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| "I'm going to throw this down!" |
When Bill Walton talks, people listen. Whether they agree with him or not is an entirely different matter. But if there's one thing we all can agree on, it's that beer is good, and now the tallest Deadhead in the world is teaming up with Guinness to hand out the ultimate home bar. Here's what he had to say. (Spoiler alert: His answers include some mild overreactions.)
How are you doing today?
Well, the games of the millennium have reached their climactic finale and we've got Guinness beer to make it all enjoyable. What a perfect harmonic convergence!
I couldn't agree more. So Guinness built you a home bar¿what does it have that distinguishes it from the rest of the bars in the world?
It has everything and we could not be more proud, we could not be more pleased, we could not be more satisfied. I had no idea and all of the sudden, I get home and my great friends from Guinness¿I'm a lifelong Irishman¿they presented me with the Guinness Hall of Brilliance certificate and plaque as the inaugural inductee into the Hall of Brilliance. And then they also gave me this phenomenal in-home bar, which, they say, is worth $20,000. I know $20,000¿this thing is priceless.
What did you have to work harder to get into: the Guinness Hall of Brilliance or the Basketball Hall of Fame? They are mutually inclusive in that they flow seamlessly from one to the other.
Who do you think is going to win the finals?
I am picking Miami. Look at an NBA playoff series as, you know, when you're up 1–0, that means you're ahead after the end of the first quarter. And how many times have we seen leads at the end of the first quarter absolutely disappear? And so, if there's anything more meaningless than who's ahead at the half, please angle up to our in-home Guinness bar and let's have a discussion about that. It's who's ahead at the end of the game.
There's never going to be another Michael Jordan, but who do you think is going to emerge as the next superstar of the league over the next decade?
LeBron is unbelievable and what he's doing right now is just phenomenal, because he's doing it without any real support and he made the Detroit Pistons, who I've thought have been the best team over the last three years, he made them look like a bunch of CYO-level club-league players. So who will his teammates be? Because remember, Magic played with Kareem and Jamal and Norm Nixon and Worthy and McAdoo and an endless list. Larry played with Kevin McHale and Robert Parrish and D.J. and Cedric Maxwell and Danny Ainge¿
And yourself¿
I was Larry's valet.
Who do you think are the NBA's all-time starting five?
Mine would be Bill Russell, Kevin McHale, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and Michael Jordan. Winners. No hype, no self-promotion, no egos out of control.
Who is TV's all-time announcing trio?
Well, that's like asking me, you know, which of my sons I like better. As a broadcaster, all I want to do is be part of the team, just be a part of the championship, and hopefully my bosses now, George Bodenheimer at ESPN/ABC and John Skipper, Norby Williamson, all the guys hopefully, when the championship's on the line, they'll say, "C'mon, Walton. Get in there and do something once in your life. Please!"
Speaking of imploring folks to do something, how many times a day do people come up to you and say, "Throw it down, big man!"?
THROW IT DOWN, BIG MAN! THROW IT DOWN! ONE TIME!
That's the stuff.