RIP Bill Walton

Willis Reed was the real deal.

 

Shaq is probably a good guy, but, like a lot of huge guys, they're so used to dominating a room that they can never accept playing second fiddle to anyone. Even for a minute.

Shaq resented Penny Hardaway when he emerged to earn some of the spotlight, and of course he didn't want to share it with Kobe, either. Even when Shaq was reunited somewhere with either of them, the moment the spotlight swung to Penny or Kobe, Shaq had to pull it back to him.

I call it Big Baby Syndrome, and I have a couple of huge friends who are the same. Shaq turns into a big baby when someone riffs on him too hard, or steals the spotlight, or even gets a bigger laugh, as opposed to a guy like Charles Barkley, who can just laugh it off and roll with it.

It's not even intentional. It's just who they are from a lifetime of everyone looking up to them. Some of them are pretty good guys. Others have their Dwayne Schintzius moments fairly often.

Anyway, it's just a thought? Y'all have a good day.

 

But could Chuck have played Neon in Blue Chips?!?!?

 

That’s because Cena can go out in public any time he wants and nobody can see him.

(sorry, couldn’t resist)

 

Hill really could have been a spoiled asshole but didn't seem like one. He is the child of a professional athlete and he has remarkable talent. The first time I saw him play was in high school. South Lakes played my high school every year and the game was in our place when Hill was a senior. He looked bored most of the game, but they still won handily.

 

Had the pleasure of working with Bill Walton when he did college basketball games about 25 years ago. He was fun to work with because he was so genuine and wasn't interested in the stats, he wanted to know about the players.

Had a stretch where he did the conference championship game and then we were matched up with three straight NCAA games in California.

I talked with him before the title game and then again for the NCAA first round.

At the practice on the off day, I walked into the arena to see the 7-footer waving at me from the broadcast area, calling my name because he wanted my help. What a fun guy.

The following spring, I attended a function in New York that he was at. I took my mother along so that she could see one of the things that I volunteered my time with. During a reception the day before the event, my mother told me that she had met the nicest guy. In trying to determine who it was, she said it was a basketball player. The room of course was full of former basketball players. I eventually figured out who it was and I told her to make sure to tell my brothers that she met Bill Walton.

The following day, at the post event reception, I returned from a something to find my mother speaking with Bill's wife, Lori. A minute later, Bill was there and before I could re-introduce myself (I figured he meets so many people), Bill greeted me by name and asked me about the school I worked with.

Two years later, I was receiving an award at the same event, this time in my home town. Many of my family members were there. My award was first on the list. . . kind of like Best Supporting Actor. . . and it was followed by a short break. During the break, Bill came over to my table and greeted my mother by name and said some very kind words about me. My brothers were awed by that (and the fact that I knew him).

The point of my story is this. . . Bill Walton was a great basketball player but his basketball skills didn't hold a candle to his genuine warmth and friendliness. He was indeed unique and a pleasure to be around. Our paths didn't cross often, but it was usually memorable and the high point of a busy day.

If you haven't watched the 30 for 30 about him, please do. It does a great job of conveying who Bill was.

 

I'm really struck by all the stories about Walton remembering people's names after meeting them just once. I wish I had that skill.

 

Anyone said David Robinson for the nice guys?

 

On the 30 for 30 thread, someone shared a story of David Stern shooing Walton out the door because otherwise “he would talk all day.” As I sit listening to a 40-plus minute Grateful Dead track on Spotify, it occurs to me why he fell so perfectly into that orbit.

 

That was me. I may have had the last interview with Stern before his death (mid-November, 2019) and, if memory serves, our appointment was at 10:30 a.m. There was a seating area by the elevators and a long hallway that led back to Stern's office. Around 10:35, I hear a door open and two voices talking. One was clearly Stern's and the other I couldn't quite make out until both men came around the corner and, holy hell that's Bill Walton. I had just been out to Portland the month before to see a preseason Blazers game at old Memorial Coliseum and told him I was in his old neighborhood. We chatted a bit about that when Stern hit the button for the elevator and gave him a gingerly coax through the doors.

 

I think you need to be a still highly visible nice guy to get the ultimate beloved treatment. I think Roger Staubach was one of the nice guys, but all I know about him post-Cowboys is that he has made hundreds of millions in real estate. John Madden without the broadcasting career would have been "Oh, yeah, that bombastic coach who always broke the paper in the Miller Lite commercials."

 

Staubach was the guest speaker at conference my wife's company held in Dallas a few years ago. Of course, she had no idea who he was and forgot his name by the time she told me about it. That led to a game of 20 questions as I tried to figure out who it was.