There is no doubt about his love for the game, but his voice is about gone. Someone who loves him needs to pull him to the side and get him to save what is left of his voice. He is one of my favorites, but it is painful seeing him do this.
Why Dickie V?
- Thread starter LmdCat
- Start date
He really does need to retire. He had a great run, time to call it quits.
I get it want to keep going for what he loves but it is awful to listen to
I know it is a hard decision like it is for many athletes. But at some point, you really don't want your great career to be remembered like this.
Yeah not everyone can be Hubie Brown. And I’m a Vitale fan.
The man beat cancer yet again and has done so much for the game of basketball and cancer organizations. Let him go out how he wants to.
I think it’s a one-time gig.
It’s kind of like Corso, not sure why they keep trotting him out there. Dude’s 90 years old
Limited studio appearances should be his future. He did a lot for CBB but it is time to rethink calling games.
I wonder if he has gotten a diagnosis and just wanted to do one last game?
My boss lives near him in Sarasota and knows him well. Said Vitale didn’t want to go out with the cancer winning so he wanted to keep going for just a little bit longer.
He’s a legend, he can go out when he wants to.
He’s a legend, he can go out when he wants to.
Part of loving someone is helping them to reach and accept difficult milestones in life. I can recall the emotional experience of getting my father to accept that he could no longer drive. It would have been easier to just let him keep driving but I loved him too much to do that.
Dickie V deserves to take off headset when he’s ready. Voice is weaker, but he’s an icon that brings more to the game than just the quality of his voice. Like him or not, (I like him because of his authentic passion for the game) he’s been very good for college basketball for a long time.
Hope he makes it to Rupp this year.
Just my thoughts.
Hope he makes it to Rupp this year.
Just my thoughts.
There he is complaining about the tie up. He did that in the 2004 Mississippi State game.
Dookie v needs to get healthy, live a long life and stfu.
He ruined enough games for 2 lifetimes.
He ruined enough games for 2 lifetimes.
I don't think this is really a Corso situation. His voice sounds a bit rough tonight, but he's still got it upstairs (or at least no worse than he was a few years ago in that regard). I haven't had an issue with him in this game at all.
His voice isn’t nearly as bad as is being made out here. They’ve got three guys commentating so Dickie V can just chime in when he can. What I’ve heard here in second half is better than just about any game Jimmy Dykes has done all year. I’m so sick of Dykes and his favoritism. Dickie V is a lifelong Dookie but he’s being fair to the Clemson fans and players by giving them their props.
Dickie V.
Like or hate him he is Big Games CBB…
Honestly some times I love him most time I don’t like him…..
But I totally respect him for the love of the game….
One of the BEST…..
negative we all know he loves Duke.
Like or hate him he is Big Games CBB…
Honestly some times I love him most time I don’t like him…..
But I totally respect him for the love of the game….
One of the BEST…..
negative we all know he loves Duke.
I wish him nothing but the best but I would prefer not ever hearing him and his tired cliches again broadcasting a game.
You are allowed to have your opinion, but you are wrong, or you simply can't hear if you really think he sounds okay. As for Dykes, he is clown.
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I don't know, to me he just sounds hoarse. He had vocal chord cancer afterall. He's not ranting incoherently or anything. He's putting together complete sentences so he's in much better shape than the last couple of presidents.
That is the point I am making. The hoarseness is because of the scar tissue from the treatments. The continued overuse of his voice that is required during play-by-play will only make it worse.
I didn’t say he sounded okay. The “better than Dykes” comments was in reference to his overall “calling of the game”. He’s horse but not terrible. The man has had 3 or 4 throat surgeries. Doing this was his lifelong passion. After beating cancer FOUR times - if he’s able - let him enjoy it!
I turned his game on twice and he was talking about Coach Krzyzewski instead of the game both times so I turned him off.
Ah I see. Yeah from that point he's rough. I doubt it will get better. It's no worse than listening to Matt Jones though. Although, I can't do that so maybe you have a point.
Let the man feed. He could be sounding like Stephen hawking and it would still be dickie V.
Either his voice warmed up or I just became more accustomed to it, but I thought he sounded better at the end of the game than he did at the start. Good to have him back regardless!
I lived in Memphis in early 80s. UL and Memphis were huge rivals in the old Metro conference. Vitale was calling a UL \Memphis game at the old Mid South Colosseum. After a bad call against the Tigers somebody in upper deck threw an open pocket knife on the floor and it was stuck in the floor right in front of the scorers table. Vitals went into a 10 minute ongoing tirade about how terrible Memphis fans were and basically what a **** hole Memphis was. The next time Dick came to town to call a game a local sports entrepreneur Billy Dunivant put up some cash and had 5000 Dick Vitals Sucks t shirts and gave em away free before the game. It was a sight to behold during the game. I still have mine. Dick was not pleased.
I like Vitale and am glad he got the chance to return to do something he loves.
That's funny.
I'd like to have one of those shirts.
Memphis does kinda suck though.
Shout out Jerry "The King" Lawler!
The corso situation is sad. I don’t know what they are doing with that but let that end for gods sake. Dickie V had a rough voice but did a good job otherwise last night imo
Yeah whether you like him or not, he is still pretty sharp for his age.
In some ways I feel similarly about Vitale as I do Leonard Hamilton. If you choose to do your job until you (get told you) can’t, then almost by definition it’s going to end badly. I’m sure it’s hard to voluntarily retire from something you dedicated your life to, like coaching or commentating, but not making that decision has consequences too.
A lot of overreaction here. He's not returning anything close to full time. This is a farewell tour. He's 85 and has been fighting cancer for years. Even if his cancer prognosis is good for now, it's unlikely he's going to be around more than five years.
Before he became caricature of himself with the catchphrases, the man was the best there was in the 1980's and helped to popularize college basketball and make ESPN a household name. I don't want to insult Lee Corso as a person but college football is and wasn't going to be different with or without Lee Corso as a media person. You can't say that about Vitale and his impact on college basketball. Vitale also seems to have the appearance of mental acumen going on where Corso looks lost a lot. So let him alone to do his thing.
Before he became caricature of himself with the catchphrases, the man was the best there was in the 1980's and helped to popularize college basketball and make ESPN a household name. I don't want to insult Lee Corso as a person but college football is and wasn't going to be different with or without Lee Corso as a media person. You can't say that about Vitale and his impact on college basketball. Vitale also seems to have the appearance of mental acumen going on where Corso looks lost a lot. So let him alone to do his thing.