YoDeFoe wrote:Olsondogg wrote:Bill Walton is not the problem, it's the counterpart. Bill is fine with Roxy or others, not nearly the schtick that the sideshow Pasch has become.
And Pasch is a phenomenal play-by-play guy without Bill - I've heard him do other games including college football and NBA games.
I can't stand the whole picture-in-picture where ESPN focuses on Bill over the basketball being played, so I'm putting the majority of the blame on Bill being in attendance. But if all it takes is separating these two to get the best out of each then please by all means.
I don't give a shit about Pasch's faith or Bill's love of solar. I'm here for the basketball.
Did you stick around for Bill's interview (of sorts) with Kenny Mayne, though? That was pure gold. I can only imagine Bill Murray being better at it. It was beautiful, and perhaps some of it was the post-win glow, but I knew we were winning for a while. That interview had me in stitches, and sometimes it was rather poignant. Bill can pivot back to hoops whenever he wants, and his observations, when not tongue in cheek, are solid.
I dunno...I hate "ZY Banana, look at the 2 gap, jargon, jargon" analysts. MFer, I can see it. It is on TV. If the viewer cares, they see it. Show something subtle a team did, or a change up and roll back against a prior possession...analyze. But don't squeeze the life out of the game and turn it to algebra. First of all, the idea that you have to have played the game to properly analyze is horseshit. Most professional athletes, especially football, have been on one side of the ball, and mostly in positional work, and have that X/O knowledge, but zero observational ability. The best analysts observe the entire human circus of sport and find the areas that need talk. Howard Cosell called the Jock in Booth craze "The Jockocracy". I agree with him. Bill tries to make that Jock Seat one of fun and frivolity and humor. Most of the time, if a game is tight, or a possession important, he reigns in.
I do prefer him with Ted Robinson or even Roxy, as he respects the hell out of the former and probably doesn't feel the latter can withstand the onslaught as well as Pasch. But I love me some Bill. He adds color to an increasingly boring and parity-filled college hoops landscape.