Walton and Pasch
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@Texas-Hawk-10 Hold up a sign so we’ll know it’s you! Should be easy to spot with only about 2,500 folks there.
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From Yahoo sports
- UCLA | 25-3 | KenPom: 17 | Last week: 11 Bill Walton is a national treasure, and was handed a back-to-back by ESPN this week — Oregon at Cal on Wednesday night, UCLA at Arizona State on Thursday. So let’s play a game. Below are 10 things that Walton may or may not have done or said on one of the two broadcasts. You have to decide which ones are true, which ones are false. Answers at the bottom of the rankings.
Said to broadcast partner Dave Pasch as the game tipped off, “Your name’s Dave, right?”
Tried to interview the Cal mascot on air
Said, “I love getting high.”
Discussed Wayne Rooney transfer rumors.
Said, “The synergies. The harmonic convergence, it’s all right there. We had the harvest moon this morning. The California dawn. The golden rays of light streaming through. And now we’re here in the Valley of the Sun, oh my gosh.”
Turned a question about the one-and-done rule into a tangent on how the United States doesn’t take good enough care of its veterans.
Said these eight words, consecutively, going into a commercial break: “Jabari Bird. Soar like an eagle. Space cowboys.”
Painted his face.
Said to Pasch again, “It is Dave, right?”
Said, “I was with the Mars rover today. I stood next to the grand canyon of Mars. This is the Grand Canyon state, you know that, right? So they got this big wall-size display, the size of our Grand Canyon, and it’s like a little postage stamp compared to the grand canyon on Mars. I gotta get there.”
Hint: No. 10 is true, and Pasch responded by offering to get Walton a one-way ticket. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/college-basketball-power-rankings-feb-24-north-carolina-surges-but-are-the-tar-heels-no-1-130751177.html
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I was watching one of those games, and the only ones I don’t remember are discussion of Wayne Rooney transfer rumors and Grand Canyon of Mars, so I am guessing all are true.
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He probably thought he was talking about Kawai (and not Kansas) where he gets his favorite Maui Waui and the team he was referring were the pot growers.
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@nuleafjhawk There will be more KU fans than that there. This will be one of the few games UT sells out, or at least comes close to selling out because of the KU alums driving in from Dallas and Houston along with the ones who live in Austin.
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It really is a side-comedy to listen to Walton’s commentary usually on Pac12 games. Remember, he is considered by SoCal intellectuals to be one of their own, in many ways.
I agree with above, he is probably calling the game due to his UCLA connections, and that 13 conf run, now tied by KU.
We can all judge if his schtick fits in to a very Midwesty, flyover country type of game. Or if he modifies it any. That will tell you how much of a contrived “act” (or not) it is. For example, DickieV’s on-air persona is almost all contrived. Vitale told my KU alum bro-in-law during a book signing in Sarasota (where Vitale lives), that espn wants him to color-commentate that way. Just like “reality” TV is mostly all coached. So I wonder if Walton is coached to be the grand buffoon he comes across to be, or not?
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@ralster not sure he could do it any other way. Long time ago I hated him, I thought he was always against us.
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My favorite espn announcers are Miles Simon and Jay Bilas. I like Simon’s basketball sense. I like Jay Williams also. I like Bilas’s blue-blood tone of superiority. No other way to put it, and I like it. I identify with it on many levels. Just like I sided with Roy about that unruly UNC fan who insulted a visiting coach (UNC should be better than that, which is exactly what Roy told the press).
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Listen at your own risk of having Bill Walton Syndrome. This guy is out of his mind. If he’s calling the UT KU game, it’s mute time. WOW
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Speaking of announcers, this has been on my mind for a while…what do you think of the new KU play by play, Haney? I’ll table my opinion until we hear from the panel.
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@mayjay I find him hilarious…a drug addled narcissist with a mile high grudge against Arizona.
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@Fightsongwriter I like Hanni a lot. He’s very knowledgeable about all things KU - he’s not new to the area either. I used to listen to him on 1320 AM Rock Chauk Sports Talk before he took the Texas Tech job in 2012. He’s a good guy that seems to be getting better.
