Dick Vitale tweets Trump’s speech “filled with lies,” deletes, might write in Coach K

ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale is known for his enthusiasm about basketball, charitable fundraising, concerts and movies, but he’s also apparently very into fact-checking political speeches. On Friday, Vitale tweeted a link to a USA Today article fact-checking Donald Trump’s Republican National Convention speech from Thursday night, and commented on it in typical Dickie V style. He’s since deleted his tweet, but here’s a screencap of it:

That tweet would appear to violate ESPN’s political commentary guidelines distributed in January:

We should refrain from political editorializing, personal attacks or “drive-by” comments regarding the candidates and their campaigns (including but not limited to on platforms such as Twitter or other social media). Approved commentaries on sports-specific issues, or seeking responses from candidates on relevant news issues, are appropriate. However perceived endorsements should be avoided. (In others cases, guidelines, acceptable commentary and political advocacy should prevail).

So, that may be part of why Vitale deleted it. ESPN certainly hasn’t enforced that policy on everyone, though, so it’s not certain they would have punished him even if he left it up. Another rationale for deleting this one is the anti-Trump sentiment here may not fully represent Vitale’s views; he’s also said he has problems with both candidates and with politicians in general.

Political speeches r so phony / speech writers put words together to get a vote/get rid of teleprompter & make them speak their own words !

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) July 22, 2016

words to live by so tired of these phony words we get from these politicians

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) July 22, 2016

Tell'em Dick. THAT'S AWESOME BABYYYYYY !!! It simply is all about getting a vote / say anything / lies all over the place

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) July 22, 2016

Kyle I am fed up with all the lies we hear

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) July 22, 2016

Politics not my cup of tea my friend

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) July 22, 2016

Some valid points / trust me I want zero to do with politics / on both sides we get lies lies & lies Thnx

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) July 22, 2016

take a break / I am not sure how I will vote / used the wrong lingo / wanted to show what we get from both sides Lies

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) July 22, 2016

Vitale even jokingly said he might write in Coach K:

I have not decided yet / might write in 4 Coach K ha ha

— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) July 22, 2016

So, Vitale certainly isn’t pushing a pro-Hillary Clinton agenda here given that he appears to be criticizing her as much as Trump, but his political tweets and thoughts on the “lies” from both sides are certainly provocative, and perhaps not what the bosses in Bristol want to hear. They might prefer he stick to talking about Celine Dion.

[@DickieV on Twitter]