The Path of Least Resistance

Dick Vitale's honeymoon here at G:TB was certainly short-lived. By my count, it took 3 exposures to trigger my scream reflex, sending me ranting out loud at a defenseless broadcaster of mass media. The cause: Dickie V's unhinged and unsolicited defense of Bobby Knight in the context of Kelvin Sampson's brazen chicanery. Thankfully, My Teams are Cursed did all the exposition, saving me the time and trouble. Money quote:

Instead of talking basketball, he literally spent two hours opining on his soapbox about how Kelvin Sampson disrespected the University and should be fired while subconsciously lobbying for his friend to somehow, some way, get back to Bloomington and be the coach again.

He did the same thing on Mike and Mike this morning, to my irrational and ever-lovin' annoyance. The G:TB moral of the story: Bob Knight bad. Kelvin Sampson bad. Vitale insane and embarrassingly myopic in his single-minded defense of Knight. Welcome back, Dickie V - we hardly knew you were gone.

Swedish Chef Chronicles

In honor of my favorite Muppets character (and that's saying something – so many great fuzzy folks from which to choose: Gonzo, Fozzie, Statler & Waldorf, Animal, Beaker, Rolf, Snuffleupagus…I digress), this week’s Hoops Wednesday will be served smorgasbord-style.

The sporting public welcomes Dick Vitale back to the broadcast booth tonight, and where better than Tobacco Road to ease him quietly and innocuously back into the limelight. Should be a reserved affair in Chapel Hill, replete with dignified, understated honoraria. G:TB, for one, is glad to have him back, even as we'll now return to mocking the clown prince. In a tangentially related note, my oldest daughter has to undergo a medical procedure tomorrow (minor, not to worry) that requires us to deprive her of sleep. I'll be introducing her to the Duke/Carolina rivalry and fielding questions about why that man is screaming so much.

In our second item, we ponder the recently retired Bob Knight. It should come as no surprise that G:TB isn't in the habit of making contributions to Knight's legal fund. He's everything we despise: a bullying, self-aggrandizing dick. His supporters will claim that he was successful on balance and instilled discipline and a sense of right and wrong in his players. As Marge Schott is wont to recall, Hitler did some good things, too. And Mussolini made the trains run on time. Sometimes, the ends don't justify the means. Good riddance.

Moving on to a subject we know absolutely nothing about, G:TB is scratching its collective head today about the Shaq-to-Phoenix deal. The poster boy for immovable objects meets the standard-bearer for movement, pace, and spacing. That seems...odd.

Finally, and far more importantly, the surging William and Mary Tribe hosts the Flying Dutchmen (okay, Pride - Salesgenie.com called and told us that Dutchmen is derogatory) of Hofstra this evening. W&M's looking to go 9-3 in conference play, while Hofstra's struggling at 4-7. The Pride does have the CAA's top scorer and arguably best player in Antoine Agudio, but they're young and/or inexperienced just about everywhere else. Even at home, this one has trap written all over it. Fingernail biting to commence at 7:00

And with that, furpdemoergen, borpoogloergen, put the piggy in the ooven.

Get Well Soon, Baybee

The snarkosphere is in full throat this morning over yesterday’s announcement that Dick Vitale will be sidelined until at least February with a vocal cord ailment. Notwithstanding the irony of his malady, G:TB’s a little bit saddened by the turn of events.

We’re not particularly enamored of Dickie V and his shtick; frankly, we’re Bill Raftery guys. Vitale long ago jumped the shark, morphing from passionate hoops aficionado to shameless coach-stroking caricature. While we love college basketball, we admit that watching Vitale’s telecasts is a bit of a struggle.

Like nearly everything in our popular culture that reaches (and exceeds) the saturation point, backlash is inevitable. See Spears, Britney among many, many others. It’s easy for those of us in the blogosphere to merrily blast away at the icons of our age, and we suppose it makes us all feel just a little bit superior in some small way. But when we see With Leather (one of our favorites, generally speaking) post a headline that reads “I Hope It’s Cancer” in reference to Vitale’s illness, well, y’know, there are some bridges too far.

I don’t particularly like Dick Vitale’s game-calling anymore. I don’t enjoy the larger-than-the-game personality cult nonsense. But I’ll tell you this: I envy the man’s passion. Would that we could all enjoy our jobs as much as he clearly does his. Maybe that enjoyment would temper the knee-jerk need to tear down those that seem to be beating us on the “hey, life is great” scale.

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Addendum: MGL's got a neat and personal Dickie V. story over at CAA:LAMM that underscores the passion side of the ledger.

Awesome, Baby!

I love Dick Vitale. Yes, he's a one-trick pony. Yes, he's an unashamed apologist for the basketball coaching fraternity. Yes, he's loud, he's a charicature, he's more entertainer than serious analyst. But he loves basketball, and he loves what he gets to do for a living, and both of those things are plainly obvious every time he broadcasts a game, whether it's Duke/Carolina or Austin Peay/Middle Tennessee State.

Heard Dickie V last night for the first time in a few months as Wake Forest/Memphis kicked off the Coaches Vs. Cancer Classic in Madison Square Garden. College hoops season makes me happy, and so does hearing Dickie's voice.