Paola Boivin

azcentral sports

My Sunday best …

In the realm of sports broadcasting, Todd Walsh is omnipresent. His gigs covering the Coyotes and Diamondbacks for Fox Sports Arizona make him a welcome and familiar fixture on our television sets.

When he didn't appear on the air for nearly a month, viewers were perplexed.

It turns out Walsh is battling the aftermath of a frightening concussion.

"You haven't lived until you walk 10 feet to a cone and wonder how you did," said Walsh, his dry humor intact after a visit to the Mayo Clinic on Friday.

In late July, Walsh said he was involved in a car accident after returning from the memorial service for a close friend. He thought he was fine until odd things started occurring several days later.

While recording a bit with the cast of the Tony Award-winning musical "Jersey Boys," he tried to duplicate their "Walk Like a Man" moves and struggled.

"I'm uncoordinated but … " he said.

He went to Chase Field and could barely look at the stadium lights. He attended a meeting at work only to find out he was a week early.

He struggled with vertigo and intense nausea.

A trip to the doctor brought a diagnosis of postconcussion syndrome.

"I didn't realize how concussions affect so many parts of your life," Walsh said. "I was emotionally all over the map. I was warned of these things and didn't heed them. I couldn't walk without tripping for a couple of weeks."

The first call Walsh made was to Coyotes goalie Mike Smith, who has battled several concussions. He warned Walsh not to think "it will just go away."

Walsh's immersion in the sports world not only gave him access to important feedback but made him look at the important story line of head trauma in athletics a bit differently.

"There's a common expression in hockey — 'dinged' in the head," Walsh said. "I will never think of it that way again."

No date is set for Walsh's return, but he said he feels as if he has started turning the corner. He is grateful for friends who have offered their support, not to mention a bit of dry wit.

When he told Brett Hansen, the director of communications and marketing for Fox Sports Arizona, that the vertigo made it difficult to put his pants on, Hansen responded, "Kind of like Vegas on a Sunday morning?"

Walsh's friend Jude LaCava of Fox 10 connected him via e-mail with former Arizona State and Cardinals offensive lineman Scott Peters, who has taken a strong interest in concussion studies and started a program called Safe Football.

Peters sent him to David Dodick, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic and one of the nation's more-respected authorities on concussions.

"He put me at ease," Walsh said. "I finally feel like I have a road map to get out of it."

Walsh is thankful for Dodick's guidance and for the assistance of Peters, who may not know that Walsh graduated from Arizona.

Oops. Cat's out of the bag.

Let's hope Walsh is out of his house and back on the airwaves soon. …

Broadcasting bits

The sports opinions of former Valley radio personality Mark Asher will be available again soon. Asher will do a weekly hourlong podcast called "Ashtags" via Dave Pratt's Double Wide Network. Asher, part owner and director of new business development for Southwest Wealth Strategies, said the show would be local-centric.

He will record it at 7 a.m. on Tuesdays beginning Sept. 2 but it will be available around the clock on doublewidenetwork.com or on the in-progress ashtags.net. …

• Glad to see KTAR is going mostly local on 98.7 FM and national on 620 AM in September, but why have ESPN's "The Herd," featuring Colin Cowherd, on from 10 a.m. to noon on both stations? Why not have a local show on in the 98.7 spot?

• A dispute involving Dish Network and Fox Sports 1 means several upcoming college football games will not appear on Dish as scheduled. Games featuring Arizona and ASU are not impacted, but Thursday's Rutgers-Washington State game and Friday's Colorado State-Colorado meeting are.

Stat of the day

28. The number of days that will pass between ASU's first home football game and its second.

Tweet of the Day

"No tats on the right arm Strictly for buckets" — Lakers guard Nick Young, on why his left arm is heavily tattooed but his right one isn't.

Reach Boivin at paola.boivin@arizonarepublic.com and follow her on Twitter at Twitter.com/Paola Boivin. Listen to her streaming live on "The Brad Cesmat Show" on sports360az.com every Monday at 10:30 a.m.