Dan Patrick is en fuego

ESPN icon Dan Patrick is the consummate professional on SportsCenter, handling light features, tragedies and punch lines with dexterous, dulcet tones.

He's also spiffy because he does things like, oh, sit in on the incredibly raw and hysterical Gary Dell'Abate Roast for this morning's Howard Stern Show, during which Patrick professed his Stern fandom of 20 years.

Cooler still is that he's a fan even after gracefully enduring -- and probably secretly enjoying -- a Stern fan's phone prank while Patrick was on the air in 2003.

It was surreal today to hear him explain why he was afraid to shake Sal the Stockbroker's hand, or how J.D. looks exactly like he sounds.

"And the whiffff...."