I know everybody has an opinion of Bill Walton, but I don't believe there has ever been an official poll. There is no in between with Bill Walton. You either love him or hate him. IMO, Walton is awesome. I really gained a whole new level of respect for him this summer during the FIBA America's tournament. Only he could make a 30 point blowout exciting. He would intertwine stories about the history of the Virgin Islands or the geographic makeup of Argentina, then maybe mix in something basketball related about once every five possessions. He was really the only reason I was watching those games in the fourth quarter. Plus, he would ALWAYS stick up for Hakeem back in the day.
Bill Walton has a GREAT sense of humor! If you hate Walton, you hate sarcasm. If you take what Walton says literally, you WILL hate him.
"That had to be the single greatiest play in NBA history" (Smush Parker does a lay up) HAHA you gotta love it!
I think he's incredible. He's my favorite national sportscaster. His broadcasts have that "sitting around a campfire spinning tales" feel to them. His stories are bizarre and ridiculous, but they always seem to fit. And he makes everything seem larger than life. Here, he compares Boris Diaw to Beethove: <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FSZS6sRVWsk&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FSZS6sRVWsk&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
He's weird man but he's got the Rockets back, well, other than the fact that he though the Suns defense was better than ours because their offense was. He's a cool dude. Sometimes he talks with too much emotion, but hey at least he brings some character.
I used to think that Walton was just a silly joker type, and then I read that he spends at least three hours making up his list of ridiculous things to say during a game.
I love Bill Walton's commentary. I've been a fan since the early 90's. Maybe it's because of the respect he showed Dream during Rockets broadcasts, but he's also really funny. My favorite comment of his is when someone makes a terrible pass: "Where would you like it next time, [insert name of player]?"
"Robert Horry is one of the best defenders of the past ten years" said when tim duncan shot over him, i think he was trying to hype up tim duncan's hot. ...i hate how in the playoffs last year when he was introduced people boooood him. thats not respectful, the guy is an entertainer he plays the bad guy sometimes, but somebody has to. i vote love.
His best line, IMO, was when LeBron absolutely hammered down a dunk on a one-man fast break. He said: "Ooh, the posterization of the imaginary defender!" After that, I was a Walton fan.
Awesome! The Beethoven thing "..as we celebrate Boris Diaw's brilliance." Do we? Is that what we were doing Bill? He used to drive me nuts, but i love him.
Bill Walton said the following during a Rockets-Clippers game in LA during the 02-03 season.... "The front-court duo of Jason Collier and Dan Langhi has been brilliant so far in the 2nd quarter, bringing back shades of the Hakeem Olajuwon-Otis Thorpe era." Had me rollin.
I personally met Walton, he wouldn't stop talking basketball. My favorite is when he says the best players you want for the last shot of the game are ROBERT HORRY and MICHAEL JORDAN hahahaha
I sense a pattern here.... The serious people on this board are voting "hate him." This is a nicely disguised personality test.
Walton is an insane; and insanely funny man. I don't understand why they have him rotting away in the studio this season rather than out and about doing games? Walton rocks!
