Pardon My Take has built a brand on bits, sponsor reads, and Big Cat collecting weird sports memorabilia like Thanos collects stones. Every once in a while though, the show stops and lets a guest just talk. That's what happened with Mike Breen, who sat down and told the story of how Bill Walton spent three days with his father late in his dad's life, and apparently made them the best three days he had left.
Breen recounts the Walton visit with his father, intercut with the PMT hosts listening at the desk.
If you've ever heard Walton talk for more than 30 seconds you already know the type. The guy was a Hall of Famer, an NBA champion, a broadcaster who would routinely derail a Pac-12 telecast to talk about the Grateful Dead, and by every account one of the most relentlessly kind humans the sport ever produced. Hearing Breen — who has called more iconic NBA moments than anyone alive — choke up about what Walton did for his dad lands different than any highlight-reel tribute could.
The episode itself is a classic PMTV grab bag. There's the FSU banner unveiling, Max getting a No. 99 Meatballs Eagles jersey from Big Dom, and the chaos aftermath of Tuesday's lottery ball segment. But it's the Breen story that pulls the whole thing together and reminds you why people actually stick around for two hours of this show.
The new PMTV promo previews the Kelce-Meatballs-jersey moment and the post-lottery horseplay alongside the Breen segment.
Walton passed in 2024 and the tributes haven't really stopped because every person who ever crossed paths with him seems to have a story exactly like Breen's. A random three days. A phone call out of nowhere. Showing up for a stranger's dad like they were family. That was the gig. Go watch the clip — it's worth the four minutes, and it's the kind of thing the show should run more of in between the bits.