Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub food paired with local beer. Choose among 35 rotating taps and 200+ beers in the cooler.
It was good to see Dickie V, but I’m glad he’s a one-and-doner.
Vitale returned to broadcasting during his long battle with cancer in the place where he began his improbable career.
In 1979, Carolina was playing at Clemson in a game that was not supposed to be televised. But an hour or so before the scheduled tip-off, a camera was hastily set up above mid-court at Littlejohn Coliseum.
When asked if the game was indeed being televised, a Clemson official laughed and said, “Oh, it’s a new cable channel that’s going into about a hundred homes.”
Asked what the name of the new channel was, he said, “It’s something like ESPN.” He didn’t know who was calling the play by play but said the color man was “some coach who just got fired from the NBA.”
That former coach was Vitale, who lasted one season with the Detroit Pistons after four years at the University of Detroit.
Coaching was coaching, but cable TV was a brand-new genre where anything went and Vitale took complete advantage of that freedom.
To many traditional TV watchers, he was loud and obnoxious and might have been fired from established networks after a few games.
But he coined the phrase “Diaper Dandy” and other alliterative adjectives like “super scintillating sensational!” That became his schtick.
Dickie V caught on and was a fixture on ESPN and cable TV for 40 years. He interacted with student bodies like the Cameron Crazies and promoted high-profile coaches Jim Valvano, Dean Smith and Mike Krzyzewski. When Valvano was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Vitale partnered with ESPN to create the Jimmy V Fund and still is a supporter through his own battle with the disease.
Dickie V was an entrepreneur whose income grew into the millions from ESPN and speaking engagements and appearances, plus books he co-authored and movies he appeared in.
During Duke’s first ACC loss at Clemson Saturday night, he received a hero’s welcome and sat between play-by-play man Dave O’Brien and analyst Cory Alexander who spent an inappropriate amount of time praising Vitale.
He won’t be courtside for Carolina at Clemson Monday night, and that is good because the game deserves the complete focus of the broadcast team and the audience.
The Tigers are currently tied for second place in the ACC with Louisville, and both are shoo-ins with Duke for bids to the NCAA tournament. Frankly, the Tar Heels do not need the distraction of visiting with Vitale before a game that is extremely important to them, as they seek a Quad 1 win over Clemson to increase their chances of returning to the Big Dance.
Vitale would talk about that and his speculation would not be helpful to fans watching and pulling hard for a win their team almost has to have.
Hopefully, we will see Dickie V on many other telecasts for the rest of this season and into the future. But just not tonight.
chapelboroaudio.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/2025/February/10/Art%27s%20Notebook%20021024%20-%20FINAL.mp3
Featured image via Associated Press/Darron Cummings
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
Chansky’s Notebook: Awesome, Baby! Chapelboro.com.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Chansky’s Notebook: Awesome, Baby! )
Also on site :