It's not a firing situation, but Bill Walton will not be returning to ESPN to cover the NBA. Walton has been dealing with back issues for years now (the reason for his original departure from ESPN), and has subsequently made the personal decision to retire from broadcast entirely. Via Sports Business Daily....

Citing persistent back problems, Bill Walton has decided not to appear on ESPN’s NBA telecasts this year, ending a relationship that started in '02. The Basketball HOFer missed most of last season because of back pain. His deal with ESPN expires after this season. “As I return after a grueling multi-year, life-threatening, life-changing ordeal with back problems, it is time to dedicate the rest of my life to service,” Walton said in a statement released by ESPN. “It is great to be back in the game. Thanks everybody -- for everything.” ESPN Exec VP/Studio & Remote Production Norby Williamson: “Bill is a Hall of Fame talent, both as a player and broadcaster. NBA fans will miss his distinct personality. We appreciate all of his contributions to ESPN and share best wishes toward continued health and happiness.”

This is obviously a sad day for the NBA community, because even though you may not always enjoy Walton's commentary, you can't deny his passion for the game of Basketball. Things just won't be the same without him.

There are gimmicks all throughout the Sports World, but this one might just take the cake. If you've got red hair, AND a deep voice, then you could very well win front row seats to a Milwaukee Bucks game! That's right, the Bucks are holding a "Bill Walton Lookalike/Soundalike contest.

Don't believe me? Well let's hear Walton talk about the contest himself!!!

What an amazing idea. It's a shame that the prize is just a pair of tickets to a Bucks game, but I guess it could be worse. Plus you get to be in Bill Walton's "Personal Hall of Fame"....whatever that is.

Bill Walton Contest (Bucks.com)
Do you look or sound like Bill Walton? (Ball Don't Lie)

I honestly think that ESPN's HR Dept. has no idea how many employees they currently have under the payroll, or they wouldn't be continually hiring people for NBA coverage. The latest hire is former Mavs' Coach, Avery Johnson, who actually worked with the network last season. Here are quotes from the parties involved in the deal....

“Avery has excelled in every professional endeavor and we know his success will carry over to his on-air role,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president, production. “His experience and passion for the game will resonate with our fans.”

“I’m excited to join the ESPN family of networks and, specifically, to join the NBA broadcast team,” said Johnson. “ESPN and ABC has an abundance of terrific talent and I’m glad to launch my career in broadcasting with the premiere sports network.”

I personally think that Avery is a very smart Basketball mind, but he just wasn't ready to be on TV last year. Hopefully he got better over the offseason because the show he'll be on has a trainwreckability that's off the charts. Johnson will be joining Stuart Scott and Bill Walton on ESPN’s NBA Shootaround, and with Walton having the season off last year after with back problems, I'm sure he'll be even more amped up than ever before.

It'll be interesting to say the least. I'm also not sure what the hirings of Magic Johnson, and now Avery Johnson, means for one of my favorites in Tim Legler. Hopefully he's still around this season because he's the best analysts that they have over there. I guess they could have just forgot he works there since they have over 30 NBA employees on the payroll. One of these days I'm going to try and count them all.

(Via ESPN PR)

Bill Walton has been sidelined with an extreme back injury that has left him virtually motionless since the middle of April. He suffered the injury getting out of his seat on a plane, but he had an existing condition of bulging discs that just pushed it over the edge. Sign On San Diego has one of the first interviews with the ESPN analyst and he explains the injury....

So Walton was limited to being a rather large couch potato with two eyes, watching his beloved game on television, rather than in person. Talk about pain.

But there's one thing about Walton: When he sets his remarkable mind on doing something, it gets done. Just as he overcame his speech problem as a young man, he set out to ease the pain and make his body right.

There's stretching, yoga, exercising, therapy, acupuncture and, of course, one of his great loves, bicycling.

“My bike is my wheelchair, my gym and my church, all in one,” he says. “I thank my bike doctor for keeping my bike working.

“It was not the life I wanted to lead. I'm 55 and just getting started. There are so many things still to do.

