Jason Benetti described Bill Walton, who will join him in the NBC Sports Chicago booth for Aug. 16’s White Sox-Angels game at Angels Stadium, as a “gift.”
“His mind is a playground, an orchestra and a volcano all rolled into one,” said the Sox play-by-play man, who worked with Walton on college basketball at the Maui Invitational last November. “It is impossible to think of someone who takes the audience, and his broadcast partner, on more of a journey through the world, and to have that next to me is an honor and a treat.”
Nice, right?
Yeah, well, Walton sees Benetti’s nice and raises him a whole lot of weird.
BILL WALTON AND @jasonbenetti CALLING A WHITE SOX GAME?!
— White Sox Talk (@NBCSWhiteSox) August 9, 2019
This is about to be the greatest broadcast ever pic.twitter.com/NtAATC8aCb
Good weird, of course. Pretty much everybody loves, enjoys or at least gets a kick out of Walton, 66, who is easily the greatest combo of basketball legend, stream-of-consciousness yakker and skyscraping Deadhead ever to roam the Earth.
Those who can’t stand him need to wake up and smell the ridiculous, yet strangely poetic, fun.
“Whoa! The pressure is on now,” Walton said. “But, please, set your standards higher, Jason. And here I thought all along I was a trembling and exploding rainbow, morphing into a bus stop. I guess I’m going to have to reinvent myself one more time.
“Anyway, take me out to the ballgame. Put me in, Coach, I’m ready to play today. California, preaching on the burning shore; California, knock, knockin’ on the golden door. Please, where is the game, what time does it start, who’s playing, what sport is it, and what’s your name again? Give me a chord, and I’m on my way. I hope the noise in my head is not bothering you.”
Steve Stone couldn’t have said it better, and wouldn’t have tried. He’s taking the Angels series off.
