If you miss Bill Walton on ESPN, you can catch him on ESPN2 or ESPNews or ESPN Classic or ESPN Radio or ESPN The Magazine or ESPN.com or, soon, ABC or …
Never mind, Where’s Waldo?
Where’s Walton?
Everywhere.
With the NBA joining forces with ESPN, the marquee voice of the league now is not a play-by-player, but an analyst.
It is Walton.
Only overexposure can stop him.
“My goal at ESPN is to broadcast every game for every network they have until the year 2050 and, at that point, reevaluate my career,” he said this week with typical Walton-esque hyper-enthusiasm.
The 50-year-old Walton calls his relationship with ESPN “a dream come true.” He’s even calling a couple of unique non-NBA events this coming week.
Tomorrow, he will analyze the Arizona at San Diego State game.
This wouldn’t be noteworthy except that his son Luke stars for Arizona and another son, Chris, is red-shirting for SDSU. He is having the whole Arizona team over for dinner tonight.
During the broadcast, would he dare drop one of his trademarks, “terrrrrible” or a “horrrrrible” on one of his sons?
“I explained to them this is about our jobs and what we are doing with our lives,” said Walton, who broadcast his oldest son, Adam, at LSU, and Luke’s games two years ago.
“There will be plenty of time after the season and after the game when its father-and-son. I have to be a broadcaster.”
On Thursday, Walton will analyze the LeBron James high-school game on ESPN2. While CBS’ Billy Packer was quoted this week saying he would have turned down such an assignment, Walton has a different take.
“I called up and asked if I could be part of it,” Walton said.
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Hot Stove (Announcing) League: With Buck Showalter now manager of the Texas Rangers, there is a seat open on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight. Sources said that, among the names being considered, are former pitcher Bert Blyleven and ex-Met Darryl Hamilton.
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Adding to its 11 p.m. lineup, MSG Network premieres College Hoops Weekly this Monday. John Giannone and Bill Raftery host. An NBA show featuring Mike Breen and an NHL show with John Davidson are still in the works.
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Sunday on Fox at 4:30 p.m., Sports Illustrated will scoop itself by announcing its “Sportsman of the Year” during a TV show. The “Sportsman of the Year” magazine comes out Wednesday.


