![]() ![]() And I get that, because it is a visual medium.”īenetti has overcome being stigmatized by broadcast executives who penalized him for not looking. “And sometimes I do think it took a while for people to warm up to me on television. “But for me, my experience has been as long as the work is good, opportunities will come,” he said. There were days where he wondered if a career in broadcasting was truly going to work out, or if there were certain games he wasn’t getting because of the way he looked or walked. There were times where having cerebral palsy could make for a good excuse as to why it just may not work out for him. I was too naive to get that for a long time and I’m glad that I was because my platform and my mind had always been to get really good at this and don’t let anybody say no for any reason.”īut when someone has a disability, Benetti said, your mind can become a blender and go into some unhealthy and negative spaces. Part of being on television is how you look. “I had an executive tell me very early on point blank, ‘you should keep honing your craft at radio,’” he said. Despite having broadcast responsibilities as an undergraduate at play-by-play announcer factory Syracuse University, he hedged his bets and went to law school at Wake Forest University.Įarly in his career as he tried to rise through the ranks, Benetti knew people wondered why he couldn’t look at the camera or focus his eyes properly during broadcasts. Moving through life hasn’t always been the easiest for Benetti, who was diagnosed with cerebral palsy as a young child. “It would be ‘let’s see what comes and we’ll react to it.’ And sometimes we’ll move life as well through curiosity.”īenetti has come to enjoy broadcasting with basketball legend Bill Walton, including working a 2019. ![]() “I think if life was more like Bill Walton, we’d all be happier,” Benetti said. When asked recently about what the Bill Walton experience was like as a broadcast partner, Benetti described it was being on a roller coaster that’s about to leave the station but you seat-belt won’t lock in right away and you wonder what would happen to you if the seat-belt doesn’t work as the ride begins. Asking the most specific questions leading up to a game is something is routine for Walton. Fine, let’s go! Let’s see where he takes it.”īenetti noted that while some people may think he’s a clown, Walton is legitimately interested in every minute detail he can get his hands on and is actually extremely well prepared for each broadcast.įor the 2018 Maui Invitational, Walton asked Gonzaga head coach Mark Few about the cross-streets his father gave sermons at when he was a pastor in Oregon, wanting to tell the best story he could during the telecast. And so that’s why I think Bill and I vibe so well, is because take away the rules. “When you go into a game with Bill, you automatically know that the arena has shifted, that it’s not gonna be your typical ‘I talk then they talk.’ There’s no cookie-cutter. The key to a successful broadcast with Walton lies within the hallowed text of “The Lion King.”
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