Wednesday, August 16, 2006

What's worse ... Bill Walton or the things he says?

Waltonism (wolt'-un-iz'-um) noun. Relating to or characteristic of comments made by former NBA MVP and current ESPN television analyst Bill Walton. Typically, these are grandiose non sequiturs about a specific player, a particular team, or a team's entire fanbase. Always overstated (often bordering on ludicrous) and sometimes marked by transparent irony, these statements usually take the form of either A) a superlative compliment or B) a hyperderogatory criticism.

Watching a recent USA Basketball game reminded me how much I hate to listen to Bill Walton. My distaste comes in many forms. Not the least of which his 1979 NBA Championship win over the 76ers. Which appears to be the only shred of credibility he has. The fact that he never sniffed the finals again tells me they where lucky, the Sixers were stoned, or some combination of the two. Some folks may like the silly things he says, but what does it have to do with basketball. Do the networks feel compelled to put on a clown show like TNT? How many circus clowns do we need?

As another Waltonism dribbles out of his mouth, I am wondering what's worse; What he's saying or the fact that he gets paid to do it?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree, fuck Bill Walton. But he did win another Championship in 1986 with the Sixers' daddies, the Boston Celtics.