“I was not getting better lying down and waiting for the pain to go away. I've gotten so much better. Thank God, it doesn't look like I'm going to have to have spinal surgery. The breakthrough for me was when I actually could bend over and pet my dog.”

It's good to hear that he's doing better and there's good news out of ESPN today as well. Walton's time on the IR is nearing a close and Big Red will be back on Sports Center this Thursday evening.

Back woes couldn't set Bill Walton back long (Sign On San Diego)

I had been wondering where Bill Walton had been for the past few weeks or so and thanks to SMW I've got the answer. He's got really bad back problems....

The former center who starred on John Wooden's national championship teams in the early '70s has been laid up for more than a month because of a pinched nerve in his back and an aching hip.

"His back is all jacked up. He's going through a tough time right now," his son Luke Walton said Thursday. "He can't go into the arenas and sit in those chairs. He definitely can't get on a plane. He said that's the most painful thing. He can barely get into a car right now. But he said he's getting better. Slowly getting better."

Walton is following the Bruins' run through the NCAA tournament from his San Diego home. He's been off the air from his ESPN job doing NBA commentary.

"Sadly I am down and out," he wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. "Go Bruins."

Good lord. The man has the more injuries in his body than Evel Kniviel. Also, I'm pretty sure that Luke Walton's description of the injury as "all jacked up", is an actual medical term in California.

Get well Bill!

Walton still on the DL (Sports Media Watch)

Add yet another Movie that ESPN has worked into it's programming. It was Die Hard 4 back in June, but they've been turning to Sports movies as of late. We got Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and The Gameplan last go around, but now we can add Semi Pro to that ever growing list.

I think I'm at the point in my life where I can't take anymore Will Ferrell. The dude is everywhere and his schtick has just gotten stale. With that said, I will probably still see the movie and laugh my ass off.

Oh and Bill....please retire those shorts.

I missed this on Sunday morning, but apparently Bill Walton called out Shaq Diesel on Sports Center in a piece with Chris McKendry. Walton said that the trade is a "no win situation" for the center because he either lied in Miami by saying he couldn't play or he lied to the Suns by saying he would win a Championship.

Seems like a stretch, but here's the video. Let's play the feud!

Great response and I need to know more about this "Big Man Ordinance Code #225.27". Does it include a section about dunking on Shawn Bradley and/or a flopping code? I don't know what Bill Walton is trying to accomplish here, but his argument doesn't really make sense to me. Saying, "Shaq's arrogance is insult to people who think," is pretty messed up if you ask me.

Shaquille O’Neal Calls Bill Walton a Hypocrite Following Comments about Injuries (Transworld News)

Maybe our good pal S.A.S. is actually good actor after all. Either that or he's really pissed that the Knicks lost to the Sonics last night....

See all of that Soap Opera training did him some good! Get that man a Daytime Emmy!!!

(Thanks to Fred for the clip)

From Sports Media Watch via DBS Forums comes the fabulous rumor that ESPN has decided on a studio team for it's NBA coverage starting October 31st. That's right folks, it's the worst team ever assembled! Smith, Scott, and Walton!!!

The biggest question I have is....Where's Legs? I know he is looking for a contract extension and I hope that has nothing to do with this team being formed. This could quite possibly go down as the oddest and most ridiculous pairing of individuals ever. I don't mind Bill Walton as much as I used to, but paired with those jokers this could be a trainwreck every night! I look forward to it ESPN!!!

Here's is also the list of announcing teams for the first few games of the season via DBS Forums....

10/31
Dallas @ Cleveland - Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy
Seattle @ Denver - Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown

11/2
Washington @ Boston - Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy
LA Lakers @ Phoenix - Dan Shulman, Hubie Brown

11/7
Miami @ San Antonio - Mark Jones, Jon Barry
New Orleans @ Portland - Dan Shulman, Hubie Brown

11/9
Denver @ Washington - Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy
Cleveland @ Sacramento - Dan Shulman, Hubie Brown

11/14
LA Lakers @ Houston - Mark Jones, Jon Barry

11/16
Houston @ San Antonio - Mike Tirico, Hubie Brown
Detroit @ LA Lakers - Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy

11/21
Dallas @ Houston - Mark Jones, Jon Barry

11/23
Houston @ Miami - Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy
New Jersey @ Seattle - Dan Shulman, Hubie Brown

11/30
Boston @ Miami - Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy
LA Clippers @ Denver - Dan Shulman, Hubie Brown

A nightmare studio team on Halloween night? (Sports Media Watch)

You know what I hate more than anything else when it comes to announcing? When people are lazy. You have the coolest job ever, and you don't prepare at all (Joe Morgan) and you end up looking like an idiot.