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@Fightsongwriter I’ve only listened to part of one game, but he wasn’t bad, just not very good either. Kinda boring/bland. Definitely no Falkenstein or Davis for that matter. I hope he gets better with time and I hope I don’t have to listen much until that time (that’s kinda up to Seahan though).
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@HawkChamp said:
He did pay KU a compliment the other day. He said that he was watching some of our games and thought they were a really good team.
Nice it filtered into his fog! Where can I find a job somewhere paying thousands of dollars per year to come up with incisive thoughts like that to say about a team that is the winner of a hard conference, ranked no. 3 (soon, likely 2), and has the leading POY candidate?
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@dylans @rocketdog I find hanni very hard to listen too. His voice is hard to describe: nasally, cheesy, a little whiney? Not pleasant for sure.
Add Gurly to the mix and I just can’t believe we could not find two higher quality broadcasters. A far cry from Max and Bob (or Piper).
I would listen only if I was stuck in the car during a game.
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As for Walton and the other guy…easily the worst combo of announcers of all time. They bickered like little girls, Walton is completely out of control, and in the small time I watched the game with sound not off, devoid of almost any basketball insight.
As for the T shirt stunt, if I was the executive producer I would have fired him on the spot and had him physically removed from the arena. His lack of professionalism is appalling.
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Must say, that as “uncomfortable” as I felt for Bill Walton (is this dementia?? or all a staged kooky-ness??), he went on and on the WHOLE game about KU’s greatness.
And, of course the other announcer says the obligatory line about Shaka “being a winner, went to the Final Four in 2011”. But fail to report he did exactly didley squat after that 1 Cinderella run. Literally 2 goddamn weeks of fame. Newsflash: 2011 was 6 years ago. Didnt win his own conference the last 3-4yrs either. That’s not fake news, either…
And did anyone who wants to come to that mouse’s defense, first answer this question: Did we watch the KU/Texas game last night? Did Shaka’s team look and play like they were well-coached?
No, Texas looked awful for an almost-March product! Chris Beard’s first year product looks a better product at TxTech. Jamie Dixon’s first year product at TCU looks better also.
Texas: Not Strong. Not Smart. No poise. No plan. No coaching.
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Bill Walton, what a nightmare to watch & listen
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There was this kid with downs I went to HS with that sounded an awful lot like Walton. Walton’s recall is a bit better, but good grief is he disjointed in thought. Dude is fried!
That Dave character they teamed him up with was not a very good fit either. Sadly for Dave his career is likely tied to the famous guy to his right.
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I actually do find him entertaining up to a point… how many sports commentators go to work apparently stoned??
it was the split screen that started to piss me off… one split screen is plenty during game time, but espn must have gone to 5 of them.I agree with one comment Bong Bill made- when asked several times who he likes to win the tournament, he said he has no idea because basically "it depends on how you play that given day ". True true true.
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@Fightsongwriter I went on the Texas boards to check things out. They were all fired up against Walton too. They said him changing shirts on a live broadcast, some tye die shirt , was whacko - I agree 10000%. - -Then also like was said and I posted here yesterday,What the hell was up with so much split screen? I didn’t turn my TV on to look at Walton’s pugh for the majority of the game, and they went through which I knew was coming, they went through long stretches of talking about anything and everything OTHER then what they should of been talking about - - -THE GAME… Walton rubbing what the hell ever that was all over his face. One of the posters, said people should of called ESPN, which he did, and voice their complaint about Walton, he said ESPN informed him they had received many, many , calls about Walton voicing their displeasure. Plus that ESPN had already takin note of the goings on with him. - -As far as I’m concerned Walton has no place doing live on air College Basketball games, takes away from the game. - - Spent probably 90% of the game with the volume down and listening to the local KU radio crew. - - ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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@dylans I’ve watched some of the Pac 12 games and of Course there he is. I feel sorry for the play by play guy, I don’t know how many times he keeps saying let’s get back to the game when Walton is rambling about GOD knows what.- - He needs to be yanked off, can’t be good, I know they are getting a lot of negative feedback. – ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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The third time I watche the game I didn’t find Walton as annoying. Probably because I was just looking for general entertainment at that point and not intently trying to watch a ball game. At that point I could just laugh at him and not get pissed he was ruining a basketball game.
