RIP Bill Walton

On the latest Press Box podcast episode, Bryan Curtis mentions that for his interview with Walton, he asked one question - how did he meet David Halberstam - and that led to a 40-minute response.

 

Pearl Jam did a tribute last night.

https://www.jambase.com/article/pea...ication-man-of-the-hour-seattle-video-setlist

 

Finding myself more bummed than I ever would have thought thinking about his death. But just reading all the stories about him and watching all the videos with him and realizing how sad it is to lose someone who just loved life so goddamn much and really did bring joy everywhere he went. A decade ago he sent an email to me after I'd requested his thoughts on something and he wrote the entire email in the subject line--no periods, just commas, as Pat Forde noted was his style. Always appreciated him taking the time to at least write, even if it was in the most Bill way possible.

 

Outside of growing up a Lakers fan, I was basically thinking the same thing. Kareem is in his mid-70s and writing TV shows, for crying out loud. Just perpetually curious and inquisitive about the world at large. It's probably not fair to compare the current generation to Bill & Kareem, b/c the money is outlandish and I guess withdrawing into one's cocoon is unavoidable. And the way the world is today, anyone who tries to take a stand automatically gets criticized by half the electorate. LeBron LOVES CHINA and Enes Kanter IS NOW A TOOL FOR REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDISTS. But it's sort of telling that the only person I can think of who seems to carry the universal curiosity of a Bill or Kareem without getting too hammered for it is former MLB pitcher Sean Doolittle, whom I'm not sure any of us could pick out of a lineup.

 

Barkley is a little like that. And he caught some shit during his career. (Walton, lest we forget, caught a whole lot of shit until his grandpa-off-the-bench for the Celtics years.)

 

Not that this matters at all, but was it public knowledge that he was ill? I feel like I would've known that if it was. I watched a clip from the last game he did in February, and I certainly couldn't tell anything from that. Nor do I recall anything about him stepping away and not doing any more games at that point.

Walton was such a happy, outgoing guy who wanted other people to be happy. I think it would certainly be in line with his character to keep it private, for no other reason than he wouldn't want other people to feel bad for him or feel bad in general.

 

He was conspicuously absent from some big events recently and it was sort of implied that it was health-related. I think he missed the final Pac 12 tournament. There was never any sort of announcement, though.

 

I like Barkley circa 2024--any Black man who went to college in Alabama and is telling people to stop being assholes and be nice to the LGBTQ+ community is fine by me--but he caught A LOT of shit, all of which he threw before it boomeranged on him, during his career. He threw a dude through a window! The not a role model ad was a super bad idea in retrospect, too.

 

The director of the 30 for 30 was on Mad Dog radio last night and said Walton had not made the cancer diagnosis public.

 

Dick Vitale is also well-known for this.

 

That guy on Carson who could remember the whole audience’s names always amazed me. I am likely to forget your name right after I’ve just met you.

 

ESPN's Dave Pasch Shares Incredible Series of Texts From Late Bill Walton