Legends of the Mic: Bill Walton

A newcomer to Courtside, Heather Elkinton, left a great suggestion in the comments section of my last post. Do a recurring post on Bill Walton, one of my favorite *sarcasm* basketball announcers. Heather suggested posting YouTube clips of Bill and giving my commentary on his work. I LOVE it Heather! But, I am going to make a small tweak: I am not going to limit it to Bill Walton, rather I will post clips from some of the best of the best in a recurring post called "Legends of the Mic."

But since Heather requested Bill, Bill she shall have. The clip I have selected for this post is perhaps his best work. Working with Mike Tirico for LA-Phoenix, I give you Bill Walton on Beethoven and Boris Diaw:



Where do I begin? First of all drawing a parallel between an 18th century German composer and a French NBA player is sheer brilliance, something the audience would never expect. When I think of the world's oldest music, I think of Boris Babacar Diaw-Riffiod. The way he carves through a defense is reminiscent of the way Beethoven sliced his baton through the air while conducting a sonata.

That just makes my brain hurt. My favorite part of that clip is when Tirico goes "Geesh" when Walton starts in on the Beethoven comparison. He knows it is coming and just wants to punch Bill right in the kisser. Bill goes so over the top on everything, but I really don't get too annoyed with him until the 4th quarter of a game. He has become a caricature of himself and you have to wonder if he is so melodramatic in real life.

Here is my advice to Bill to make his broadcasts even more awesome:

1. Dress in the appropriate costume for the story you plan to tell for that game. Maybe a powdered wig and 18th century knickers for your Diaw piece.

2. Make all of your commentary rhyme.

3. End all of your comments with "that's what she said."

Feel free to leave your Bill Walton comments in the comments section. Stay tuned for more "Legends of the Mic" I might even drag in an Olympics legend for the next post!

Tip of the Cap: Wilsall, MT- Great turnout for the annual Ranch Rodeo this weekend. One of the best wild cow milking contests I have witnessed.

Wag of the Finger: Brett Favre- You should have stayed retired. A Jet? Come on.