good to see we're not the most frustrating team in this draft

Dick Vitale holds the distinction of being the only announcer who can cause me to turn off a game I would otherwise watch. Awful, completely unbearable, and thank goodness he doesn't announce the tournament.

I should make it clear that we're also taking him much earlier in his career, when he wasn't so senile. He was much more tempered back then, with the same passion and enthusiasm that he has now that has contributed so much to college basketball.

See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA_PiIyiCZw
And this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfeyV...eature=related

okay, well everyone else was still referring to him as "undrafted" dlk9s decided to just name him...which I said I was hoping we could do anyway. Yes, I liked Hughes back to his Brewers days as well. Made a great straight-man for Uecker.

One game I listened to that was 16-2 in the 8th inning or something Hughes brought out the Baseball Encyclopedia and was going over some of Uecker's old stats or something and Uecker typically ripping on himself and completely hilarious of course.

Another different blowout game they got to talking about Uecker's gardening hobby and how that was going and Uecker was saying that it was about the right time to be planting squash.

Hughes: "...and you garden all these vegetables yourself in your own yard, right?"
Uecker: "Well, I thought it would be pretty rude to plant them in somebody else's yard."

Obviously Uecker's delivery of the line was perfect thus I nearly drove off the road from laughing so hard.

Vitale is someone I'd like to meet because I'd like to see how he is off the air. I get the feeling that as soon as he's on camera he feels like he has to drop the "It's awesome baby!" and "He's a diaper dandy!" etc. excessively to live up to his brand.

Dudd - Way more people offered the same criticism of Howard Cosell back in the day.

I find it interesting that some people who find Gus Johnson's screaming to be so awesome similarly can't stand the screaming of Vitale.

I've never understood this, either. Especially since it's much more of the color commentator's job to do it.

The thing is, Gus yells after a big shot gets made. Vitale yells during the introductions, and doesn't stop.

Vitale has definitely gotten over the top in recent years. However, his enthusiasm is fantastic for the game of college basketball, his passion for the game is something I think a ton of people will tune in to see. Dick Vitale knows his stuff when it comes to basketball, and even though he's a Duke homer and isn't what he once was, I still have plenty of love in my heart for Dickie V.

Plus, we're only broadcasting the Elite Eight on, so he won't even be covering Duke games most of the time.

gus also sounds way better when hes yelling and also comes up with better lines, the baby stuff dicky v says gets really annoying

Yes, who can forget the classic Gus Johnson lines of:

"WOW"
"WHOA"
"OOOOOHHHHHHHH"
"OOOHHHHHHH"
"GOT IT"
"WHAT A GAME"

Dan Patrick's show is broadcast live on TV as well, on DirecTV's 'The 101'.

You should see that studio. Man cave of man caves.

Yeah, I'm more interested in hearing opinions on Dan Patrick. I know Vitale is a love/hate thing.

DOWN THE SIDELINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!121!1!!! !!!1!1!!!!!!!!1!!!!4!21!

zimmer - I pretty much agree with you about Vitale. I appreciate his passion for the game.



Do you think Gus Johnson or any other announcer screams in the same way when they're off the air?

I also get the feeling that when Keith Jackson or Marv Albert are on the air they feel they need to drop an occasional "Whoa Nellie" or "Yes!" in there to live up their rep too. And this doesn't bother me in the least. I'm pretty sure that they tone it down when they're having dinner at home too and aren't like that at all away from the camera.

Same goes for the slightly more similar to Vitale commentator Bill Rafferty and his "mmman2man!" thing that he does and some of his other lines. I love Rafferty and don't mind at all that he has a gimmick or two that he probably uses only when he's on the air.

There's world of difference between having a signature style and being a caricature of yourself.

A studio-only guy is fine but only eligible to be a studio guy.

Dudd - Just to be super-ultra-nitty about it: phrases like "Whoa Nellie" and "mmmman2man" aren't really styles. They are just little catch-phrases. I guess they can be considered part of a style. But Keith Jackson's "style" is not Whoa Nellie. They come pretty close to being something you could fairly describe as a gimmick I think. But whether or not it's a gimmick I still love "Whoa Nellie" "mmman2man" and "Yes!" regardless.

Also, did Pat Summerall have any kind of catch-phrase really? I thought he was one of the best but it occurs to me that others could view him to be not quite as enthused about the game he's calling in a similar criticism to that being made towards Joe Buck. But Summerall is one of my favorite announcers. And before you make the argument that it was because he was such a good contrast to Madden's hyperness: I think that's wrong. Summerall would have been great regardless of whatever color commentator was with him.

Dick Vitale qualifies as having passion, right?

Sure, there's some passion masked underneath the woefully overdone shtick. Having passion for the game isn't the only thing an announcer needs to convey, he also needs to not make me want to tear my ears off.

I don't think Dickie V solely a Duke homer. One of my big problems with him is he doesn't criticize anyone. I do think he is has a legitimate enthusiasm for basketball, but he is still really annoying. All the criticisms of Madden in the past 5-10 years are a million times more true for Dickie V.

the way he says those lines is way better than when dicky v goes crazy, when gus johnson calls a game u get all pumped up, when dicky v calls a game u want to slap him out of annoyance. also i'm glad you left out his sick lines like my name is al harrington and I get buckets, hes got running away from the cops speed etc

edit: funny that pudge posted the dicky v annoying part right before me

Maybe it's just cause I was a kid back then, but I really think that Vitale was a ton more bearable in the range of 10-20 years ago (which is when we're taking him from obv), and that it's kind of a 2p2 SE groupthink type of thing where it's just trendy to hate on Dick Vitale.

He still translates very well to the average fans, and I think a lot of people will tune in because of him. If some fans who don't want to hear yelling in their college basketball broadcast tune out, it won't bother us much, but I think Vitale will draw more people in than he tunes out.

Dick Vitale was simply incredible in the 80's and early 90's. Then he fell into the ESPN trap of "do it louder, create catch phrases, be extreme because extreme creates ratings".