How can you not love Bill Walton...

[cto]

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/02/11/bill-walton-glockenspiel-cal-oregon-video

Nearly two minutes of Bill with a glockenspiel during last night's game.

 

[suttree]

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/02/11/bill-walton-glockenspiel-cal-oregon-video

Nearly two minutes of Bill with a glockenspiel during last night's game.

That was one of his more charming recent moments. He wasn't taking any shiznit off the PBP guy.

 

[SoBeCuse]

That's great! Thanks for sharing CTO. Love Walton.

 

[CuseTroop]

haha that's awesome. "That's a beaver, that's not a bear" "It's a bear, Bill.. The Cal Bears"

 

[NineOneSeven]

I genuinely look forward to Pac 12 games thursday nights. He is so fun. To each his/her own, but I don't get one bit how people dislike him. Yeah yeah, you want to hear all the analysis of the game and he "distracts you", but come on, this man is an absolute treat. He loves life. Is one of the best center of all-time, who could seriously be bitter he missed so many years with injuries, but nope, just an absolute genuine dude. He's incredibly smart too. Pasch and Walton are my favorite duo out there right now.

 

[tbonezone]

well during his playing days he was a douchebag pr!kk to the media and then retires, sells out and decided to join them.
that alone is rather hypocritical assbaggery. "if you gonna not talk the talk then don't walk the walk" . he's the enemy.

 

[sabach]

Pasch is a perfect match to Walton.

 

[dasher]

well during his playing days he was a douchebag . . . . . to the media and then retired, sold out and decided to join them.
that alone is rather hypocritical assbaggery. "if you gonna not talk the talk then don't walk the walk" . he's joined enemy.

like a 1000x I guess some of the young don't know what a a-hole he was during his playing days. How can you not love him? I can't stand the guy.

 

[NineOneSeven]

like a 1000x I guess some of the young don't know what a a-hole he was during his playing days. How can you not love him? I can't stand the guy.

Many cannot stand Jim Boeheim. Can't please 'em all!

 

[jordoo]

I love watching him do games although I'm so into SU games i'm glad he doesn't do ours.

 

[manleyzoo]

like a 1000x I guess some of the young don't know what a a-hole he was during his playing days. How can you not love him? I can't stand the guy.

This is what the late, great Jack Ramsey said about Walton following Portland's 4 - 2 win in the 1977 NBA finals over Dr. J and the 76ers:
"I've never coached a better player. I've never coached a better competitor. And I've never coached a better person than Bill Walton.”
BTW, in the deciding game 6, Walton had 20 pts, 23 boards, 7 assts and 8 blocks. He was only the best combo center in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks to come along after Russell and probably the best ever in college.

If you're so sure he acted like an a-hole in his playing days (btw, as a Cali guy, I saw him many, many times at UCLA and in Portland), you're saying you knew him personally and as a player better than Dr. Jack?
IMHO, the fact that he has off-the-wall interests outside of basketball makes him far more interesting than the yelling, same old/same old analysts who do most college games as though they've never ventured outside of a gym in their lives.

If memory serves, Russell was an NBA analyst for a while on TV and I seem to remember him regularly going off on a tangent, telling all kinds of long stories about things that interested him outside of basketball. Guess you haven't liked Raftery's bar stories or the late Al McGuire's motorcycle tales either.

If you're a baseball fan of a certain age you must also have hated Ralph Kiner, Red Barber, Jack Brickhouse, Russ Hodges, Hank Greenwald and a slew of others, all of whom, while not ex-players, went off telling tales during the game for long periods of time that had absolutely nothing to do with baseball. Gotta put Casey Stengel in the same bucket. How about Phil Rizzuto--hated the story-telling Scooter, too? What about boxing legend Don Dunphy, one of the greatest tangent guys ever?

Walton makes me laugh just like those baseball guys did. He's curious about a lot of things. He celebrates the game enthusiastically. The game's supposed to be fun, right, not life and death. And, I'm guessing that unless you hung out with Walton you have absolutely no idea what his personality was as a person or as a player. None of us do.

 

[tbonezone]

i'm not talking at all about the crazy off beat tangents. it's ok he smoked pot. ok he likes the dead and allmans and joan baez. i've got no problems with his hallucinogenic scatter thoughts . the simple fact is tho that billwalton the player refused to ever talk to the media. he looked down upon them and spit nothing but bile . and now he is what he once hated.

