Bill Walton: ESPN’s Most Unique

Bill Walton may not be the best in-game college basketball analyst at ESPN, but he is definitely the most unique. And that applies not only to ESPN and college basketball.

Walton may be the most unique analyst for any sport anywhere. It’s safe to say he brings a lot of color to his commentary. While everyone else describes the game, Walton takes a brush and creates an abstract painting. He is unquestionably an acquired taste.

Walton is almost always paired with play-by-play commentator Dave Pasch, who often jokes about Walton’s commentary on the air. Keeping Walton within certain broadcast lines is no easy task.

Anyway, ESPN announced that Pasch received a contract extension on Tuesday. Walton, in his own strange way, congratulated him. But in a good way.

ESPN reaches a multi-year extension with veteran play-by-play voice @DavePasch

And a certain longtime colleague seems excited about the news...

More via @TheBigLead: https://t.co/u7jqKXsQvx | @BillWalton pic.twitter.com/Gt7i1b7KxY

— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) May 3, 2022

“I heard the news, the deal went down!” Walton said to Pasch in a video from ESPN PR, as he was clearly reading something that was written for him. “For what? I can’t figure it out.”

If you can see the video, you can see it was full of a whole lot of bad acting from the big man, who won a title with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977, then the Larry Bird-led Boston Celtics nine years later.

Watching Walton today, it’s sometimes hard to believe that — on the rare occasion he was totally healthy — he was one of the most complete centers in NBA history.

“Yeah, I’m super happy and overwhelmingly proud,” Walton said. “Here we go. It’s time.”

Yes, yes it is. It’s time for something, something only Walton and Pasch have been able to deliver. Just don’t ask us what it is.