This is the Dumbest Column About Dick Vitale Ever Written

Take a bow, David Jones: You’ve written the worst Dick Vitale column in the 30+ years he’s been a college basketball announcer.

Comparing Dick Vitale to Chris Berman? Inconceivable and wildly inaccurate. Vitale has done so much for college basketball through his passion and unique style – Berman’s done nothing for any sport. Highlights, maybe.

Try to plow through this garbage from Jones:

"That self-involvement ruined Vitale for me. It wasn’t that he was loud. It was that he became loud and vacuous. As if he believed that the act of being Dick Vitale was what got him where he was. As if he thought saying all those catchphrases over and over was something viewers expected and so he was obligated to yell them, no matter what was going on in the game. And now that all Vitale has left is his shtick and ESPN is easing him off a few plum assignments, he should realize that, at 75, that might be OK. After all, you didn’t hear his contemporary Brent Musburger doing all this semi-whining when he was semi-demoted to SEC Network games. He just accepted the new assignments and moved ahead like a pro."

The endless Duke worship isn’t even bad; it’s almost a running joke at this point. Vitale laughs when he pumps up Duke, regardless of the game’s he’s calling. It’s to the point people expect that from him.

Brent Musburger’s only the best college football announcer today – yes, he’s still No. 1 – and that disqualifies any earlier statements Jones made that may have been correct (though I can’t find one).

You know what you’re getting with Dick Vitale – effusive, over-the-top praise, glowing reviews of all his favorite coaches, and enthusiasm that college basketball needs.

Let him be, people.

We’re all going to miss him when he’s done calling games.