated with color commenting or analysis or whatever you want to call it.

The College basketball problem is that there is a pretty wide span of interests and understanding on the part of the fans. Some want detailed discussions of the "X's and O's" on the floor. Some want observations about patterns in the game. (e.g. Why certain things are happening and what might be done to change what is occurring".

And there are some who are really looking for "flavor" and drama.

Of course, the networks are most likely going to cater to the largest common denominator.

An example of this might be the explanation of the SU Zone. What you hear is "SU plays the Zone". And sometimes "The SU zone is different from other zones in that it can adapt itself to game situations and that it is more "active" and uses "man-to-man" principles. But I have never heard a commentator talk about the benefits of a zone from a JB perspective. (The "Why" of the SU 100% commitment to the defense.)

Never have I heard any analysis or observation of , for example, the impact of the 30 sec shot clock on teams playing against the zone. There was some studio conversation in the Duke game about the D uke freshamn having a lot of trouble deciding what to do which was taking a lot of time off the clock (and there fore reducing the time left to 20 or 15 seconds which is less than the NBA 24 secs.)

Not liking what Dookie V. says is more a function of what he is trying to achieve or who he thinks his audience is than it is dissapproval of the guy personally.

 

[Bayside44]

whens the last time someone got called for a pushoff with their arm against us?
Was it this year? Possibly last year?
Can anyone recall?

Probably not our first of the season either.
Hard for me to like a call if it only goes against us.

G isn't a PG, so he has to compensate. I am sure opposing coaches are all in the stripes ears on that one.

 

[pulaski74]

There was a time when he wasn't all schtick. He used to do a great job, from my recollection. I learned a lot about the game from his commentary when I was in my early teens. Then he started with the PTP'ers and things like that and it became more and more of that, and then the infatuation with Duke. I stopped listening to him when he would talk incessantly about Duke when they weren't even playing in the game he was working. But, I think he has come a bit back down to earth and as mentioned, I believe he is a good man, and he does a lot of good.

well not sure if you know it, but he started out as the head coach at Detroit and actually had them in the headlines for a bit, not sure if he got fired or quit, but thats when he became a commentator