Bill Walton on Boris Diaw
March 19, 2013 12:34 AM   Subscribe

 
*_* duuuude
posted by not_on_display at 12:47 AM on March 19, 2013


Bill Walton is the William Blake of sport commentary.

He's also the Boris Diaw of commentary.
posted by converge at 1:08 AM on March 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


I'm neither a fan of NBA basketball nor serious Deadheads, but the two together is a delight.

Rock on, Bill Walton. Rock on.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:49 AM on March 19, 2013


Seriously, I credit John Wooden with escorting in an intellectual passion in one William Walton. Couple that with the intellectual curiosity that emanated from The Dead and their entourage/family and the love of his wife Lori, and Bill Walton is the Howard Cosell of his generation.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 2:03 AM on March 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


I like the idea of Bill Walton. I really, really do. In practice, watching a game he's announcing, not so much. I'll take Jeff Van Gundy or Hubie Brown instead any day of the week. It's not that Walton doesn't know the things they know, it's that he's in awe of what he sees, and doesn't explain it. Brown and Van Gundy are teaching the game while they talk about it. Sure, they use hyperbole too, but not at the expense of explaining why or how a play happened like it did.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:54 AM on March 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


For those of us who do not recognize either name, and who can't access YouTube, can somebody provide a little more information here? Thanks!
posted by ardgedee at 3:33 AM on March 19, 2013


It's just ex-NBA player Bill Walton adding commentary to a game, saying current NBA player Boris Diaw makes him think of Beethoven and Romanticism and stuff. Just a little over the top and labored.

Boris Diaw, dunking deep,
In the paint you lunge and leap.
William Walton thinks you're fly,
Large, athletic roundball guy.
posted by pracowity at 3:51 AM on March 19, 2013 [4 favorites]


For those of us who do not recognize either name, and who can't access YouTube, can somebody provide a little more information here? Thanks!

Bill Walton was a great basketball player. He is arguably the best COLLEGE basketball player ever. He had a very short pro career, but when he was healthy, he was amazingly good. There weren't that many years of it.

He does color commentary for basketball games today. He's prone to long rambling explanations about simple things. He's a wanna be poet, and undoubtedly a smart guy... but I think he suffers from not being in a conversation when broadcasting.

Boris Diaw is a current, "good" professional basketball player. That makes Bill Walton think of Beethoven. And 201 year old symphonies.
posted by DigDoug at 4:02 AM on March 19, 2013


It's more than just that. Diaw is yet another in a long line of NBA players that, because of right time/ right place (in his case, being on the seven-seconds-or-less Steve Nash Suns), managed to secure a contract wildly disproportionate to his actual talent level. He is a decent passer for a big man, but has a pretty, lets say lackadaisical approach to the game. He sank into obscurity with the bobcats, and now plays for San Antonio, where he comes off the bench.

Walton going nuts about Diaw in his Phoenix days is pretty hilarious, considering how a flash in the pan player managed to parlay a couple decent seasons into a pretty lengthy NBA career.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:06 AM on March 19, 2013


Ushered, Bill. The word you were groping for was ushered.
posted by Eyebeams at 4:19 AM on March 19, 2013


Thanks, guys!
posted by ardgedee at 4:42 AM on March 19, 2013


Lorenzo Romar is over on the sidelines just tearing his hair out!
(He's apparently made this joke in every. single. Washington game he's called.)

AHHWHOOOOO!!!!
(Quoting Warren Zevon in reference to the Arizona Wildcats.)

Listening to Bill Walton call PAC-12 games this year has been both the most entertaining and the most frustrating thing. He's utterly awful at it, and at the same time I can't look away.
posted by carsonb at 5:11 AM on March 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


Sean Elliott likes to refer to Boris Diaw's finesse passes underneath the basket as "Soft, flaky croissants." Elliott was a Spurs franchise player & knows the system & team inside-out, and is turning out to be one of the better color guys in the league, despite his over-the-top blatant homerism. I might try to see to it that he gets this piece of Walton's commentary, as I'd imagine he'd have fun with it for a game or two.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:51 AM on March 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


Man, one of the biggest sports disappointments for me in recent years is how the Phoenix Suns became boring, and then awful. The D'Antoni/Nash 7-Seconds system was a joy to watch, and Phoenix fans really know their basketball. I hope they become relevant again before too long, but I fear that it won't happen as long as Sarver is still in the picture.
posted by .kobayashi. at 5:56 AM on March 19, 2013 [1 favorite]


That was a great team. They got scattered all over the league. It's amazing how often I'm watching some random game & think -- "wasn't he on the Suns a few years ago?" Even as a Spurs fan, I miss the Phoenix rivalry.
posted by Devils Rancher at 6:07 AM on March 19, 2013


I was hoping for a celebrity sex video.

