Wake Forest Athletics
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2/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 25, 2008
It's fast approaching midnight after the Wake Forest - North Carolina game as I sit down to write. I'm up against the wall getting this one to my print editor, but I begged for the latest possible deadline hoping to be able to write about Wake's improbable sweep of Duke and the Tar Heels on successive Sundays. Wins that would jumpstart Wake's run toward the NCAA Tournament. That, of course, could still happen, but now there's a little (OK a lot) of work that still needs to be done. But there is enough opportunity, and hope remains within the Deacon camp.
But it's still nearly tomorrow as I sit and ponder the words that will fill this space, and only about twenty minutes ago did I figure out what I was going to attempt to write. And I know two men who will be awfully surprised.
For the second time this season, I sat courtside at an ACC basketball game with not just one of my colorful sidekicks, Mark Freidinger, but both the Dinger and my football partner, Bill Urbanik. The first time was at Raleigh when the Deacs lost the heartbreaker against the Pack on the last second dunk by Ben McCauley. And it was by accident. Mark and I were preparing as usual to go on the air when lo and behold up walks Urbanik who had driven down with his wife, Martha. Martha dropped Bill off - he bought a third-level ticket while she ran some errands. I happened to have an extra credential and invited him to sit with Dinger and me. He loved it. So much so that he asked if he could go to Chapel Hill since he had never been inside the Smith Center. We had the room, and besides Bill had given up his two season tickets for the Duke game to give to me so that I could make the day of a dear friend's daughter and friend who had never been to a Wake game. Follow me?
Anyway, there we sat in Chapel Hill. Stan. The Dinger. And Urbansky (my term of endearment for the old coach).
After the game at Carolina we were standing around chatting with Woody Durham and some of the Tar Heel folks when I herded my guys up by saying, "Let's go. I've got to get home and get to work." I pleaded with Mark and Bill for some ideas for my column since I had to scrap the one about the Sunday Sweep. They were helpful and gave me some ideas for perhaps another day. But as I got out of the car to come inside I knew I had to write about them.
When I think of the experience these two men bring to our broadcasts I am truly amazed. Mark is pushing twenty seasons on the broadcast team - the last twelve with me. If there is a man alive with a greater passion for the game of basketball I'd like to meet him. That includes Dick Vitale. Mark brings with him decades of knowledge founded on playing, coaching and scouting. And he possesses the ability to communicate in such a way that all who hear are satisfied. He is known from coast to coast and border to border by anybody and everybody who has anything to do with basketball. Quite simply he is an invaluable resource.
Bill Urbanik is much the same as Dinger. Here's a man who has been around football his entire life. He played for legendary Woody Hayes at Ohio State. He's played in the Rose Bowl and coached in the Super Bowl. He even worked with Al Davis of the Raiders and lived to tell about it. He looks like an old coach and sounds like one, too. He's the guy in the movie with the grey sweatshirt on that says "COACH" across the chest. Throw in the whistle around his neck and there you have Bill Urbanik. I forget now what Bo knows, but Bill knows football. And football knows him.
Based on experience alone, we can't pay these guys what they're worth. And they don't care. They are certainly not doing what they do because of what we pay them. They both do it because of two things. They love their sport. And they love the Deacs.
Tonight was tough on all three of us. We didn't rebound well enough to suit Dinger. Urbansky wasn't allowed talk. And I had to drive.
Thanks guys.
