Best of West not good enough for Vitale

So the book arrives, “Dick Vitale’s Fabulous 50 Players and Moments in College Basketball.”

OK, it’s not all of college basketball but college basketball for the last 30 years, the number of years Vitale has been calling the game on television.

It is a list, Vitale says, he expects to be argued. For example his No. 1 player is Patrick Ewing of Georgetown. Michael Jordan is No. 4.

Fair enough, the book is based only on college performances, not professional, and it can be argued that Jordan played on better teams at North Carolina, that Ewing was definitely the face of Georgetown basketball for four years.

But then the count starts. Of the 50 players Vitale names, there are a combined 14 from North Carolina and Duke but only two from the Pacific 10 Conference. You have to go down to No. 26, Sean Elliott from Arizona, to find a Pac-10 representative. The other is California’s Jason Kidd at No. 32.

Nobody from UCLA, the program with the most NCAA championships (11), a program that produced a Final Four team in 1980 and a national championship team in 1995 (time periods covered by Vitale’s list).

Notably missing from Vitale’s list: Sports Illustrated national player of the year Gary Payton of Oregon State; Sports Illustrated national player of the year Harold Miner of USC; Ed O’Bannon and Tyus Edney of UCLA who both won various players of the year awards; Arizona stars Mike Bibby and Jason Terry (who was a national player of the year).

Or how about Loyola Marymount’s Hank Gathers? One could argue he made more of a college basketball impact than, say, Kentucky’s Kenny Walker, who is on Vitale’s list.

Utah became a national powerhouse under Rick Majerus, went to an Elite Eight with Keith Van Horn (who did end up as a No. 2 overall NBA draft pick, which seemed to indicate he had a pretty good college career) and a national championship game with Andre Miller. No mention of them.

When it was suggested to Vitale that fans in the West looking at his list might conclude that the idea of an East Coast bias might be true, Vitale bristled.

“I just talked to [UCLA Coach] Ben Howland,” said Vitale, who was preparing to broadcast Thursday’s game between UCLA and Michigan at Madison Square Garden. “He said, ‘Thank you Dick for the beautiful book.’ I’ll just ask one question? Who’s the one guy that jumps out? I thought the world of Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Gary Payton, trust me. This list is there for people to debate.”

Like Payton, Miller and Barkley didn’t make the list. So debate away.

We’ll have a poll on the Fabulous Forum sports blog where you can vote on which player from the West is most conspicuous by his absence from Vitale’s list.

The NFL is watching

There is a new cellphone web browser that can be downloaded called Skyfire that enables Windows-based and certain Nokia model cellphones to pick up streaming video, including NFL Network games on Thursday nights and NBC games on Sunday nights.

The NFL had recently announced a deal to allow Sprint to offer to its wireless customers the NFL Network telecasts via what was called an “exclusive NFL Mobile Live” application.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said the league’s legal department is “aware” of Skyfire.

“We are exploring our legal options in regards to several different platforms,” McCarthy said.

Tracy Demiroz, vice president of the Mountain View, Calif.-based Skyfire, said users who can get the free Skyfire download on their cellphones are able to pick up anything broadcast or streamed live on PCs. Demiroz said that she was unaware of any legal concerns the NFL might have.

“In terms of blocking what is freely available on PCs, I’m not sure under what grounds the NFL would have that is feasible,” Demiroz said.

Good stuff to watch Saturday

Nothing but the Texas Tech at Oklahoma game at 5 p.m. on Channel 7. OK, maybe the Oregon State at Arizona game on Versus at 4 p.m. For sure, Pittsburgh at Cincinnati on ESPN2 at 4:15. Cincinnati might go to a BCS bowl game. That’ll make the Ball State fans mad.

Good stuff to watch Sunday

The MLS Cup championship is at 12:30 Sunday on ABC. Dynamic striker Juan Pablo Angel leads the New York Red Bulls against the Columbus Crew and star midfielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto at Carson’s Home Depot Center.

And channel-switching, there is NBC’s coverage of Annika Sorenstam’s final LPGA Tour event, the ADT Championship in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Like Pete Sampras, Sorenstam’s calm dominance of her sport was special to watch. Maybe Sorenstam could beat her heirs-apparent such as Lorena Ochoa one more time, as Sampras did at his final U.S. Open appearance.

There is the NFL too: Jets at Tennessee (Brett Favre is going to be motivated); Giants at Arizona (can we catch a glimpse of Matt Leinart on the sidelines?); Indianapolis at San Diego (can desperation make the Chargers better)?

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diane.pucin@latimes.com