Sadly this cuts off after 18 minutes, but after hearing today's news of the passing of Bill Walton I felt it was time to upload this one. As a child, Bill Walton was one of my favorite sports commentators and I have so many fond memories of his weird sense of humor while calling games for the NBA on NBC, ESPN, and ABC. And I had so much respect for him as an athlete, the original posterchild for sports legends who had their careers taken from them too early due to injuries beyond their control. There's no way the Blazers don't dominate the rest of the 1970s into the early 80s if Bill stays healthy.
I was so sad when he took a break from broadcasting in the early 2010s and glad that he decided to return in recent years on a much more reduced schedule doing college basketball games and was the same weird, quirky guy that I loved listening to when I was a kid. When I heard that he was taking time off for medical reasons again a few months back I feared the worst, and unfortunately my fears were indeed founded. RIP Bill. Throw it down, big man.
Here's the January 6th, 1980 airing of the nighttime version of The Hollywood Squares with Peter Marshall, with Stars from the World of Sports. This was an interesting one in that usually when they did themed celebrity weeks the show will try to include a comedian or two to add more humor to the game, but this time they didn't add a single one.
The Squares are packed with sports legends, unfortunately some of them are no longer with us. Mickey Mantle, JoJo Starbuck, Moses Malone, Janet Guthrie, Bill Walton, Cathy Rigby, "Sugar" Ray Leonard, Bob Seagren, and Paul Hornung as your Center Square. Fittingly, even in this episode Bill makes sure to namedrop The Grateful Dead, the only passion of his that was bigger than basketball.
Unfortunately this cuts off after the 18 minute mark, but I hope you still enjoy. RIP Bill.
26 май 2024
