Why do people say "Quote-unquote" with nothing between the quote and the unquote?

John said quote-unquote I'm the best. (John said,""I'm the best.)
should be
John said quote I'm the best unquote. (John said,"I'm the best.")
or, if you're going to speak the punctuation marks,
John said comma quote I'm the best period close quote.

Another pet peeve of mine is the over use of "virtually" or "literally".