Sept. 3
For 37-year-old Mike Witthoft of Park Hills, Kentucky, it was special to walk on a major-league field and meet Lou Piniella.

	The Dickie V trivia contest winner, Michael Witthoft (right), meets D-Rays manager Lou Piniella as the special guest of Dick Vitale (left).

As winner of the Dickie V Web site trivia contest, Witthoft and his friend, Darlene Walker, were guests of ESPN college hoop guru Dick Vitale down in Sarasota, Florida, spending two nights at the Ritz-Carlton.

They attended Tuesday's Tampa Bay Devil Rays-Seattle Mariners game and received a variety of autographed items, including The Rock basketball. They also went to dinner at St. Armand's Circle.

"Dick's just like a big kid," Witthoft said. "It's a lot of fun being with him and I enjoyed spending time on the field, meeting players. I didn't know what to expect. I'm pretty excited about this whole thing."

"It's always exciting for me to meet the winner of the annual trivia contest," Vitale said. "It is special to meet with the fans."

Witthoft got to meet a number of players, including Edgar Martinez, Mike Cameron, Carlos Guillen and Mark McLemore.

He also received autographed baseballs and took pictures with the two general managers, Tampa Bay's Chuck LaMar and Seattle's Pat Gillick. Witthoft and his guest also got official Tampa Bay Devil Rays hats.

"I like to read what Dick has to say on his Web site," Witthoft said.