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November 29, 2006
Zac Hunter chips in his two cents while bloggin' from Boston.We all knew about the game last weekend. It was a heavyweight fight between two of the top teams in college basketball. Kansas disposed of Florida in overtime much to the dismay of Joakim Noah, whose talent was rivaled only by his ability to cry after every play that didn't go Florida's way. When it's all said and done, Saturday's game could turn out to be the best game prior to the NCAA Tournament. It was that good. There was only one thing wrong with this game. And that, my friends, is Dick Vitale. Let's face it - he jumped the shark a long time ago. He's a freaking cartoon. And while no one in the world enjoys their job more than Vitale, his constant love of everything ACC makes most basketball fans want to punch him in the face. The Duke love fest began in Vitale's opening comments. He was all too excited to bring up his favorite team of all time - the 1992 Duke Blue Devils. But we'll give him a pass on that one because he was waxing poetically about how those Blue Devils were the last team to repeat as NCAA Champions. And since Florida has a good shot to repeat this year, we can let it slide. But that was just the beginning. Let's break this down, minute by minute. 13:38 - Here comes the ACC/Big Ten challenge. He brings up the loss North Carolina suffered to Gonzaga earlier in the week. And he also can't wait to get to down there and see some ACC basketball. Meanwhile, Kansas is up 18-9 with everything going its way. 12:36 - Mario Chalmers makes a great play to get a jump ball on what would have been a wide open layup. And out of the blue Vitale starts talking about Roy Williams and his magical touch of getting KU to the NCAA Tournament. He never once mentions Bill Self getting a squad of freshmen/sophomores to win the Big 12 regular season and tournament last year. It's all about powder blue Roy and his magical touch while at Kansas. Nice. 11:31 - More ACC/Big Ten Challenge talk. It must be Dick's favorite week of the year. Oh, he can't wait to get to Cameron Indoor Stadium. And he's so excited to get to North Carolina and look at its museum. Perhaps we could talk about how Julian Wright is dominating? 5:55 - Vitale's cohort, Dan Schulman, has to bring up the North Carolina and Duke games coming up this week. In Schulman's defense he ususally tries to keep Vitale on track, but he's got to plug these games for ESPN. 5:15 - Can I get an ACC/Big Ten Challenge update? Oh, here it comes. Vitale LOVES Tyler Hansbrough. All about the passion and heart. Meanwhile Florida has cut its deficit to three points. 3:59 - The great coaches in the country, namely Coach K and Roy Williams, preach defense. Florida isn't playing great defense. Thanks Mr. Vitale. You might want to talk about Bill Self's style of basketball. He's got more desire to play defense in his little finger than Williams ever had at KU. And I don't remember a lot of great defense when Runnin' Roy was pacing the sidelines. (That is not a knock on Roy Williams. I love up-tempo basketball.) Wow....halftime. Time for a smoke and Duke vs. Davidson highlights. Bring it. 16:54 - It doesn't take Dick too long to get us back on point. Darrell Arthur makes a great play to strip Al Horford and draw a foul. Vitale reminds us that Arthur reminds us of Brandan Wright, the super freshman at North Carolina. Ehh...this one is not bad on its own, but it ends up being ACC white noise. 15:27 - Time for the Vitale time machine. Welcome to 1991, my friend. Bobby Hurley makes a big three-pointer to help Duke and stop UNLV's run at a second straight title. I'm quite surprised this didn't turn into a Hurley love fest. We were spared stories of his overrated brother and basketball coach father. That was a close one. 14:07 - Arthur makes another basket off a no-look pass by Julian Wright. Drop some analysis on us, Dick. Oh, he's really similar to North Carolina's Wright? Great. Thanks. 12:37 - Can we check in on Tyler Hansbrough? He belongs to one of the best front courts in the nation. He is the heart and soul of the Tar Heels. Along with the Arthur-like Wright, of course. 4:48 - Crunch time. Two-point game. ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Ugh.... :33 - Kansas is ahead by one point with Arthur at the line. Carolina has some special talent. Blah, blah, blah. And that's when my DVR runs out of room because I'm too stupid to set it to tape longer than the allotted time slot. I seem to remember some Roy/UNC references during the overtime but it really doesn't matter. Even without the overtime session he was able to turn an epic game between two great teams into a two-and-a-half hour commercial for ACC basketball. I think I'll watch the North Carolina game on Wednesday. I heard that Hansbrough kid is pretty good. And I'm dying to hear about how great Kansas is.
Comments
bayareajhawk (anonymous) says...
So there is "always" a Kansas reference on "almost any college basketball game" on ESPN? Ummm, no there isn't. There are always ACC (specifically Duke/Carolina) references, no matter who is playing. This is especially true if Vitale is involved. I think tracking these references is not only funny, but a good idea. Maybe Vitale would tone it down a bit if somebody showed him how transparent his nationally televised Duke/UNC recruiting is. It's not just Kansas fans who feel this way...
November 29, 2006 at 3:35 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
BabysMomma (anonymous) says...
What's wrong, karmic cunundrum, can't face the obvious truths GWH spits on the mike? Dickie V. is, has, and will always be SMARM personified.
November 29, 2006 at 4:59 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
bayareajhawk (anonymous) says...
So KU gets "A LOT" of comments about its players, but doesn't get a lot of "love"? Does that mean that the comments you're telling us are constantly on ESPN regarding Arthur, Wright and Rush are negative? Or does it just mean that you've managed to contradict yourself in the space of two sentences (or one sentence and one sentence fragment, to be precise)?
November 29, 2006 at 11:40 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zdh1145 (anonymous) says...
Hey Gang,
Thought I'd give you a little update on your boy Vitale. I watched the North Carolina game last night and I counted about four KU references. I will admit that I missed about one or two minutes of actual game action so he might have slipped another one in on me. Although I'm not sure how he was able to focus on anything other than Greg Oden updates. In case you didn't know he didn't play last night. And he's going to be a fantastic Christmas present for Thad Matta and the Buckeyes.
My favorite part of the night came in the last 30 seconds of the game when it was obvious that North Carolina had Ohio State pinned down. Vitale's play-by-play partner/parental figure Dan Schulman asked Dick if Kansas and Florida matched up with North Carolina and Ohio State. His answer was limited to Pittsburg and UCLA.
Vitale's inability to stay on point infuriates me. I don't want more talk about KU unless it's a KU game. And I don't want to hear about Duke unless it's a Blue Devils game. I just want him to focus on a great game that's happening right in front of his face.
November 30, 2006 at 7:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
cwrist (Chris Wristen) says...
"I don't want more talk about KU unless it's a KU game. And I don't want to hear about Duke unless it's a Blue Devils game. I just want him to focus on a great game that's happening right in front of his face."
Amen, brother. The ACC's blabbering PR firm got old a few years ago, and it pains me that he gets to call most of the big games because then I'm forced to listen to it. The guy's enthusiasm for college basketball is great, and I have no doubt that the passion he brings to his commentary has helped - at least to some extent - help interest in college hoops rise over the years (the players take care of that themselves nowadays, though), but his act has turned sour in recent years. His ACC all-the-time drivel makes my ears cry out in agony. Just talk about the game you're covering unless it has become a 30-point blowout.
December 2, 2006 at 9:17 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )