JOURNAL

JOURNAL ARCHIVE

March 24, 2008

Today, I filmed my upcoming show on ABC, Hooter's presents Dick Vitale's All-American Special to air on Saturday, April 5th from 5 pm - 6pm EST on ABC.  We had a blast as we shot it at the Barbary Shoppe in Lakewood Ranch, Florida.  The owners of the Barbary Shoppe, Lynn and Barry Rainwater, were more than gracious allowing us to set up and use their great shoppe to shoot our show and have some fun. 

One of their barbers, Chris Wagner, was even a part of the show!   I co-hosted the show with one of my favorite guys, Dan Shulman.  Dan and I dished out some great facts and showed great highlights on the best and brightest of the 2007-08 NCAA college basketball season. 

My friend and colleague, Howie Schwab from ESPN, was also on hand to help provide us with all the latest figures and stats on the season's top players.   My special was once again produced by the talented and hardworking team at Intersport led by Larry Holm and Lauren Clister.  They were great to work with as usual and we had a lot of fun while doing it.  Tune in and check it out on April 5th on ABC.  

 

March 13, 2008

I had a terrific time in Charlotte for the ACC tournament where I also participated in a promotion for Alltel Wireless.

Alltel selected a Chief College Basketball Officer of Fans based on the participants knowledge, personality and love of college basketball.

The grand prize winner was Jeff Feller of Gainesville, a true Gator fan. For winning Jeff gets $100,000 plus use of a private jet to take him to the various conference tournaments. Sam Zebian, the coordinator of the promo from Alltel, and Laura Cook, Senior VP for Alltel, did a tremendous job.

It was super fun and Jeff was absolutely ecstatic!

 

Also while in Charlotte, I was honored to be the recipient of the Naismith Award for outstanding contributions to the game of college basketball. Gary Stokan of the Atlanta Sports Council presented me the award and I was flattered to be listed with such past winners as John Wooden and Adolph Rupp.

 

 

March 10, 2008

(In picture below, Tyler Vaught and John Gibson of EA Sports)

I had a great time doing a satellite media tour for EA Sports for their new College Basketball March Madness 2008 game. It was super fun and the people with EA Sports are true professionals. Their games are the best in the business and I am proud to be associated with their product.

 

 

March 4 - 6, 2008

 

My wife and I had a terrific three days as we flew across country to California for two different appearances I had. My first appearance was at the Marriott Palm Desert Resort in Palm Desert, CA for the MCAA Convention (The Mechanical Contractors Association of America).

The Director of the event, Cynthia Buffington, did a tremendous job and the convention was filled with loads of energy and excitement. They even had Huey Lewis and the News give a concert to all the people. It was a terrifc time and my wife and I had a blast dancing the night away.

 

My second appearance was for IHRSA (International Health and Racquet Sports Clubs of America) in beautiul San Diego at the Marriott by the marina.

There were over 14,000 people in the city for this convention. Marc Gagnon with IHRSA was a terrific host and once again, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed mingling with everyone from this convention.

Kent Stevens, VP with Matrix Fitness, introduced me at the event and Anita Horne Lawlor, COO of IHRSA, was a true pleasure to work with.

The people could not have been kinder and more welcoming to us. It was a great way to spend three days.

 

March 2, 2008

What a great time my wife and I had going to see the sensational Smokey Robinson in concert at the Van Wezel Performing Arts Center.

He sounded terrific and had the sell out crowd dancing in their seats. I have always loved his music and it was such an honor to be able to talk to him after the show. A terrific guy, who sure knows his hoops. We were joined by our good friends, Bob and Beverly Neville.

It was a great evening and a super way to relax before we head into March Madness.