NEW YORK — If anything could motivate Dick Vitale to talk less, it's the fear of no longer being able to gab for a living.

The garrulous ESPN college basketball announcer, who missed more than two months last season after throat surgery, continues to take precautions to rest his vocal cords.

"Little things like that are going to help me prolong my career, because, I'm going to be honest with you, without it I probably would feel like my life is over," the 69-year-old Vitale said on a conference call Wednesday. "I really mean it. I'm a gym rat. I love being around kids. I love being around the environment of the college game.

"If that's taken from me, I really believe the party's over. It's done. I know I'm in the last chapter. I know time is running out. But I want to enjoy it as much as I can."

So that means Vitale won't call doubleheaders again this season. He's still working with a speech therapist to learn to speak from his diaphragm. He reminds himself to be less "boisterous" on the phone and to stay as quiet as possible during game days.

Still, it's tough.

"I was always going 24-7," Vitale said. "Man, I love to talk."