Tag: Dave Pasch

Here’s every ESPN NBA announcer for the 2024-25 season

ESPN’s NBA crew features some familiar names.

ESPN is broadcasting NBA games for a 23rd consecutive year this season, and the announcers set to rotate between games will be familiar to many fans, with the team of Mike Breen, Doris Burke and Cassidy Hubbarth getting joined by Richard Jefferson (at least to start the season). JJ Redick is off the top team given that he’s coaching the Lakers now.

Although we wish we could list the announcers for every game, that’s impossible, especially when there’s some mixing and matching throughout the season.

That said, here’s a look at ESPN’s entire lineup of broadcasters, including play-by-play announcers, analysts and sideline reporters.

Play-by-play

  • Mike Breen
  • Michael Grady
  • Mark Jones
  • Dave Pasch
  • Ryan Ruocco

Analysts

  • Cory Alexander
  • Jay Bilas
  • Hubie Brown
  • Doris Burke
  • Richard Jefferson
  • Tim Legler
  • Bob Myers
  • Stephanie White

Sideline reporters

  • Katie George
  • Angel Gray
  • Cassidy Hubbarth
  • Monica McNutt
  • Lisa Salters
  • Jorge Sedano

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Dave Pasch shared amazing Bill Walton texting memories as tribute to his late broadcasting partner

These Bill Walton memories were beautiful and it has a heartbreaking ending.

The world lost one of the best basketball players to ever play the game, Bill Walton, this holiday weekend. But he was so much more than that, too.

Although he was one of the greatest to step on the court, the legendary big man will be remembered for endless other aspects of his life as well. That includes his love for the Grateful Dead and his amazing career in the booth broadcasting games as a color commentator as well.

He was complemented (and often kept on track) by his longtime broadcasting partner, Dave Pasch. The play-by-play announcer shared his memories of his late friend, Bill, on Tuesday morning.

RELATED: The profound way Bill Walton watched sports is the exact way everyone should do it

Pasch posted a Twitter thread sharing screenshots of his texts with Walton. The two-time NBA champion had nicknames for himself (“Solar”) as well as Pasch (who he affectionally referred to as the nickname “Coal”).

Walton would often text Pasch during games that he was broadcasting independently of the 1977 NBA Finals MVP with hilarious jokes about the game.

The big man would pretend he did not know that Pasch was on the call.

Pasch noted that Walton would make silly t-shirts and placards for the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The designs occasionally made fun of Pasch and the product was given to the production crew.

Some of the texts that Walton sent to Pasch were aligned with the stream-of-consciousness style that you would hear from the former NBA player when he was on the air.

His style of writing was just as out there and intergalactic as he presented.

Pasch shared that he made t-shirts to wear for their final broadcast together, whenever that happened.

Unfortunately, however, they never got a chance to have that moment to say goodbye to each other while calling a game.

In what was actually their final broadcast together, the two made up a story about how Chewbacca was actually based on Walton.

Pasch will always have the beautiful memories and texts (and this amazing t-shirt, among many others) to remember his late friend.

The world will always remember Walton as so much larger than life, and Pasch’s stories perfectly embody exactly that.

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Dave Pasch paid a lovely tribute to longtime broadcasting partner Bill Walton

Few people knew the late, great Bill Walton as well as his broadcasting partner, Dave Pasch.

Basketball legend Bill Walton died on Monday after a prolonged battle with cancer.

As decorated as his basketball career was on the court, he was equally known for his unique and lively broadcast commentary.

His longtime ESPN broadcast partner Dave Pasch paid a loving tribute to his longtime screen partner and friend on the network’s SportsCenter on Monday, one that captured what a special relationship these two had on and off the air.

This is a seismic loss for the world of basketball, and few knew Walton as well as Pasch did after the two worked together for so long on the sideline.

Pasch also recounted a hilarious story about how a recent gag between the two about Walton “auditioning” for Chewbacca in Star Wars went viral as fact, to the two’s delight.

 

Walton’s death leaves a massive hole in the broadcasting world, as Pasch will continue the duo’s legacy.

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Bill Walton wildly claims George Lucas based Chewbacca off of him

If a game has Bill Walton on the call but he didn’t say anything that caught your attention, did it even happen?

Here is a question: If a game has Bill Walton on the call but he didn’t say anything that caught your attention, did it even happen?

The former NBA Finals MVP turned sportscaster is known to say some wild things whenever he is on the air and last night was no exception. During his men’s college basketball broadcast of Oregon against USC, his play-by-play partner Dave Pasch asked him to take a trip back in time.

Considering that they were at USC (the school where Star Wars filmmaker George Lucas attended in the 1960s) for the game, Pasch asked Walton if he could confirm a rumor he heard about the films.

Pasch said he heard that Walton was “in the mix” to play Chewbacca. Here is what Walton said (and note that the transcription reflects the way the former NBA big man pronounced the name of the Wookiee):

“No. I heard that. Chewybacca is modeled after me. […] George Lucas is all cool as they get and I remember the night that George and Kareem and Bill Russell and me, we were all up in San Francisco at a big fundraiser for the Martin Luther King memorial. […] I auditioned for Chewybacca and they said no but we’re going to model the character after you.”

While it is fun to take him at his word, especially because he shared a somewhat shaggy look with Chewbacca during his playing days, we might not want to take him seriously here.

Unfortunately, this sounds like it is potentially gibberish from Walton.

Lucas is on record as saying that Chewbacca is based on his pet (via the Denver Art Museum):

“I had an Alaskan Malamute when I was writing the film [Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope]. A very sweet dog, she would always sit next to me when I was writing. And when I’d drive around, she’d sit in the front seat. A Malamute is a very large dog—like a 130 pounds and bigger than a human being and very long-haired.”

Walton was bigger than most humans and also very long-haired but he was not Lucas’ Alaskan Malamute, who was named Indiana.

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COVID exposure to keep Dave Pasch, Ron Wolfley from calling Cardinals’ game vs 49ers

Dave Pasch and Ron Wolfley will be replaced this weekend by Paul Calvisi and Bertrand Berry.

The Arizona Cardinals will have a different radio broadcast team in Week 16 when the team takes on the San Francisco 49ers at State Farm Stadium. The team of Dave Pasch and Ron Wolfley will miss the game on Saturday due to exposure to COVID-19.

“Because of COVID-19 protocols concerning potential exposure to someone who tested positive, Cardinals radio play-by-play voice Dave Pasch and analyst Ron Wolfley will not work this Saturday’s game vs. the 49ers,” the team announced in a statement.

In their place, Paul Calvisi, the team’s sideline reporter, will call play-by-play. Bertrand Berry will serve as the analyst. This duo has experience calling Cardinals games when Pasch and Wolfley are called upon to do the television broadcasts for preseason games.

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Locked On Spartans Podcast: Michigan State beats Georgia

The Spartans rebound at the Maui Invitational

Wil and Matt discuss Michigan State losing beating Anthony Edwards and Georgia. Why do star players keep going off against MSU? Is Xavier Tillman actually playing OK? Does Dave Pasch secretly hate Bill Walton?

You can find the episode on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts.

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