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Bill Walton (1952-2024)


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This is why Bill was so cool. There are some people that would hate being impersonated, but he just flows with it during a live game broadcast. I believe this was from early January. As was said upthread he was one of one.

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3 hours ago, Woodrow Call said:

A wonderful human being, and the best college player I ever saw. The mightiest Bruin of all. 


x3 all american

x3 player of the year

x2 national champ

he’s in the conversation for best college player ever 

guy on the radio called him dirk, before there was a dirk. He could play in todays game 

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7 hours ago, MNLonghornFUKM said:

Still one of my favorite clips ever
 

I’m trying to find a clip, but one of my favorites ever was watching him call Mavs/Kings circa 2003.   It was an absolute blowout. Mavs won the game by 50 or so.  Walton is talking about Eddy Najera saying “so much energy.  So much life” or something.  “But he just not a good shooter.   You let Najera shoot it”.   Then Najera nails two 18 ft or so jumpers back to back and he yells “In your face Walton! “ as Najera makes the second one.   It was just so outrageous and hilarious to hear a commentator do that live.   Then the Cal game with the glockenspiel, and “The Great Richard Jefferson.  Such a good kid.  Went to Arizona with my son Luke” and so on.   Dude is a fucking treasure.   

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8 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

 

 

 


Amazing picture. There's nothing to give scale. Those guys could be 5'6" there. Just two normal dudes from accounting.

 

 

 

 


Seeing Bill and Kareem looking so old and gaunt.  Seeing Vince and Bill and Vince going gray ... 

Fuck.

BTW: they look high as fuck in this shot.



 

Bill walton and vince young.jp.jpg

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x3 all american
x3 player of the year
x2 national champ
he’s in the conversation for best college player ever 
guy on the radio called him dirk, before there was a dirk. He could play in todays game 

He was more Jokic than Dirk. He could pass, he could board, had the floater and putback game. I bet he could have moved out to the 3pt line in today’s game also.
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One Of A Kind GIF by ANTIQUES ROADSHOW | PBS

The first NBA basketball I remember watching and really paying attention to was the Portland’s NBA title v Philly. I did read the scores about Portland before that because Maurice Lucas was on that team and he was a Pittsburgh high school legend from the same school, Schenley, that sent DeJuan Blair to the Spurs for a spell.

Dude was a legend. With today’s training and healthcare I, like many others, do believe he would have transitioned well to the game’s changes.

Rest in Peace Big Man.

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Just wanted to add that I thought Bill Walton was awesome.  All these stories that have come out since he passed have been great to read/see. Man, what a great life he lived. The word "legend" is not enough to apply to Bill. I still use "throw it down big man, throw it down" in my every day life.

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8 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Shitty 36 hours....This one will be a tough one to get over.  Walton was a different breed. If you got attached to him and went for the ride, then it's easy to understand why this loss was a bit different. 

Having read a ton of columns, tributes and the like over the last day plus, this one from Breen is as good as it gets and encapsulates the man.

 

 

Dammit, it's dusty in here. Y'all need to watch that. I bet his funeral is going to be one for the ages with stories like that and for hilarious stories like this:

 

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3 hours ago, kevwun said:

It's crazy how seemingly everyone involved in sports has a story about Bill Walton.  What a dude.

I believe the better part of this is how it is Walton going above and beyond to make others happy. It’s not just an “I met Bill and he shook my hand and went on my way story.” He really made sure that by the time you were done talking to him that you felt like you had made a new friend. That level of kindness and generosity is so very rare. I cannot think of another athlete of his stature that treated everyone he met like they were the celebrity. 

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I was out of town when this news dropped. As @Kermit noted, Walton wasn't for everyone--it seemed like half the board complained about him--but I loved his schtick and would often watch a game that I otherwise had no interest in just to hear Walton pontificate on all things not necessarily related to basketball.

Dave Pasch was a great counter, in both physical stature and commentary. They made a great one-two punch and I will miss it.

 Here's what the TNT crew had to say:

And here's a general memorial the league put out:

 

 

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Back in the 90s, I was watching a UCLA-Arizona State basketball game on ESPN (or maybe a Pac-12 regional network). A player for the Sun Devils couldn't miss in the first half, and then spent the second half putting up brick after brick. Walton's live in-game analysis: "The Sun Devils really have to stop feeding the ball to (X). The guy totally shot his wad in the first half."

R.I.P., you glorious freak of a man.

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46 minutes ago, MaxHorn said:

Back in the 90s, I was watching a UCLA-Arizona State basketball game on ESPN (or maybe a Pac-12 regional network). A player for the Sun Devils couldn't miss in the first half, and then spent the second half putting up brick after brick. Walton's live in-game analysis: "The Sun Devils really have to stop feeding the ball to (X). The guy totally shot his wad in the first half."

R.I.P., you glorious freak of a man.

That’s a gun reference. Or was originally. 

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