If March was anyone’s time to shine, it’s the ESPN college basketball personality Dick Vitale who a) lives for this month b) does more endorsements and interviews than an NFL quarterback coming off a Super Bowl win.
So when he called For The Win to talk about going up against astronaut Buzz Aldrin in the fourth annual Allstate March Mayhem Challenge, he admitted he wasn’t coming into the interview on the most sleep.
After all, even if it’s not on his network, he can’t miss a second of March Madness.
“It’s wacky, there’s no question about that. If I told you all the requests — I like to say yes to people because people have been so good to me. I mean my life has exceeded any dream I’ve ever had,” he said. ” … The fans have been so good to me, the media’s been so good to me. I like to see ‘yes’ and then it’s very difficult because you shouldn’t say yes to everyone.
“It’s off the charts. Talk shows, social media today is unbelievable today … you know walking into an arena, hearing people chanting my name, it just gives me goosebumps and it just brings out the kid in me. I may be 76 but I act about 12. Young at heart!”
Michael Stravato/AP Images for Allstate
This year is full of parity and the possibility of upsets, which makes Vitale more excited than ever. His Cinderella pick is Arizona — a team that he thinks just need to play tight team defense and protect the ball to go far through the bracket.
“I’m going to tell you there’s some intriguing match-ups,” he said. “Like UConn and Colorado. A lot of Huskies fans think they’re going to march on easily. I’m telling you now Colorado’s not cupcake city. Same with my alma mater. I’m very proud of Seton Hall this year, they got Gonzaga now in the first round — that’s a 6-11. I’m telling you Gonzaga now is way better than an 11 seed.”
So alma mater in the tournament? Check. A high probability of a Cinderella run? Check. Vitale, true to his reputation, can’t contain his excitement — despite having done a string of media calls for the past six hours by the time he spoke to For The Win.
“I said from the first week of the season, my theme was going to be ‘unpredictability’ and it hasn’t changed. It’s been unpredictability all year long. There’s not much of a difference between a four, five seed like a Kentucky or an Indiana and teams that are seeded number one up there on the charts. So it’s going to be a wild journey, it’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said.
“There’s nothing, nothing — and I mean this from my point of view as somebody that loves college basketball — like the three weeks that captivate the nation like what’s happening starting (Tuesday) night. Grandma, grandpa, everyone gets involved. Little kids put a sweatshirt on and cheer. They go bananas for certain teams … there’s nothing like March Madness.”
So he doesn’t even seem to care that there’s no way he’s beating an astronaut in a March Madness competition.
“He’s very statistically oriented, I know he’s going to utilize that incredible background he has academically in studying and analyzing all of the different teams, their stats,” he said. “… they brought in the ‘A’ team man. They brought in an American icon. My wife’s going nuts here today.”
As he does every year that we’ve spoken about March Madness, Vitale paused at the end of the interview to make a quick plug for his gala which benefits the fight against pediatric cancer. He asks if we can do a follow-up story on that and perhaps if it can get some coverage — after all it’s a hugely important cause to him.
But even that, he says, can wait a week or two.
After all, he has March Madness now.