Was not disappointed.
posted by srboisvert at 6:27 AM on March 19, 2013


Hey, maybe I'm the homer here, but calling Sean Elliot a homer in a thread about the godfather of homerism has got me tearing my hair out over here.
posted by carsonb at 6:45 AM on March 19, 2013


Carsonb, what? I haven't seen a single mention of Tommy Heinsohn in the thread. I mean, if we're talking about homers, you can't leave out the king.
posted by Ghidorah at 6:47 AM on March 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


Give Ghidorah a Tommy Point!
posted by .kobayashi. at 6:57 AM on March 19, 2013


I'm suddenly reminded of this article which chronicles the stupid stupid decline of the Suns. *sigh*
posted by .kobayashi. at 7:00 AM on March 19, 2013


"It was two hundred and one years ago today, yeah, that Beethoven's Symphony Number Three in E flat, which shuffle shuh shh--which escorted in the Age of Romanticism in music..."

That's dubstep, dude.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 7:05 AM on March 19, 2013


With all due respect, this should have been your Bill Walton announcing link. "Dave Pasch says announcing with Bill Walton this weekend will age him 8 years"
posted by mcstayinskool at 7:06 AM on March 19, 2013


Bill Walton be trollin'.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:15 AM on March 19, 2013


From mcstayinskool's link: "Both teams riding quasars all the way to the top of the mountain and the promised land."

As a Utah fan, I've always gotten the feeling that he's hated the Jazz. I'll never forget him saying "uh-oh" right before John Stockton hit the shot to send the Jazz to the '97 Finals.
posted by jessssse at 7:33 AM on March 19, 2013


As a Deadhead, I'll just add: You didn't see a lot of the stage if Bill Walton was dancing in front of you.
posted by mosk at 7:33 AM on March 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


I stopped watching basketball because of Bill Walton. Now I might have to quit listening to music.
posted by mullacc at 7:54 AM on March 19, 2013


I stopped watching television because of John-Boy Walton.

Good night, everyone.
posted by pracowity at 8:27 AM on March 19, 2013


I stopped watching basketball because of Bill Walton. Now I might have to quit listening to music.

I love Bill Walton and would listen to him talk for an hour about his favorite fabric softener.

But here's a hot tip if you hate a sports announcer (Jon Barry, your ears should be burning): Buy a cheap 5.1 sound system. Mute the centre channel. Enjoy listening to sports in their natural glory -- the squeak of the sneakers, a player running into the boards, whatever sounds soccer plays make -- but with no goddam announcers telling you that a player made a basket because he wanted it more.
posted by no regrets, coyote at 9:38 AM on March 19, 2013 [2 favorites]


There were times, when we were watching Bears games at home where we would mute the tv and it's atrocious national commentating team and instead turn on the radio for the local Chicago broadcast. Much, much better announcing, and because it was radio, much more descriptive. That, and we never had to suffer through Madden calling games.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:25 PM on March 19, 2013


Who's worse--Walton or Diaw?
posted by Joseph Gurl at 1:05 AM on March 20, 2013


Well, Walton is a champion at the NBA and college level, a hall of fame player, and one of the best big men to ever play the game. His commentating, as ridiculous as it is, is out of an unbelievably strong love of life and wonderment at it.

Diaw is an underachiever, having had one slightly better than average year (PER of 17, in a contract year, vs. a career average of 13, or below average) who had the luck to play with one of the best point guards of the last ten-twenty years who happened to be in the midst of two back-to-back MVP seasons.

In other words, ten years from now, Diaw might be a trivia question (quick, name the starters during Nash's second MVP run!), and Walton will (hopefully) still being as bizarre as ever. I'm just glad he's not doing NBA games.
posted by Ghidorah at 2:31 AM on March 20, 2013


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