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Duke's Biggest Fan is Back (Not Back)

Glad he is back we lost Walton unfortunately he cracked me up listening to his calls, Dicky V has called some huge KY games over the years as he is the voice of Colege Basketball.
 
Some thoughts are just better kept to yourself. I am glad to see Dick Vitale calling games again and hope he does some Kentucky games before his career is over. He loves College Basketball and a great ambassador for the game. Vitale has been around the sport longer than some people on this board have been alive. There will be a day where Vitale is no longer around on the games for good. No need to speed up the process by 'putting him out to pasture'. He deserves to go out on his terms so long as he is healthy for as much as he has fought cancer and raise awareness through charity over the years.
 
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Maybe UK can get Dickie V to be "the Y" at the Arkansas game (or Sr night)?

Pretty sure hes done it before but it would be awfully special this year I think

You don't get many broadcast icons anymore - he's a unique one and i really DO want to see him at Rupp this year
 
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Nice to see everyone being really nice and glad Dick V. is back myself. However, one has to admit that the tune sang here was a lot different before Vitale became ill.
 
Nice to see everyone being really nice and glad Dick V. is back myself. However, one has to admit that the tune sang here was a lot different before Vitale became ill.
Probably more of an indictment on the toxic groupthink that goes on here rather than on Dickie V. Seems there are a few topics you can get a thousand likes and amens from on here that are the lowest levels of hanging fruit i.e. the refs cheated every single game, Calipari is and always was trash, Indiana isn’t a blueblood, ditch Mitch, “X” Kentucky player is trash, etc. You just have to kind of know these are the talking points that get parroted back and forth even when they might be partial truths or untruths—accuracy matters less than it should, but it is a message board. Certain things become cultural expectation and it is what it is.

It wouldn’t surprise me if there was a lot of Dickie V hate on here at one point but it wasn’t merited. Does he say good things about Duke? Absolutely. But he also does about all the blue bloods. During the time Vitale had been in his prime calling the games, Duke was arguably the most dominant program so they got a little extra love and attention. Dickie V spent a lot of time gushing over Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina etc as well. Why? Because he loves the sport! And he loves the tradition of the sport! I can’t wait until he calls another Kentucky game personally.
 
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I had the pleasure of meeting him at his restaurant in Sarasota during our Anthony Davis season. It was him in a corner having breakfast and myself with another in another part of the room. It wasn't planned. After I had finished breakfast I just went over to say hi and tell him I was a big Kentucky fan. He invited me to sit down and treated me like I was his partner in a broadcast. He was super nice and we spoke like two friends including some debate on UNC vs Kentucky. In fact, we conversed for at least 15-20 minutes and I was the one to have to eventually end the conversation. The man is exactly how he is on television; he loves college basketball, he is enthusiastic, realistic, knowledgeable, genuine, and again super nice. He is a huge fan of Kentucky basketball and of course at that time....Cal.

The internet, and where people can post draw out negativity more than anything else. Look at the Fox News internet where comments are allowed or Yahoo. 80 % on any subject are negative nellies. I guess that is more fun to do. But, I can tell you firsthand the crap some say about Vitale is just that. Great for the sport and I wish him the best.
 
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Nice to see everyone being really nice and glad Dick V. is back myself. However, one has to admit that the tune sang here was a lot different before Vitale became ill.
Most people are emotional in their responses, like in today's game. People resort to name calling and insults without any sustantive argument, but that's the internet for you. Looks like Vitale had an accident at home, and will not be calling the Duke-WF game. Of course, everyone loves Pitino all of sudden, so this should not be a surprise. Again, emotions.
 
Dukie V is coming back to call games, and yes, his first game is a Duke game. He's 85 years old this year, time to put him out to pasture.

Duke Fan is Back

Edit: Vitale had an accident at home, so he will not be back next week as originally thought. I don't really dislike Vitale, but I just find it funny that his first game was going to be a Duke game. I actually respect the guy.
I'm not a fan of his announcing. But he obviously loves the game and the man said FU cancer 4 times now. So I give him a pass. Let him root for his Dukies. We don't have to listen to him announce if we don't want to.
 
I'm not a fan of his announcing. But he obviously loves the game and the man said FU cancer 4 times now. So I give him a pass. Let him root for his Dukies. We don't have to listen to him announce if we don't want to.

I respect that, but I just thought it was funny that he was doing a Duke game. I used to like Gus Johnson, but he's too much now.
 
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