On his Indianapolis radio show Monday, ESPN college basketball analyst Dan Dakich revealed that he’s contracted COVID-19.
Whether Dakich intended to tell his 1070 The Fan radio audience that he had the coronavirus or was perhaps saving that information for later in his show, he blurted out the news during a conversation with football analyst Sean Salisbury. Presumably, Dakich did so out of frustration when he couldn’t remember his final question of the segment for Salisbury.
“Shoot…! I got COVID,” said Dakich. “I got COVID. I’m doing it from my basement. I can’t taste, I can’t smell and I can’t think. What the hell?”
Salisbury then revealed that he had COVID-19 back in May and still hasn’t regained his full sense of taste yet. Dakich responded by explaining that a sudden inability to taste is how he found out he had the virus.
Dan Dakich reveals on his radio show that he has COVID-19: pic.twitter.com/RWj2HKggfU
— Clips & Quips (@Clipselberry) December 8, 2020
“Do you know how I knew I had it?” he said. “I don’t like whiskey. I don’t like Jim Beam. So, I took a shot of Jim Beam and it tasted like nothing.”
After wrapping up the Salisbury segment and a commercial break, Dakich laughed about how he gave his audience the COVID-19 news, calling it “the greatest introduction ever.” He then explained that he received the positive result last Friday, getting tested after feeling extremely tired (but still called Cincinnati-Xavier remotely) for a few days.
However, now that he’s tested positive and is isolating in his basement, Dakich will not travel to Iowa City to call Tuesday’s North Carolina-Iowa game for ESPN.
More from Dan Dakich on getting COVID-19, which will prevent him from calling North Carolina-Iowa this week: pic.twitter.com/hAU6PSPZcR
— Clips & Quips (@Clipselberry) December 8, 2020
As Dakich explained, the plan was for him to be in Iowa City for the Tar Heels-Hawkeyes game then drive to Madison for Wednesday’s Louisville-Wisconsin matchup. But that game has been canceled due to both teams pausing due to COVID-19 positives. Both games were part of the annual ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
According to Dakich, he’s gotten through the worst of the COVID-19 symptoms and insists he feels “pretty good” right now, well enough to work out on his new Peloton bike.
About Ian Casselberry
Ian is a writer, editor, and podcaster. You can find his work at Awful Announcing and The Comeback. He's written for Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation.