Gary Link is a Missouri fan with a front row seat to every basketball game. Just because he's on the job does not mean his enthusiasm is curbed.  Link has a hands on approach when it comes to bringing you the color. 

"His knowledge of the game is phenominal. I put his knowledge of the game with any assistant coach for the men's and women's teams." said Mike Kelly, Missouri Tiger Broadcaster.

"He's very good at what he does and he articulates very well with his hands." explained Missouri Broadcast Engineer Brian Hanson.

Good hands helped Link play on the hardwood for Mizzou from 1971 through 1974.

Link remembered, "You know my hands were good. I had good hands. I wasn't a good player, but I was quick."

Now his playing days are done, but on the broadcast Link paints a colorful picture and every word gets a corresponding stroke.

"I don't even realize I'm doing it. Like I'm doing it right now. It's just a nervous habit. I don't think you really think about it. It just happens. It's just kind of my style, it's what I do. I couldn't stop my hands here. They go all the time." explained Link.

Broadcast partner Mike Kelly's sat about four inches away from Link for more than a decade and it didn't take long to realize he's different.

Kelly said. "When the hands started coming your way."

"Those hands. They never stop." explained Link

Kelly learned the hard way, "He got excited and the next thing I know I took a shot directly across the bow."

"Yes, I will hit him and he'll give me that look and he'll remind me that it's radio. I say I don't know, it's just going," stated Link.

It's tough to miss Link at a Missouri game. He's the one directing traffic

Link said "Down the stretch they go even more. Sometimes they go up and sometimes they go down and there's no rhyme or reason to what's going to happen.

Links most his most memorable moment on the mic came when the Tigers handed top ranked Kansas a loss in 1997."I was just going crazy. Poor Mike's trying to talk and I'm talking over top of him. Screaming. Making no sense and my hands are going crazy."

Leave it to his old coach. Norm Stewart to come up with a way to fix the flying fingers.

"Coach Stewart at one point in time said if you want to shut him up, just handcuff him." said Kelly.

"I've heard that" said Kelly. "Yes. And that's probably right because they're going all the time."

Link has plenty of links in Mizzou hoops history. He played in the last game in Brewer Fieldhouse, and the first game in the Hearnes Center. He then broadcast the last game in Hearnes and the first game in Mizzou Arena.

Buffalo drafted Link into the pros with the 99th overall pick. But he decided not to go.