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Walton probably gets relegated to his beloved home turf of Pac12 games from now on. The fans there know him. He is one of those SoCal types after all. Just isnt going to fly in the Midwest’s prevailing culture and sensibilities, as we see in comments here, and as a fellow Bucketeer above reported on what Texas fan boards are saying.
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Just finished watching the game…I was out last night.
Bill Walton is cooky as hell! Got some severe short term memory loss too.
I laughed at everything he said. It was distracting to the game but it was funny.
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@jaybate-1.0 said:
I believe board rats are prejudiced against Bill, because he looks increasingly like a near footer Bugs Bunny.
Nah, he looks like a near footer Foghorn Leghorn, freeking crazy rooster!
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@Fightsongwriter He obviously did what ESPN wanted him to do. It wasn’t Walton who showed full screen shots of him and Pasch throughout the game. It wasn’t Walton who went split screen for about 25% of the game. If I were to fire anybody it would be the producer of the broadcast. But don’t count on that to happen. Walton’s shtick is to be a drugged out dead head. Vitale’s job is to be an over the top rambler. If ESPN didn’t like or require them to do what they do it wouldn’t pay them to do it and it wouldn’t show it.
I did notice that about 6-8 times during the broadcast Walton made very astute comments on specific plays and players. Unfortunately that was only a small percentage of the time.
I thought that he was a bit over the top in his praise of KU. Think about how Texas fans must feel. He basically called them out of shape and a poor example of a basketball team. I’m sure that is mooing must have gone down real well (NOT) for those fans.
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@sfbahawk Spot on! I thought Walton gushed quite a bit about KU. But then he clearly sees KU as a royalty program, not unlike his own UCLA, and he made that pretty clear during all of his various goofy comments.
I have a strong suspicion that Walton is exactly playing a coached color role, exactly like Vitale is. Vitale confirmed this to my brother in law at a book signing in Sarasota. Bro-in-law was giving him grief about leaving KU’s Paul Pierce out of his book, and had a very detailed knowledgeable discussion with Vitale, who was very calm, and bright, well spoken in private…which then prompted my bro-in-law to say “you arent like this on TV, I notice, really enjoyed talking bball with you”, to which DVitale replied: “they (espn) want me to be that way on air”.
It would be PC inappropriate to make fun of truly advanced dementia on TV, and also seen as cruel to put someone with that diagnosis on TV and allow him to be filmed struggling. Personally, I think its all a coached act. Just like Vitale.
You nailed my belief, anyway…
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If that game would have been close I would have been po’d! Save him for half time entertainment. I went blind for awhile!
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Texas fans? Probably not any watching
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Espn should have run a banner on the bottom during the game, caution kids, this is what happens to your brain on drugs!
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@sfbahawk 25% - - -25% – 25 % ? - -we could of only wished 25% One thing for sure, he does his job of a fried out pot smoker for sure of being pot head, Walton is stuck in the 70’s - - news flash - -this IS NOT the 70’s I’ve read today from a lot of different sites about his demeanor yesterday, - -the changing of the shirts, the split screen - -so tell me was it ESPN that made Walton feel compelled to stripping off and changing shirts in the middle of a Nationally Telivised - broadcast?- - - -I don’t think so, oh pot head did that all on his own. - -Was it ESPN telling Walton to rub what ever in the hell that was all over his face over and over? - -I don’t think so. - This wasn’t some Broadway act he was auditioning for it was a College Nationally broadcast game, and I for one but NOT the only for sure don’t want to see all that crap, I’m here to watch basketball - -Not Walton making a ass out of himself.
If you counted 6-8 times he referred to the game consider yourself lucky. - -Hell he is so fried that when he was talking up KU, it was whacko, he Josh went in uncontested for a layup and for some reason missed badly and Walton’s response? - - -OH WHAT A PLAY, WHAT A PLAYER. - -WTH? they need to take a hard look, I’m sure besides the ones I’ve read today many , many , many , others are not happy, I really can’t be very sure that the West coast fans are happy with his broad casts either unless of course they were sitting there with him hitting the bong at the same time. – ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
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Walton might be a nut, but he certainly spoke highly of this KU team. That part was refreshing…no Aunt Franny.
