Grateful Dead authority and ESPN’s college basketball rambling raconteur Bill Walton told colleague Dave Pasch that he knows science as he handed him a birthday present: On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin.
Aware that Pasch is a skeptic on the subject, Walton presented him a cake with the book, saying, “I want to make sure you believe in evolution.” Pasch quickly retorted, “I don’t.”
Walton also gave ESPN analyst Jay Bilas a book on Jerry Garcia, prompting Pasch to comment, “Bill is in a giving mood tonight. He’s the urban philosopher. You can learn a lot.”
Pasch then added, “By the way, Bill, I have a book that counters the Origin of Species if you would like me to bring it to your next game?” Not allowing for any alternative arguments on the subject, Walton replied, “I believe in science and evolution. I’ve been to the Grand Canyon.”
At that point, Pasch suggested that it was “best to move on, take a break, eat some cake, maybe talk about the book Bill gave me, even talk about some ‘irreducible complexity’ and straighten Bill out here.” Bilas lightened the discussion by reminding listeners that “Cake was a great band.”
Although Deadspin claims that “irreducible complexity” has been debunked, Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe, as well as others, adheres to the concept. Proponents of the idea argue that consciousness and certain complex organs such as the eye cannot be adequately explained by evolution.
Evolution strangely proves a hot subject for sports broadcasters. Last year, Breitbart News reported that ESPN suspended baseball commentator Keith Law from his Twitter account because he ridiculed fellow ESPN analyst Curt Shilling for making statements in favor of “intelligent design.”
Like Walton, Law claimed he is very serious about the importance of science. Schilling suggested that he should “stick to baseball.”
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