Dick Vitale's Living a Dream: Reflections on 25 Years Sitting in the Best Seat in the House

by Dick Vitale, Dick Weiss

Since joining ESPN in 1979, Dick Vitale has become the senior spokesman for college hoops. He is the popular, vivid, vibrant voice of the sport who has been called "The Cable Cosell" and who still believes in having fun on the job. Who else but Dick Vitale would allow himself to be passed up through the stands by the Duke University students or be televised standing on his head in the studio after losing a bet on an NCAA tournament game between Illinois and Austin Peay? There are also few other broadcasters in history who have developed their own glossary of terms, with phrases that are now part of the popular culture. Vitale has witnessed the phenomenal growth of TV sports and has been there to chronicle the history and trends in the game, both the good and the bad. His association with the giants of coaching, like Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski, John Thompson, and Rick Pitino, and his experience as a former coach on the high school, collegiate, and professional levels, have given him a unique perspective on the game and a philosophy he has passed down from generation to generation of basketball fans. The new softcover edition of Dick Vitale´s Living a Reflections of 25 Years Sitting in the Best Seat in the House is more than just a memoir of an active life in sports. It is an intimate look at the man behind the TV persona. Vitale reveals details about his start at ESPN and shares his feelings about the most important people in the college basketball world, on both personal and professional levels. There are reminiscences of the celebrities he has met, as well as the deep friendships he has formed over the years. Living a Dream is not mired in the past, however. Vitale is eloquent on the LeBron James phenomenon and the controversy surrounding the breakup of the Big East Conference, both of which had a huge impact recently on college basketball. He writes about the price coaches and players have to pay to be the best, the problems that beset the sport today, what he would want in a perfect basketball world, and his projections for the future of the sport he loves. Dick Vitale´s Living a Reflections of 25 Years Sitting in the Best Seat in the House is a book for everyone who cares about sports in America and will show readers a Dick Vitale they have never before seen.

Genres: Basketball, Sports, Memoir, Biography

Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[John Pitcock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome Baby..!! Since I live in the same part of Florida, Sarasota, as Mr. Vitale, I’ve gotten to see him a couple of times. Over the years. I always write him a check to The V Foundation for cancer Research. This book was just like listening to him cover a college game — energetic and exciting. I’m praying he beats his own current battle with cancer and will be announcing more games down the road. That would be Awesome Baby..!!

[Caden Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good

[Paul Delacruz · Rating 4 out of 5]

25 years of “It’s Awesome, Baby” where Dick Vitale tells his perception of college basketball.

[Tim Suddeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like listening to Duck Vitale, you’ll love this book. Written in his voice, baby, he recounts special memories and talks about sports. A fun read. Like having him over for coffee.

[Joseph McGarry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from an Express Employment seminar.

Yo, it's Dickie V, baby! He beat the ziggy and became a PTPer at ESPN! It's awesome, baby!

Anyone who understands that statement has heard Dick Vitale call games on ESPN and ABC. He first came on the network in 1979, and has been there ever since. He wrote this book in 2003 to celebrate his 25th anniversary on ESPN. Even he recognizes that he wouldn't have been hired by any other network. He didn't fit the mold. Ironically, he probably wouldn't be hired at ESPN today. Everyone is buttoned down. Dick Vitale is an entertainer. Someone once said, "I didn't talk to Dick Vitale for 6 months. I didn't want to interrupt him." Reading this book 11 years later, I noticed some things that were very prescient. He has an entire chapter on LeBron James, talking about what kind of an impact he would have on the NBA. As I was reading this, ESPN had 2 networks simultaneously discussing his decision to return to Cleveland. (It might have been 3, but I don't get ESPNEWS.) Dickie V got that one right. He wasn't so good at predicting other things, though. On page 219 he says, "[T]he greatest role models are those who have done things the right way an made good decisions their entire lives--baseball stars like Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez[.]" If he were writing that today, A-Rod wouldn't be on there.

He also laments a lot of the changes in college basketball, especially players who opted to skip college and go straight to the NBA. He wrote this before the one and done rule, which states that a player can't enter the draft until after his first year in college. This was also before the lawsuit by Ed O'Bannon and other former college players saying that they are owed money for the NCAA's use of their names and likenesses in video games and other marketing materials. He would have a lot to say about that. He does talk about his personal life, and how things have worked out for him and his family. A bit dated, but all in all a good book.

[Bill Donhiser · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really disappointed with this book. I bought it at a John Maxwell Simulcast and was expecting a leadership book with some sports metaphors. Not a simple recounting of Sports trivia and name dropping. Probably a good book for a basketball nut who reads but close to worthless for me.