 

[Capt. Tuttle]

i'm not talking at all about the crazy off beat tangents. it's ok he smoked pot. ok he likes the dead and allmans and joan baez. i've got no problems with his hallucinogenic scatter thoughts . the simple fact is tho that billwalton the player refused to ever talk to the media. he looked down upon them and spit nothing but bile . and now he is what he once hated.

Maybe he is the antithesis of the media guys he hated.

 

[dasher]

Maybe he is the antithesis of the media guys he hated.

He hated them all. He treated them all with contempt.

 

[dasher]

This is what the late, great Jack Ramsey said about Walton following Portland's 4 - 2 win in the 1977 NBA finals over Dr. J and the 76ers:
"I've never coached a better player. I've never coached a better competitor. And I've never coached a better person than Bill Walton.”
BTW, in the deciding game 6, Walton had 20 pts, 23 boards, 7 assts and 8 blocks. He was only the best combo center in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks to come along after Russell and probably the best ever in college.

If you're so sure he acted like an a-hole in his playing days (btw, as a Cali guy, I saw him many, many times at UCLA and in Portland), you're saying you knew him personally and as a player better than Dr. Jack?
IMHO, the fact that he has off-the-wall interests outside of basketball makes him far more interesting than the yelling, same old/same old analysts who do most college games as though they've never ventured outside of a gym in their lives.

If memory serves, Russell was an NBA analyst for a while on TV and I seem to remember him regularly going off on a tangent, telling all kinds of long stories about things that interested him outside of basketball. Guess you haven't liked Raftery's bar stories or the late Al McGuire's motorcycle tales either.

If you're a baseball fan of a certain age you must also have hated Ralph Kiner, Red Barber, Jack Brickhouse, Russ Hodges, Hank Greenwald and a slew of others, all of whom, while not ex-players, went off telling tales during the game for long periods of time that had absolutely nothing to do with baseball. Gotta put Casey Stengel in the same bucket. How about Phil Rizzuto--hated the story-telling Scooter, too? What about boxing legend Don Dunphy, one of the greatest tangent guys ever?

Walton makes me laugh just like those baseball guys did. He's curious about a lot of things. He celebrates the game enthusiastically. The game's supposed to be fun, right, not life and death. And, I'm guessing that unless you hung out with Walton you have absolutely no idea what his personality was as a person or as a player. None of us do.

wait one second here. So you are saying that the coach of a team that won a championship because of that guy said he was a great guy. What a surprise. the guy was a dick. I don't care how he treated his coach. rather the people that were forced to trya nd work with him.

 

[tbonezone]

no antithesis would mean opposite . he gets paid to talk about basketball on tv. he despised people who got paid to talk about basketball on tv. pretty sure HYPOCRITE is the proper nomenclature at play here. he joined the club for money.

 

[Full_Rebar]

Maybe this is why he didn't talk to the media

http://www.stutteringhelp.org/famous-people/bill-walton

 

[Toga]

This is what the late, great Jack Ramsey said about Walton following Portland's 4 - 2 win in the 1977 NBA finals over Dr. J and the 76ers:
"I've never coached a better player. I've never coached a better competitor. And I've never coached a better person than Bill Walton.”
BTW, in the deciding game 6, Walton had 20 pts, 23 boards, 7 assts and 8 blocks. He was only the best combo center in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks to come along after Russell and probably the best ever in college.

If you're so sure he acted like an a-hole in his playing days (btw, as a Cali guy, I saw him many, many times at UCLA and in Portland), you're saying you knew him personally and as a player better than Dr. Jack?
IMHO, the fact that he has off-the-wall interests outside of basketball makes him far more interesting than the yelling, same old/same old analysts who do most college games as though they've never ventured outside of a gym in their lives.

If memory serves, Russell was an NBA analyst for a while on TV and I seem to remember him regularly going off on a tangent, telling all kinds of long stories about things that interested him outside of basketball. Guess you haven't liked Raftery's bar stories or the late Al McGuire's motorcycle tales either.

If you're a baseball fan of a certain age you must also have hated Ralph Kiner, Red Barber, Jack Brickhouse, Russ Hodges, Hank Greenwald and a slew of others, all of whom, while not ex-players, went off telling tales during the game for long periods of time that had absolutely nothing to do with baseball. Gotta put Casey Stengel in the same bucket. How about Phil Rizzuto--hated the story-telling Scooter, too? What about boxing legend Don Dunphy, one of the greatest tangent guys ever?

Walton makes me laugh just like those baseball guys did. He's curious about a lot of things. He celebrates the game enthusiastically. The game's supposed to be fun, right, not life and death. And, I'm guessing that unless you hung out with Walton you have absolutely no idea what his personality was as a person or as a player. None of us do.

