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Commentary: Dick Vitale kissing Ashley Judd no laughing matter
By Shannon Ryan contact the reporter Dick Vitale Kentucky Wildcats ESPN Jack Nicholson
Nothing is more jubilant for college basketball fans than the official start of March Madness.
In that spirit, we can hope, over-the-top ESPN analyst Dick Vitale went for the big laugh – with a big kiss.
Before the SEC championship game on Sunday, the Duke enthusiast certainly got the cheap chuckles he was looking for as the 75-year-old planted a kiss on the lips of an unsuspecting Ashley Judd.
The photo should make us all feel as uncomfortable as Judd looked, the long-time Kentucky fan and actress leaning back as Vitale leans in.
In the aftermath, the tone by most media was a tsk-tsk and a roll of the eyes. Oh, that Dickie V.
Kentucky athletics’ photo staff found the moment so cheeky they tweeted the photo, calling it a “good luck smooch.” USA Today tweeted, “Oh my. That’s one heck of a kiss.” The Washington Post described it as Vitale getting “a little frisky.”
This isn’t something we should so casually laugh off. Why do we think it's cute, let alone acceptable, when old men are physically or verbally inappropriate with women, especially younger women?
This is wildly unprofessional for a broadcaster, but we’ll leave that argument alone as it’s well known that any virtues of journalistic objectivity by Vitale have long been shed for his “awesome, baby” schtick. This is an instance of a man – because of his age, because of his stature, because of his gender - displaying ownership over a woman’s body.
Besides the fact that he appeared sober, Vitale’s antics aren’t all that different than when Joe Namath leeringly and creepily told sideline reporter Suzy Kolber in 2007 that he wanted to kiss her as she interviewed him.
Kolber had to laugh it off, much like Judd did Sunday.
Maybe it really didn’t bother Judd, who had appropriately given Vitale a welcomed kiss on the cheek before the game. (To caption that photo on Instagram, Vitale wrote, “Eat ur hearts out guys.”)
But maybe as an avid sports fan, Judd didn’t want to come off as a poor sport. And maybe it’s just another reminder of how women – as athletes, as fans, as media – are still marginalized in sports despite significant strides in recent history.
Judd, who advocates for women’s rights, recently tweeted some of the vulgar gender-based name calling she receives. But she has been the brunt of sports media sexism lately, too.
Earlier this month, CBS’s Doug Gottlieb bemoaned that Judd wore eyeglasses at a Kentucky game.
“She’s wearing cheaters,” he said. “Man, when you get to the age where you have to wear cheaters…that just breaks my heart.”
Because she wants to see? Oh, the horror!
Or because she cares more about her eyes taking in the game than being your eye candy? Because at age 46, she no longer fits the mold as the hot, young, super fan anymore?
Apparently so. Gottlieb, 39, then described her as “old.”
I don’t recall any Lakers broadcasts when 77-year-old Jack Nicholson’s physique was critiqued or when he was greeted with an uninvited lip lock. A female working in sports media who behaved like Vitale would be widely ridiculed and out of a job, I have no doubt.
I expected ESPN to sweep an uncomfortable and – let’s be frank – creepy moment under the rug. Instead, when Vitale was on the post-Selection Sunday show, the kiss was among the first questions he was asked about by male anchors who inferred they wished they could be so lucky.
They all snickered about Vitale landing one on Judd.
When they stop laughing, I invite them to start thinking.
Copyright © 2015, Chicago Tribune
cComments
Great article. The self-serving "Dickie V" needs to be put out to pasture. He's nothing but a clown at this point, a doddering old fool.
BROHEEMS
AT 9:47 AM MARCH 16, 2015
Mercy! Thank goodness there was no social media to capture my legendary exploits! And come on Dickie V. You're a celebrity, you can do better than some 46 year old!
HACK HARELLSON
AT 9:37 AM MARCH 16, 2015
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