Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 13, 1993 TAG: 9302130088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
VITALE HELPS PUT VALVANO'S STRUGGLE IN PERSPECTIVE
It was Friday morning, and Dick Vitale had just awakened after sleeping in his Bradenton, Fla., home for the first time in 21 nights. He had the flu and a fever approaching 104.Just back from three weeks on the road watching and talking basketball, he has to leave early today for Las Vegas, Nev., where he will work Sunday's Louisville-UNLV game for ABC Sports.
"I feel lousy, but I'm not complaining," Vitale said. "I told my wife last night that here I am whining like a little baby with a temperature, and then I think about what Jimmy Valvano's going through."
Vitale says he sees "flashes" of his fellow ESPN and ABC analyst daily. Viewers, however, have not seen the cancer-stricken Valvano for about 10 days. He is scheduled to work Sunday's North Carolina-Georgia Tech game for ABC (1:30 p.m., WSET Channel 13), but he had to miss last Sunday's game assignment, and he hasn't been in the ESPN studio since Feb. 2.
Vitale talks regularly to Valvano and his wife, Pam. Vitale said Valvano's battle includes a mental game he's playing. The former North Carolina State coach realizes that when he isn't on the air, viewers at home are thinking the worst.
"Jimmy is courageous as hell," Vitale said. "He's battling for his life, and he's worried about how other people see him. It's my understanding now that it's a matter of trying to balance the reaction to the chemotherapy and the medication with the pain.
"I guess the doctors don't say much. All of his work is determined by how much pain he's feeling. I know he wants to work. I know he's planning to work. His attitude is fantastic, and his courage is unbelieveable. The kind of response he's received from people, and continues to receive, only helps him."
Valvano has spent the past 11 days at his Cary, N.C., home. He was scheduled to work the ESPN studio show on Feb. 3 to analyze the Villanova-Pitt and North Carolina-Duke game telecasts. After he arrived at ESPN, severe pain kept him from going on the air. He returned to his Bristol, Conn., hotel and went home the next day.
He's been undergoing chemotherapy at the Duke University Hospital, where doctors have been changing Valvano's medication in hopes of helping him return to work. While Valvano has lost weight during his illness, an increased gauntness was noticeable on his past two ESPN appearances.
A coaching friend said Valvano has lost almost 40 pounds since he began chemotherapy, which would put him at about 160 pounds.
Vitale said he called Valvano early this week, but the ex-coach's wife said he wasn't able to come to the phone. An ABC spokesman said Friday that Valvano plans to work Sunday, but his appearance is not a certainty. Last weekend, he didn't have to back off from the Wake Forest-Temple game until 24 hours before tipoff.
Valvano, who is superb in the ESPN studio, has said in interviews his fight is centered on his telecast work. It's part of his plan to live as full a life as he possibly can. So, seeing the red eye flash on atop a camera that's pointed at him is a desired dose of medicine.
It was a decade ago when Valvano coached the Wolfpack to an unlikely NCAA championship. Next Sunday, his '83 team will have a reunion at the Duke-N.C. State game at Reynolds Coliseum. Valvano is scheduled to work that game telecast for ABC, too.
"There's no way you or me can know how much pain Jimmy goes through," Vitale said. "To work under those conditions, it takes a lot of courage.
"Jimmy's situation certainly does put the games we play into perspective. What does a jump shot mean compared to what Jimmy's going through?"
\ FAST TRACK: Five cars in Sunday's Daytona 500 telecast (noon, WDBJ, Channel 7) will carry CBS cameras. Darrell Waltrip, Davey Allison, Ernie Irvan and Rick Wilson will carry in-car cameras, and some will have "bumper cams." Geoff Bodine's Thunderbird will have cameras on the roof and attached to the right front suspension.
A CBS spokesman said some drivers refused the request to travel with a camera and mounting because of the weight - a maximum of 14 pounds. Dale Earnhardt, the spokesman said, was one of those reluctant drivers.
\ AMERICA'S COWBOYS: After further review, it appears the reason the Super Bowl two weeks ago had more viewers than any other show in television history was the Dallas Cowboys, not Michael Jackson's halftime gyrations. Like it or not, the Cowboys are "America's Team."
The two highest-rated Monday night games this past season were Dallas games, the opener against the Washington Redskins with a 19.3 Nielsen rating and an Oct. 5 game against the Philadelphia Eagles with 22.3. Also, the Dallas-San Francisco 49ers NFC title game posted a 33.3 rating - the highest-rated NFL game, not counting Super Bowls, since a 42.9 for the 1982 NFC title game between the 49ers and - yes - the Cowboys.
\ SHAQ'S BACK: The "Shaq Attack" will continue on NBC's coverage of the NBA. The network has added another Orlando Magic date to its schedule, Feb. 28 against San Antonio. That will make four Shaquille O'Neal appearances on NBC in four weeks, counting next Sunday's prime-time NBA All-Star Game show. Shaq appears this Sunday against the New York Knicks (1 p.m., WSLS, Channel 10).
\ AROUND THE DIAL: It's one year until the 1994 Winter Games open, so CBS sent its prime-time host for the next Olympics, Greg Gumbel, to Lillehammer, Norway, for a look at the Games site. A one-hour special "Olympic Winterfest" airs today (2:45 p.m., WDBJ) after the tape of Thursday's Twin 125 qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway. . . . ESPN has added four college football games to its 1993 schedule, including West Virginia-Boston College, which has been moved from Sept. 11 to Nov. 26, the day after Thanksgiving, at 4 p.m. . . . Southern Cal, with John Robinson returning as coach, has signed to open in Raycom's Pigskin Classic on Aug. 29. The Trojans are hoping to play Miami (Fla.), but the Hurricanes are balking because of a game against Boston College six days later.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING