APRIL 2022 13says if the Irish beat the Dukies
Coach Brey will put on his dancing
shoes. This will not be as we all
know easily attained as the team
wearing the Duke uniforms is not
bad / ha ha! PAOLO BANCHERO
at 6’10 is a nightmare for their
opponents....Also Brey will match
coaching wisdom with a guy that has
had some success called Coach K.
(N.B. Duke won 57–43.)
Lacking a voice is not the same
thing as being muted. And if
Vitale can’t bring to bear his gifts
of intonation and rhythm and
volume, the man sure can amplify
sentiment with emoji. Vitale’s
communiqués feature more than
any weight room, more than
any megachurch, more than any
Va lent ine’s display.
But this experience has
reconfirmed for Vitale his
preference for talking to typing.
Communication by text for me gets
frustrating at times as I am so much
more comfortable speaking....Giveme the mic/ want it so badly. Also I
am being very active in going out for
lunch / dinner & it is a MUST that I
travel with a pad & write down all my
responses to those that visit with
a hello or best of luck comment. I
order my food by pad / not FUN.A colleague of Vitale’s suggested
that, frustrating as this has been
for him, the well-wishes he receives
on social media and via text
come freighted with a different
kind of emotional depth than the
backslaps and requests for selfies
he gets—and religiously obliges—in
gyms and airports and restaurants.
Vitale doesn’t disagree. I’m blown
away by the overwhelming number
of prayers & love I’ve received from
my second family at ESPN, from
the coaching community that forms
the landscape of college hoops,
from so many media members even
those over the years that have been
critical at times, obviously the fans
over the years.
Relentless optimism and positive
thinking have always been as much
a part of Vitale’s singular M.O. as
exuberance, nicknames and nonstop
chatter. Vitale’s concerns about his
voice often seem to trump more
serious, mortal reckonings. When
darker thoughts take up residency
in his head, he tries to
clear them with a mix of
slogans—more than once,
his texts came garnished
with the line from his
one-time broadcast
partner Jim Valvano:
“don’t give up, don’t
ever give up”— a n d
glass-half-full data.
Jon , I can only go
what I am told & I be am
blessed to have a great
medical TEAM Dr Rick
Brown who I had to see
about an hr ago....He
said my blood counts
post chemotherapy have been really
good. He is very optimistic that I
will be in remission after my chemo
treatments....I don’t know if it is
appease me but his staff members
constantly state that they don’t
believe I am 82 / they make me feelgood by saying u don’t look 82 u
certainly don’t act 82. Based on all
[t]hat I am very optimistic.
The season on the sideline has
only served to convince Vitale
that he wants nothing to do with
retirement. He tells a story about
making his broadcasting debut in
December 1979 in Chicago, calling
a Wisconsin-DePaul game. His
enthusiasm for the job, for college
hoops, for being Dick Vitale...it’s
all undented and undiminished.
I’ve told my bosses on numerous
occasions that when the time
arrives that I feel I’ve slipped
in memory or lack the desire to
prepare or simply not excited about
getting to courtside for a game, I
would be the first to say it’s over. &
what a glorious ride it’s been.
However, also if my health doesn’t
allow to fun croon like I have in the
past I would not try to just hang out.
After surgery in early February,
Zeitels told Vitale he would have
to go on “total voice rest” for four
weeks. In a perfect world, Vitale
will be close to his old loquacious
self by the time he holds the
annual gala on May 6 to benefit the
V Foundation for cancer research.
Given the circumstances of Vitale’s
health setbacks over the last year,
the tenor will be different. So, he
hopes, will the donations. Vitale
has set a one-night goal of raising
$7 million. Then, bring on the
2022–23 season.
I have so much energy and
enthusiasm left in the tank/I will
match my drive/desire with any
22 YR OLD.... I am greedy and want
to be the first broadcaster to walk in
and call a game at 100. Heck, that is
only 18 years to go. Don’t bet against
it happening/I guess nothing wrong
with dreaming baby!... I just need
MY VOICE BACK.
To which, of course, there is only
CO one real response:
UR
TE
SY
OF
DI
CK
VI
TA
LE