Are you saying that it helped your knees, or that it just gave you a great way to exercise without putting too much trauma on them?
I never understood the hate of Bill Walton around here. Yes, the breakup between the Blazers and Walton in the Summer of 1978 was contentious and somewhat bitter.... both sides had valid arguments against the other, and there was a little too much bitching in the media about the situation from Walton, but there's one undisputable truth that no one can deny: Bill Walton was the main cog in the machine that gave Portland its only professional sports championship. For that and that alone, he deserves the respect and admiration of every Blazer fan. By all accounts (and this article confirms it) he's a likeable, personable, humble, gentle giant who has had one hell of a life, both good and bad. He could have been one of the all-time great centers (and was, in small doses when his body would allow it), he overcame a horrible stuttering problem to become perhaps the most talked-about sports commentator of his day, and he's battled body pain that you and I can't comprehend. To his haters: cut the man some slack.
The link in the article is the Walton I remember. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89TNgbs38ds His politics were the reason the media picked on him then, and the reason that he still has opponents. To Shooter's credit, you rise above that and you like him. Walton was typical of intelligent young men then. We all had or at least tried long hair, and most of us disliked the system and still do. The system quickly and easily replaced us with a faux left, the feminists.