Portland '77 - what a team!

 

[SoBeCuse]

like a 1000x I guess some of the young don't know what a a-hole he was during his playing days. How can you not love him? I can't stand the guy.

Did he spurn you or something, lol? Who cares. All I know is that I know people who know him, have stayed at his house, and know organizations he has donated big bucks to. All glowing reports.

 

[SoBeCuse]

This is what the late, great Jack Ramsey said about Walton following Portland's 4 - 2 win in the 1977 NBA finals over Dr. J and the 76ers:
"I've never coached a better player. I've never coached a better competitor. And I've never coached a better person than Bill Walton.”
BTW, in the deciding game 6, Walton had 20 pts, 23 boards, 7 assts and 8 blocks. He was only the best combo center in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks to come along after Russell and probably the best ever in college.

If you're so sure he acted like an a-hole in his playing days (btw, as a Cali guy, I saw him many, many times at UCLA and in Portland), you're saying you knew him personally and as a player better than Dr. Jack?
IMHO, the fact that he has off-the-wall interests outside of basketball makes him far more interesting than the yelling, same old/same old analysts who do most college games as though they've never ventured outside of a gym in their lives.

If memory serves, Russell was an NBA analyst for a while on TV and I seem to remember him regularly going off on a tangent, telling all kinds of long stories about things that interested him outside of basketball. Guess you haven't liked Raftery's bar stories or the late Al McGuire's motorcycle tales either.

If you're a baseball fan of a certain age you must also have hated Ralph Kiner, Red Barber, Jack Brickhouse, Russ Hodges, Hank Greenwald and a slew of others, all of whom, while not ex-players, went off telling tales during the game for long periods of time that had absolutely nothing to do with baseball. Gotta put Casey Stengel in the same bucket. How about Phil Rizzuto--hated the story-telling Scooter, too? What about boxing legend Don Dunphy, one of the greatest tangent guys ever?

Walton makes me laugh just like those baseball guys did. He's curious about a lot of things. He celebrates the game enthusiastically. The game's supposed to be fun, right, not life and death. And, I'm guessing that unless you hung out with Walton you have absolutely no idea what his personality was as a person or as a player. None of us do.

Great post.

 

[tbonezone]

Did he spurn you or something, lol? Who cares. All I know is that I know people who know him, have stayed at his house, and know organizations he has donated big bucks to. All glowing reports.

you know kato kaelin ?

 

[SoBeCuse]

you know kato kaelin ?

?

 

[manleyzoo]

wait one second here. So you are saying that the coach of a team that won a championship because of that guy said he was a great guy. What a surprise. the guy was a dick. I don't care how he treated his coach. rather the people that were forced to trya nd work with him.

No, what I'm saying is neither you, me, nor anyone else other than players and coaches, have any idea whether he was/is a dick or not. The only thing you've seen is him in public with the press. I've been a business tech journo for 30 years and have interviewed just about every big-time CEO, including Bill Gates and Steve Jobs multiple times and many other less than pleasant CEOs. And I've questioned them in pressers. Most, if not all were hostile to the press. So what, BFD. It's not a friendly relationship by design, its contentious. Journos, especially those of us that cover sports teams, don't get ruffled by it at all.

The friendly, affable subjects are really good at smiling and chuckling and seeming like they're all friendly and confiding inside stuff to you. But, in my experience those are the ones that as soon as they leave you they're cursing the ground you walk on. The difference between the hostile and friendly interview is who's cursing you to your face and who's doing it behind your back. And, that's a fact.

 

[Delmar]

http://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2016/02/11/bill-walton-glockenspiel-cal-oregon-video

Nearly two minutes of Bill with a glockenspiel during last night's game.

CTO, last night in the chatroom you said there are no more editors. Bill hasn't had an editor in his brain for a long time now. I enjoy him.

 

[tbonezone]

nobody is saying that big bill is a dick in person.in fact i think he was one one the greatest college basketball players i ever saw play. and i generally like his stoner quirkiness. though i often think he really needs to reel it in a bit. what i'm presenting here is a man who for lack of a better metaphor screamed throughout all his professional years...
"I HATE MCDONALDS,THEIRFOODSUCKS,SCREWEVERYBODYWHOWORKSTHERE,BIGMACSAREPOISON"
then turning around and saying "i love this sh#t and i'm opening a franchise cuz it's so damn delish!! PAY ME!!!!"
how would walton deal with some new young star who walked up to him post game with the same sheetay attitude.