This isn't exactly the same thing, but it's close. John Saunders and Bill Walton have been broadcasting the entire FIBA Championships from Bristol.....

With the U.S. on the way to a 113-76 victory, Saunders and Walton had plenty of time to fill, and they began talking about Brazil's basketball history, most notably the 1987 Pan American Games final when Brazil upset the U.S. 120-115 to win the gold medal. Saunders noted that after the U.S. lost to the Soviet Union in the 1988 Olympic semifinals, U.S. basketball officials decided it was time to send the best players to the Olympics.

That, of course, is wrong. The U.S. did not force the world to allow NBA players into the Olympics; the rest of the world invited them. But when I asked someone from ESPN where Saunders and Walton were so we could have a friendly conversation about that, there was more shocking news.

ESPN's play-by-play man and analyst are not in Las Vegas. They are calling the game action from a studio in Bristol, Conn., a continent away. An ESPN spokesman described that as "a production decision," which means even ESPN -- a network with more money than Fort Knox and Mark Cuban combined -- has a budget, too.

A production decision? Why not just do that for every game then??? That just really rubs me the wrong way. It's not like they Championships are in Prague! They're in freaking Las Vegas!!!

That's some bad history from a network that didn't show up (Awful Announcing)

Eric from Extrapolater will be live-blogging his Alma Mater the #6 Kansas Jayhawks as they take on the #10 Texas A&M Aggies.

Until then here are a few entertaining quotes from last night's Nets/Magic game.

Jon Barry talking about a recent trip to Puerto Rico.....

"A lot of nba fans down there. Yogi and Mariati…..Jorge, Maichi."- Jon Barry
"He didn’t mention Margarita as well....who I know he visited as well"- Jones
"Is she in the WNBA?"- Bill Walton

Talking about Keith Bogans....

"He took my job"- JB
"Don’t be so bitter"- BW

This kid Rondo is like Larry Bird on Defense”- Tommy Heisohn

Steve Smith as a broadcaster?

If you've been frequenting this site for awhile now you most undoubtedly know the site's obsession with Matthew McConaughey. He's the F'ing man, and with Blogger down yesterday I took the day off search through YouTube aimlessly typing in phrases like "Announcer Screw Up", "Announcer Goof", "Sports Announcer dumb", and "Bill Walton".

(And you thought I watched every game. You probably think Santa Claus is real too.)

While I found gold in the Bill Walton Video I also found gold in a non-sports related video. It's Matt Damon doing an impression of Matty Boy.



Not bad Matthew....not bad. What does Matty have to say about it? (You can fast forward to 4 minutes if you don't want to hear a We are Marshall synopsis for the 135th time. Seriously who doesn't know by now that there was a plane crash?)



My favorite part is the very end when Matt says he's going to have X-mas in Australia with the family he was an exchange student with. When he left there were 5 daughters and 1 grand child....now the guy has 5 daughters and 12 grandchildren. How much you wanna bet that Matt was responsible for at least 6 of them? How much???

Matt can impregnate women with quintuplets just by looking at them. I'd feel sorry for them if he actually had intercourse with them because there would be the first lady with Octotenuplets. What's octotenuplets? 80 babies of course.

(P.S.- I made that up.)

Well Bill Walton has something to say to you.......

"He's one of my favorites in the entire league. I think only cynics and the depressed don't like Vince Carter- Bill Walton"

Umm okay Bill......whatever you say.

You Tube- Nets 24/7

(The embedded version doesn't work. Until then you ACTUALLY have to click the link. But it's worth it.)