I personally think it's a little trashy for Quick to even toss that quote in there; it doesn't really help the article. Everything that needs to be said is in the article already. That quote (almost entirely out of context) is just classic Quick shit-stirring. Like, "Oh by the way, just remember that 15 years ago, Walton thought we were to blame. Just thought I'd put that out there. Okay, back to the article." It obviously is there to elicit an emotional response, and in that it succeeded.
I am hopeful that we will finally see the removal of the infamous "Curse of the Big Red hippie", which has plauged our team since 1978. With the curse removed the dynasty is assured!
He sound very sincere and emotional about it, and given the fact it's 30 years removed... and given the fact people have done far worse things... Why not forgive him? I've always liked Bill Walton regardless of all that old stuff and I'm very glad he's in better health these days.
It does seem like people are holding onto grudges that are kind of sad to hold onto. Yah, he may have treated the city and fans poorly with the way he acted, but it's sports. I just don't get why people don't let it go.
I don't get why people refuse to hold others accountable for their actions. If he wants to be forgiven, he should ask his god (Jerry Garcia). What has he done to be forgiven?
After giving us a Championship, Bill was treated about the same as Zach and Rasheed were. The exact same mentality that blew up our last good team. It took courage for him to leave and I never blamed him at all for it.
Oh, get over it. Walton was a great center, and he could definitely teach Oden a thing or two. This grudge against Walton that a lot of people have is just silly.
I was over it until some said he was the best blazer ever. Then he wants to make ammends. He was a dick. Nobody treated him like Wallace until he turned on the team and Portland. I loved to watch him. What he did to the blazers after his injury ruined the team until drexler came. Walton has a lot to do with the way players get treated today by the public and the media and apparently he knows it.
I'm glad to know that apparently SnakeOiler has never made a mistake or done anything wrong in his life. Must be nice to be perfect... I'm mean, you REALLY think it's appropriate to hold onto a grudge against the man for something he did when he was a kid??
wait...do you mean Pippen getting old, Sabas getting old, Trader Bob bringing in Detlef and Rod and Greg Anthony getting injured/old, Dale Davis being old, Brian Grant wanting to be traded, getting Derek Anderson (who sucked) and Trader Bob trading Jermaine was all because of how the fans treated the players?
He WAS the best Blazer ever. There's no doubt about it in my mind. He took a team of nobodies (i.e. Dave Twardzik, Bobby Gross, Lloyd Neal, Larry Steele, Wally Walker, Corky Calhoun, Robin Jones) and led them to an NBA title. You can disagree, of course, but even so, who cares? It's just my opinion, and everybody has one. Uh, okay . . . is there something wrong with making amends?? This is absurd. Walton never attacked a referee, never got in a fight, never shot or stabbed anyone, never yelled racial epithets at his coach, never threw a towel in a teammate's face, never attended dog fights, was never suspended for drug abuse, never went to rehab, never missed practice or team flights, etc., etc. He was a poster boy for the NBA compared to the likes of Rashweed Wallace, Bonzi Wells, Shawn Kemp, and Isaiah Rider. Walton was a consumate pro, for the most part, and unfortunately he had a series of bad injuries which he never really recovered from. I would take him in a heartbeat over many of the spoiled, egotistical, jail-tattooed brats of today's NBA.
I like the careful way you word that. No, Walton was never *suspended* or forced into rehab for his drugs. OTOH, he actually used more drugs than the entire JailBlazer roster combined. But hey...it's OK, as long as everyone covered it up. Everybody knew Kareem smoked pot for his migraines - and he was never publically exposed or punished either. Just a different era. Just don't try to tell me that it was OK back then, and some sort of horrible crime now. Oh, and BTW...."consumate pros" don't half-ass their way through rehab, or refuse to stop aggravating the situation with weird fad diets.
It occurs to me that this might be a good time for a bit of a history lesson. Back in the 70s, the team didn't have a fancy, private practice facility. The team worked out at the Jewish Community Center (which my father built). In the fall of 77, they took their training camp to Willamette University (where I was attending law school). There was all sorts of "stuff" that went down in public that simply never made it into the media. Walton had his opinion on drug use - and didn't care what people thought. Walton had his opinion on diets and fasting - and didn't care what people thought. Walton had his opinion on conditioning/rehab - and he didn't care what people thought. If you want to believe his version of history, all of that had no impact on his injuries. I find that claim absurd. One final note. Do you recall the shitstorm over Sheed tossing a towel at Sabonis, or a basketball at Boom-Boom? During their camp at WU, I watched the Blazers exercising in the WU pool. I watched Walton sneak up behind Lucas, grab him, and throw him into the shallow end of the pool with a pro-wrestling style suplex. Hmmm. Towel in the face vs possible broken neck. Yep, Sheed was sure the worse offender!
damn, you are old... anyways, you bring up good points. Although I think horse play in a pool is different than live on national TV. Not saying one is worse than the other (I think the towel thing got blown slightly out of proportion of how bad it really was though). But like I said, you bring up valid points. I forgot what my initial reason for responding was, other than pointing out just how old you are. In law school in 77...my god...did you come over on the wagon trains?
Yep. Worse then that, this was before we stumbled on the notion that wheels were supposed to be round! Can you imagine crossing the Rockies in wagons with square wheels!
Give me a f------ break. None of that--and I mean NONE of it--compares with the antics of Wallace and Wells and Rider, et al. Walton may have been a bit eccentric, or had some peculiar ideas, but he didn't cause even a fraction of the trouble that the Jail Blazers did. You simply cannot be serious with this shit. The incident you describe sounds like horseplay between two friends--Walton and Lucas were extremely close. But even if it was uncalled for, it wasn't on national TV, and it wasn't done to embarrass Lucas in front of the entire team. You better find something better, because this crap is extremely WEAK.
