Would you believe NBC color analyst Bill Walton once had a speech impediment? (caption) http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/news/2001/12/24/walton_nbc_ap/ Talking a good game Overcoming speech problem opens new doors for Walton NEW YORK (AP) -- Viewers tuning in to the second game of NBC's Christmas Day doubleheader -- the Philadelphia 76ers at the Los Angeles Lakers -- could play a little parlor game among themselves: seeing how long it takes Bill Walton to refer to a play, or a player, as "horrible." "Terrible" also will do, as will any of the other favorite barbs that have made the enigmatic redhead one of the most recognized -- and confounding -- personalities in TV sports. Fans love his insightful commentary and criticism of players who don't have the same respect for the game he showed during his Hall of Fame career. Detractors can't stand his over-the-top delivery and sarcasm. Walton doesn't care, because he has worked too hard to overcome a lifelong stuttering problem to stop talking now. "It's the thrill of a lifetime," he said of being a part of NBC's "first team," along with play-by-play announcer Marv Albert, fellow analyst Steve "Snapper" Jones and sideline reporter Jim Gray. "My whole life has been about the dream of being a part of something special, the choices I made in life: to go to UCLA, to marry my beautiful wife, Lori, to join the Portland Trail Blazers and the Boston Celtics. "To have a chance to be a broadcaster and be a part of a championship team, that's what I live for. I'm the luckiest man in the world." While Walton, 49, considers his promotion the greatest accomplishment of his life, his critics rue Oct. 17, the day NBC announced that he and Jones would replace Doug Collins as color analysts for the network's biggest games. First, there's that low voice prone to hyperbolic pronouncements. But perhaps at the top of the Walton-bashers' list is the way he speaks in reverent tones for his former UCLA coach, the great John Wooden, while deriding coaches and players with far lesser talents. "Sometimes he has to be reeled in, but that's the beauty of working with Bill," said Jones, who was Walton's teammate with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1974-75 and has worked games with Walton at NBC since the 1994-95 season. "Bill's focus is always on being the best that you can be, and sometimes he forgets that everybody is not going to get a chance to be a champion." Walton led UCLA to two national titles and a remarkable 86-4 record in three seasons. But he admitted that the way Wooden sheltered his players from the media only worsened his fear of public speaking. "Coach Wooden made it very clear to all of us as individuals: 'If you don't want to talk to the press, I'll be the shield,'" Walton said. "I was scared to death, so I said, 'Please, Coach, save me.'" Walton was drafted No. 1 by the Trail Blazers, a lowly expansion team with just three seasons in the league. Walton chose Portland over the rival ABA, and was rewarded with a $2.5 million contract, then the richest in league history. But when his first two seasons were plagued by losing and injuries, Walton grew frustrated -- and his tenuous relationship with reporters soured further. "I don't think anybody understood the depth of the problem," Jones said. "When he would get stuck and make that awful face and just couldn't get the word out and have to do like Porky Pig and try to find another word to express himself, nobody really knew what this was doing to him in terms of how he felt about himself." Walton led the Blazers to the NBA title in 1977 and was MVP in 1978, but his speech didn't begin to improve until an encounter with broadcaster Marty Glickman at a social function a couple years later. "Marty took me behind a potted plant and said, 'We've got to fix this,'" Walton said. "I said, 'I-I-I ...' I couldn't even say, 'I know.' So he gave me a five-minute talk, about what to do, how to practice, how to think about speech. At the end of the talk, he said, 'Bill, take what I've given you here and apply the techniques, apply the knowledge and methods you've learned, and you can learn how to talk.'" Like a fountain that had been plugged up for years, Walton worked hard to express himself. After ankle and foot injuries ended his career in 1987, he ventured into broadcasting three years later. Today Walton seems to be everywhere: In addition to the NBC job, he does color commentary for Los Angeles Clippers TV broadcasts, writes a column for MSNBC.com, is a regular guest on radio shows and routinely makes public appearances. "Every stutterer faces that inability to express yourself, to share your thoughts and your emotions," Walton said. "I've learned in my life that the greatest lessons have come from the most painful experiences. There's nothing like winning a championship, but I'm a better and happier person today because of the failures, because of the stumbling along the way." The stutterer's panic never really goes away, and Walton practices his elocution in front of the mirror before an appearance. But he speaks surely, almost as if he's delivering a sermon. A recent spot on a Portland radio station is a perfect example. He spoke nearly nonstop for seven minutes on KXL-AM, letting host Kevin Radich get in barely a word, and peppered the erratic Blazers with seamless one-liners. He said little-used forward Shawn Kemp was "disappearing faster than John Ashcroft's credibility," and ripped Rasheed Wallace for shunning the spotlight despite making more than $14 million. "If you want to be a role player, how about giving back some of that salary to clear some space for someone who wants to be the man," Walton sneered. Even fellow broadcasters say Walton sometimes goes too far. "He's different," said Jack Ramsay, who coached the 1976-77 Blazers. "I sometimes think he goes overboard in what he says, but he wants to be kind of a maverick guy. And there's a place in television for that." Walton knows he's a target, and he doesn't care. "There's nothing I like better than arguing basketball," he said. "As I learned from Coach Wooden years ago, when everybody thinks alike, nobody thinks." A great Christmas Day Story for you Walton fans.
