Bill Walton to Reunite With Jason Benetti to Call White Sox-Angels Game
Fans don't have to wait for basketball season to see Bill Walton on TV.
The Hall of Famer will reunite with his former broadcasting partner Jason Benetti to call a White Sox-Angels game on Aug. 16 on NBC Sports Chicago. The two worked together last year at college basketball's Maui Invitational and delivered some rather unusual and funny moments.
"There is nothing more entertaining than working with the neural fiesta that is Bill Walton," Benetti told the Chicago Tribune. "I'm over the moon about it. When he said yes, there was a fist pump."
"I think it's amazing," he added. "I left Maui having done six games in three days with Bill, and it was a rapturous experience. My mind fired in ways that I never could have imagined simply from being next to him and following the conversation and thinking, 'Should we do the game right now, or should I follow up with the thing that he just said?' It was all over the map in the most entertaining way."
While Benetti and Walton discussed basketball, some of their more bizarre moments went viral online. Walton delivered speeches on Hawaiian flowers and his breeding habits and liked to pretend to forget Benetti's name.
Walton will fill in for Benetti's broadcasting partner, Steve Stone, during the four-game series in Anaheim on Aug. 15-18. It has not been announced yet who will fill in for Stone during the other three games.
While Benetti's uncertain of Walton's level of baseball knowledge, he said he's already received emails from the NBA legend about preparing for the game.
"I know he enjoys baseball," Benetti said. "I don't know if he's sitting at home watching a game every day. But that's not the point of being around Bill because the cool thing about him is he has ideas about whatever he looks at.
"His perceptual abilities are through the roof. So to have him get a look at [the White Sox] for one night and shower us with his opinions about not just the team but also the rock formation in center field at Angel Stadium and Mike Trout and other people named after fish, I mean, who knows where it's going?"