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@KUSTEVE yeah, # 3 & 4 and plodding farmers.
Him and aunt franny should work together! Perfect match!
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I live in a community, several denizens of whom are active or former dope heads. Bill Walton might have fit right in with his surly brazen goofiness Saturday. What amazes me, ESPN telecaster reverting to the half screen so frequently to highlight the bizarre behavior. Walton obviously knows nothing essential about Big 12 Hoops. Did I not hear him mutter that he was surprised to learn that TCU was a member of our league? He brayed that he was not surprised at the Jayhawk string of titles. No big deal. Our league coaches should demand that he never return for a Big 12 broadcast. The guy belongs back on the West Coast; and ESPN needs to clean up its presentation. I am willing to wager that Bill Self will never again ask him to speak to his squad a few minutes before tipoff.
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@REHawk scared straight!
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@Crimsonorblue22 you’re too sensitive. he said our team was prolific.
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@KUSTEVE ha ha never been accused of that!
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@ralster Yeah man…Tell me how you really feel ?! I don’t like that punk ass either. I was so pissed when we lost to VCU I coulda shot out the damn tv. 2 days later I was having rotator cuff surgery so I was waaaaaaaaay out there with pain my damn self
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I don’t know if it is just me but when I want to watch comedy I tune in to the Comedy channel. When I watch a Saturday prime time featured game on the system that claim to be the top sports channel, I expect to hear competent announcing and commentary and not a freak side show.
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@JayHawkFanToo nailed it.
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I might have missed it, but was that the only game in which the announcers haven’t mentioned Bragg’s paraphernalia issue? I wonder if Dave had been warned by producers not to bring it up? Bill might have gone FULL Monty in protest!
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@jayballer54 Are you aware who decides what is being on a tv set at any given time. It is not the people in front of the camera. It is the producer of the show. If ESPN had not wanted Walton changing tee shirts to be shown on the screen it would not have shown him doing that.
As mentioned earlier this is the shtick that Walton has been using for the past couple of years. I don’t like it but since I am not a member of the management team at ESPN I have no say in the matter. The only people who do are members of that team.
I have not been all that impressed by your posts but that will have to change now that you have indicated that you know that marijuana can be ingested using a bong. As far as the west coast fans are concerned more of them must be happy enough with his performance than are not happy with it. Otherwise he would not be doing anything on ESPN. That is the way that the system works
If you are as unhappy as you indicate I would suggest that you send a strongly worded letter to someone highly placed at ESPN indicating that unhappiness. If after that Bill Walton is no longer employed by ESPN we will have you to thank.
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Probably did not want to get Walton started on dug paraphernalia…
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@sfbahawk sure appreciate your thoughtfulness, and giving me such an great idea of sending a letter to ESPN. - for that I say thank you lol. - But ummmm - - -maybe not seems like, sounds like that they have recieived hundreds of it thousands of calls voicing their complaints about Billie. but again thank you so much for your concern…
As far as for you being all that impressed by my posts, well please enlighten me as to where I ask for your approval on my posts? - I realize I’m getting older so I went back and double checked - -guess I’m NOT THAT OLD- -cause I looked & looked and NOWHERE did I see where I had ask for ANY APPROVAL, and needless to say I really could give a rats ass whether you change your thoughts or not, but am really tickled that you let me know.
I’ll bet you this - I bet you won’t see Billie boy doing anymore KU games - -regular season anyways, believe me there are many , many , that were as unhappy with Saturdays broadcast but thanks for single me out that’s great thank you. Plus your are 100% right I went to college and majored in dissecting the multiple items that can be used for smoking marijuana only took me 20 yrs to get my masters in it. So since you brought it up let me enlighten you so you can try them all: - -You can smoke it from a bong, or in a blunt, or off a pop bottle, or a joint , a coke can, just about whatever your little pee brain can imagine… - -Now anytime you feel the urge to make statement like you did then just feel free and we can enlighten some more, I’m so glad you stopped by. - -ROCK CHALK ALL DAY LONG BABY
