The Loop
Bill Walton missed the start of OT at the game he was calling because he went to the bathroom (of course)
When you gotta go, you gotta go. Even if you're the lead PAC-12 color commentator on ESPN and a PAC-12 tournament semifinal game you're calling goes to overtime.
This was the situation on Friday night at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, where Oregon and Arizona State were tied 67-67 at the end of regulation with a trip to the PAC-12 final on the line. The commentator in question is Bill Walton, which you could have probably guessed. Unlike NFL Mock Draft fiend Mel Kiper or NFL Red Zone host Scott Hanson, who each have bladders of steel, Walton simply could not hold it in any longer, disappearing at perhaps the biggest moment of the game, which is just about the most Bill Walton thing we've ever heard.
Here's the video, which is absolutely hilarious for a number of reasons:
First, there's play-by-play man Dave Pasch's perfect line - "hopefully Bill will be back, I'm sure people at home perhaps are hoping that he doesn't come back." While some of us love Walton's antics, Pasch knows there is a segment of viewers who watch the games he and Walton call on mute. But Pasch, a true pro's pro, keeps on showing up and doing his job. He and Walton have actually become a great team, if you embrace Walton for what he is, something Pasch has done. Here's just a few of the things Pasch dealt with from his partner last night:
If you don't love listening to Bill Walton call games, you're taking yourself way too seriously. And if you don't laugh your ass off rewatching that video and seeing that giant entering the frame as he rushes back to his seat, I don't know what to tell you.