Time Out, Baby!

One of America's most popular sports analysts provides the inside track on NCAA basketball in a colorful anecdotal chronicle of the 1990-91 season

This first-person, present-tense account of the 1990-91 college basketball season captures the exuberant quality of Vitale's unrestrained sportscasting while testifying to the rigors of his schedule. A broadcaster for ESPN (now in his 12th year there) and ABC (now in his fourth), who is also a columnist for USA Today and a deliverer of inspirational speeches, Vitale is ever on the go. From a pre-season tournament in November to Duke University's winning the NCAA crown at the Hoosier Dome, Vitale speeds from Kentucky to Nevada to New York to Louisiana to Minnesota, often making several appearances in different states on the same day. In his spare time, we learn, he watches games on TV. Having coached at the high school, college and professional levels, he says he knows every coach (this sometimes limits his objectivity about them and some of their shady practices) and is a generous judge of young talent. Written with Philadelphia Daily News basketball reporter Weiss, this autobiographic chronicle will mesmerize students of perpetual motion.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Fast-break fulminations on the 1990-91 NCAA season, delivered at record decibels by megastar sportscaster Vitale (Vitale, 1988). Vitale (writing with veteran Philadelphia Daily News sports- reporter Weiss) offers a screaming diary of frenetic moments and random observations on college hoops that is as much self-promotion and self-defense against critics as it is record or analysis. In addition to finding out that the most impressive college player he has seen since joining ABC four years ago was David Robinson, learning that Syracuse's Billy Owens was his favorite collegiate last season, and that the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers are Vitale's pick for all-time greatest college team, we are subjected to seemingly endless Vitale-related trivia from last year's campaign: Norman Chad attacks Vitale in The National; Vitale and Billy Packer squabble over self-promotion strategies; Jim Boeheim calls to rip Vitale after Vitale rips him. The author provides almost no new insight into the 1990-91 NCAA season and especially disappoints in not explaining how Duke pulled off its miracle upset in last year's semifinals. He also glosses over the nefarious side of modern college hoops, paying scant attention to recruiting scandals. Vitale seems too wrapped up in hyping the game and his own career to be an attentive reporter--so what we get is goofy and giddy, Baby, like the man himself. (Sixteen pages of b&w photographs--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Vitale, the loud, outspoken, and flamboyant sportscaster seen and heard on television and radio throughout the college basketball year comes at readers nonstop here with "end to end" action. Vitale has created his own unique and colorful language in describing the sport he loves. His book is a fast-paced and fun-filled ride, as he travels from coast to coast covering the 1990-91 NCAA season. He gets up front and personal with virtually all the leading coaches and players in the game and touches on the serious issues of recruiting practices and academic problems encountered by student athletes. His book will appeal to the serious college basketball fan. Recommended for large sports collections.
- Jeffrey Nicholas, V.A. Medical Ctr. Lib. Svce., Castle Point,
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.