A remarkable streak will come to an end this Wednesday at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Dick Vitale, ESPN’s voice for college basketball, will not call the Duke-North Carolina game for the first time since 1979.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the decision came from ESPN and not Vitale.
Vitale has not been assigned Wednesday’s Duke-North Carolina game. He used to be the lone analyst on the game, but over the past few years, Vitale has called the game with play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman and analyst Jay Bilas. Wednesday the game will be handled by just Shulman and Bilas.
Vitale wouldn’t comment on it, but he surely must be devastated by not being able to call the game for which he is best known.
There’s no mention of the game on Vitale’s Twitter account, though I suspect we’ll hear something before Wednesday’s tip-off. Vitale’s contract ends after the 2016-2017 so he appears safe for now and as ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz reiterates, he’s an “integral part of the network’s basketball coverage.”
That being said, the writing is on the wall here. Dickie V’s days as a color commentator will likely be replaced with Dickie V the analyst, both in-studio and remote from his home.
