Vitale in the Hall of Fame?

Am I one of the three? I don't know how I could vote for someone to be inducted to the Basketball Hall of Fame who I would like to see banned from the sport. Maybe I'm not familiar with enough history to know about him "raising the profile of college basketball," but when I hear this phrase, the only profile raising I can think of is possibly that my wife would recognize him as "the guys who is always screaming when you watch basketball". Has he contributed to the game? Has he made it better? Done something others haven't or couldn't?

Now that you've got me thinking about this, I'm wondering why ANY announcer would be put in the Hall of Fame. If we're putting in Vitale, how about Sportscenter anchors, or the PTI guys?

I'd rather see Billy Packer in the hall of fame.

(Although the Basketball Hall of Fame is up in Massachusetts, right? I've been there. It's already pretty dull, so I can't see how added Vitale will diminish it further.)

Billy Effing Packer???? Billy "Worst Broadcaster In Any Sport" Packer???!!!

I vote neither. MAYBE Vitale, if his HOF bust has duct-tape officially molded accross his mouth. At least Vitale has had a mostly positive impact on the game, even if he is a 100% apologist for every coach that's ever lived, and I am afraid to ask what him and Coach K do in a closed room...

Packer though is so bad, he should be publicly whipped,
and hung outside the door of the HOF, where people can publicly berate him, defile him and spit on him, jsut for being Billy Effing Packer. What a complete moron. Did I mention that I think I would like to kick him in the nuts? If he has any?

And on the other side of the door, is Dumbo himself, Bill "Bullwinkle-brained" Walton... Jesus Christ, maybe they should both be locked in a room somewhere (sound-proofed, so nothng accidently leaks out to the brained public), and check back on them occassionally, to make sure they are still dead, I mean still in the room.

Thanks for getting me going today though... Is this shy they call it March Madness?

Jesus...Billy Effing Packer. Did I mention I hate that guy?

Basketball? That's like netball for boys, right?

My firm belief is that the Hall of Fame needs to represent the biggest faces and stars from a sport. Period.

That's why Vitale belongs in the Hall. It's also why Shoeless Joe, Pete Rose, and Barry Bonds all belong in the Hall.

And then include a discussion on their plaque that covers the problems with their careers. But don't make inclusion into a discussion of whether they were good people or not.

But I'm probably a cranky minority on this.

Greg Doyel is a blowhard that puts out stuff like this to get people talking about his articles.

One of the NC State blogs I read had this to say about him
"Don't feed the troll"

http://www.statefansnation.com/index.php/archives/2006/04/12/red-or-whi…

My opinion is that since the HOF is for basketball in general, not just players and coaches (for example the guys credited with the shot clock and 3-point line are in the HOF) then Vitale deserves it as much as anyone. Like him or not (I don't, generally) you would be hard pressed to find someone who has done more to get people to watch and be excited about basketball, especially college ball.

So what do my three basketball-watching readers think?

As a board certified basketball stats geek, I am barred from actually watching games.

However, if I was allowed to watch games, I would watch the games with the volume as low as possible in order to avoid the commentary of Vitale. I don't see how raising the profile of the sport (if that's what he's done) is good enough to get you into the hall of fame, which, I believe, should be reserved for players and coaches.

He and Packer helped popularize the game, if others of that ilk are in the HOF, so be it. I do think announcers should have their own wing, like in baseball. Same for administrators. Tagliubue gets much support for the football HOF, but there you have only so many slots, and I'd much rather those slots go to players.

As long as they put Dennis Johnson in sometime, I guess I'd be OK with it......If I went to the hall I wouldn'/t linger at his plaque, and would be very glad there was no "diaper dandy, baby...." soundclip going.......

I've seen various people say that Vitale has done a lot to get people to watch college basketball, but they always seem to be talking about mysterious "other people". Can anyone personally trace their passion for college basketball back to Vitale? Anyone want to come forward? All first person testimonials all seem to be: "I personally hate him, but he's done so much to make other people watch."