College basketball analyst and Hall of Famer Dick Vitale blames hackers for a tweet sent by his account that wasn’t promoting what he thought it was.
Dick Vitale is as active as any 75-year-old on Twitter, with lots of selfies, college basketball observations and other interesting tidbits.
But on Saturday, his timeline took an unexpected turn when this tweet was altered:
Suddenly, that tweet turned into this, followed by a panicked apology:
Sometimes we screw up on social media—God knows I’ve done it (not turning a selfie into a porn promo, but mistakes just the same).
You come up with what you think is a clever hashtag with no idea you’ve just told your followers that you are part of a sect that favors selling the state of Ohio to the Martians.
More from Entertainment
- 10 greatest fictional football players of all time
- Stephen A. Smith learned quickly not to mess with Rihanna
- Everything to know about Taylor Swift’s Thursday Night Football appearance
- House of the Dragon live stream: How to watch
- From boxing to cinema, Javon Walton stars in Samaritan with Stallone
But Dickie V is claiming he was hacked by hackers who were considerate enough to leave the correct promotional hashtag–#LOUvsUVA—on the tweet.
It’s entirely possible—likely, even—that Vitale’s Twitter account is often in the hands of third parties.
Even his bio is written in the third person. Seriously.
It reads:
Dickie V is a longtime college basketball analyst with ESPN.
Vitale has been an analyst at ESPN since December 1979, when he called the first college basketball game on the fledgling network that had been launched just three months earlier.
He called the DePaul-Wisconsin game with Joe Boyle. He got a three-year contract extension last fall, even as he was replaced on the network’s Saturday night prime time games in favor of Jay Bilas.
“There aren’t many guys my age who can fill a schedule that I’m going to do,” Vitale said in October. “I feel like I have the energy of a 25-year-old. I’ll match my energy, my passion, my love for the game with anybody. I still have it and I hope to have it for a number of years.”
His broadcasting career has gone extremely well for something that was going to be temporary as he waited for another coaching vacancy to open up after he was fired as head coach by the NBA’s Detroit Pistons after less than two seasons on the job.
Vitale coached at the University of Detroit for four seasons, 1973-77, going 79-29 and leading the Titans to the Sweet 16 in 1977.
He was promoted to athletic director after that season, which included a 21-game winning stream and a road win over eventual national champion Marquette.
Vitale was 34-60 with the Pistons, went to ESPN for a “temporary” gig a month after he was canned by the team and the rest, as they say, is history.
More from FanSided
- Joe Burrow owes Justin Herbert a thank you note after new contract
- Chiefs gamble at wide receiver could already be biting them back
- Braves-Red Sox start time: Braves rain delay in Boston on July 25
- Yankees: Aaron Boone gives optimistic return date for Aaron Judge
- MLB Rumors: Yankees-Phillies trade showdown, Mariners swoop, India goes to Seattle