Dick Vitale arrived at Sonny Vaccaro's Roundball Classic shortly before 11 in the morning on game day, and started working just after his cab dropped him off at the players' hotel. With his luggage trailing behind him, he first spotted AAU coach Darren Matsubara, who coached Duke's Carlos Boozer in Alaska.

"Hey Mats, what's up? I need to know about your guy Boozer," said Dickie V., hoping for even a morsel of info about whether Duke's big man was turning pro or not. From there it was off to lunch with his longtime friend Vaccaro.

Later, the Adidas rep brought Vitale in to deliver one of his patented motivational speeches to this year's crop of hoopsters. In a cramped conference room for players and parents only, Vitale shared his fail-safe formula for success: Poise + Patience = Production. "I use it every day, baby," said Vitale. "If it can work for a bald-headed guy from Paterson, N.J., it can work for you."

Dickie V told a story about an athlete the formula worked for. "He's got more money than you can dream of," said Vitale, "and I know you dream pretty big. But that's not why Mr. Alex Rodriguez is somebody you can model your life after. It's because he knows the value of saying 'thank you.'"

A few times a week, Vitale leaves motivational messages on A-Rod's answering machine. One day a package arrived at his house full of autographed bats, balls and a No. 3 Texas Rangers jersey. "That's the mark of an unbelievable individual. Who cares if he hasn't hit one out of the park yet?"

During his address, Vitale also managed to squeeze in approximately six dozen Shane Battier references. At one point Vitale was almost in tears while talking about Darryl Strawberry's recent troubles. Later, he was outraged by the way pro athletes take their lifestyle for granted.

"It aggravates me to hear guys who make millions of dollars complain. It f@$#*&g aggravates me!" shouted Vitale at the top of his lungs. It was weird hearing Dick Vitale cuss, kind of like seeing one of those amusement park characters with its head off for the first time.

Vitale eventually found his way to the broadcast booth to call the game, coming through with his usual allotment of 'scintillatings' and 'sensationals'.Finally, 14 hours after he arrived, the indefatigable Dickie V started to wind down. In the Adidas suite, surrounded by Vaccaro and several AAU coaches, he held court on why he loved college basketball. His tie was draped over his shoulders and his top two buttons were undone. He looked tired.

As he headed for the door, he cracked wise to Sonny and said something about Shane Battier. Apparently he's some sort of 'three-S' man.

Chris Palmer is a writer/reporter at ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at christopher.palmer@espnmag.com.