From the latest Sports Media Watch Podcast, ESPN play-by-play broadcaster and radio voice of the Arizona Cardinals Dave Pasch joined Jon Lewis and Drew Lerner to discuss his career in sports media.
The full podcast can be listened to below (Pasch interview begins at the 21 minute mark).
Pasch on working with new NBA analysts
Well there’s two different kinds of first time analysts. My first two NBA games this year were with Bob Myers, and Bob had not done TV color before … so that’s one type of newbie. And then you have somebody like Doc [Rivers] who I have not worked with before, but obviously Doc did high level NBA games on network television for a long time, so it’s just for him, kind of flipping that switch getting back into that space where with Bob it’s a whole new thing. I was incredibly impressed with Bob and how quickly he picked things up, he’s going to be a star if he keeps doing this. And what I’ve watched from Doc so far, remembering back to when he did games, it doesn’t feel like he’s been coaching for the last fifteen years, just feels like he’s been continuing to broadcast.
On calling games with Bill Walton
I’ve had a lot of Bill’s former teammates tell me that Bill likes to feel like he’s playing again. He likes to feel like he’s back in the locker room, that there’s a rivalry, that there is an intensity and a preparation for a broadcast that’s similar to playing. And I’ve noticed that. You know, the sparring with me I think he enjoys that because it makes him feel like he’s playing again. Watching him get ready for a game, he has a routine. He gets up and he stretches, and he’s taking his energy chews, and he’s eating his protein bars, I mean it’s all the stuff he’d probably do if he was getting ready to play.
I think when we’re on the air, he’s mentioned this before, he kind of views me as Kareem. I’m his adversary on the air. I’m his teammate, but in a way I’m getting in the way of him accomplishing his goal kind of like Kareem on the floor. And then off the air when the game’s over we’re great friends. But for that two hours or whatever it is, there is a level of competition, as he views it, that is probably similar to how he viewed when he squared off against Kareem as a player.
I think Bill, I think sometimes just analyzing the game is too easy for him, it’s the layup. So there has to be a twist, storytelling, comparisons, whether it’s comparing a player to a great artist or telling the story of a coach and his family. He enjoys all of that as much as he enjoys, if not more, the X’s and the O’s of a basketball game.
On being the radio voice for the Arizona Cardinals
It’s my one chance to be a part of a team. Obviously all the other games I do I’m unbiased…but when you’re doing the games, and you work for the team, you’re connected, you’re invested. So when things aren’t going well it stings.
We all want to be calling playoff games, we all want to be doing Super Bowls. I remember doing that Super Bowl like it was yesterday and it’s a surreal assignment when you get into the playoffs and you get those huge games. So yeah, I root for them to win, I want them to win, I’m part of the organization.
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