• 6 months ago
Transcript
00:00 Bill Walton passing away. I know you have not gotten to speak about that yet. 71 years
00:07 old from Kansas. You brought up briefly with Gabe when you were talking about the dead
00:11 concerts but Bill Walton, Scotty, of course, tremendous player, Hall of Fame player, and
00:18 a very entertaining broadcaster, that's for sure. Doing the NBA in the Pac-12 games the
00:23 last couple decades.
00:24 Listen, I knew him and he did my show over the years when I lived in Los Angeles many
00:31 times. He was a trip, no pun intended. He was a funny guy and I don't know if I've ever
00:39 met anyone nicer in my life or with more zeal for life than that guy. He really, you know
00:46 they did that thing, I'm the luckiest guy in the world, that's really epitomized who
00:50 he was. He really was that guy. Like, you know, Carver High and I get out of bed and
00:57 we're not exactly the friendliest people on the face of the earth as we head toward the
01:03 Iron Horse or the city or stress. Kids, little kids, weather, taxes, bills, you know, all
01:13 these things make us angry. My man, Red, never got angry. I mean, this guy was always happy
01:21 and always smiling, always loving life, always having fun, always going to dead shows. I
01:26 thought his broadcasting talent was phenomenal. You know, I always believed in, when I did
01:34 play-by-play and entertaining people, no one ever said I sucked at calling a hockey game
01:39 because I was entertaining doing the games. I don't know everything and I'm not some know-it-all
01:46 genius better Mr. I-hit-everything. I know a lot of people around here hit every single
01:52 bet they make. I mean, they're just, I've never seen anything like it, the 100% accuracy
01:57 that we have around here, but I'm not that guy. I was like him in the sense of being
02:02 entertaining. And I thought he was the most entertaining broadcaster in the business of
02:08 doing basketball, bar none. I know they give all the credit to Mike Breen and Mike's excellent.
02:14 And he's won so many Emmys, I can't count him. He's excellent and he's awesome. And
02:18 I love Mike, but Bill Walton was way more entertaining than Mike Breen. When you watched
02:23 a game with Bill Walton, you laughed and you were like, what did he just say? Did that
02:28 just happen? What is he going to say next? He was half crazy doing games. And the one
02:33 thing I'll always remember about him when I was around him was he would always tell
02:38 me, "Pharrell, it's the Conference of Champions." He loved the PAC-12 like no other. I mean,
02:47 this guy thought that all other conferences in America paled in comparison to the PAC-12
02:53 and he would always say the Conference of Champions. And the way the guy loved the Grateful
03:00 Dead and music and partying and people. And he lived in an effing teepee in his yard.
03:07 I mean, this guy was a freak. So I loved him. I used to love having him on my show. He was
03:13 very entertaining, very funny and full of life. And they just don't make him like that
03:18 anymore. They make jerks like me.
03:20 Yeah, he'd always keep those entertaining late night PAC-12 games, right? It could be
03:26 a 20-point blowout between Arizona and Arizona State. Bill would have you laughing with eight
03:32 and a half to go in a 20-point game, giving you some kind of story from back in the day.
03:37 Who would you rather listen to? And I'm being honest. J.J. Ruddock, Doris Byrne, Stan Van
03:44 Gundy, Reggie Miller. I could go on and on and on. I think Kevin Harlan's great at doing
03:49 games. Bill Walton's better.
03:51 [MUSIC]
03:53 (upbeat music)

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