Best wishes to Bill Walton in his excruciating ordeal

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/Still-missing-Bill-Walton;_ylt=AixjiqDPV5_FVMgc2fBeJsG8vLYF?urn=nba,235443

Wow. I didn't know this. How unfortunate.

Thanks steve. Another great snatch off the wires.

bob

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Pretty grim stuff. Back pain is a bad bad deal. Hang in there Bill. You are missed.

Wow, hang in there Bill.

The guy played essentially one season with the Cs and considers himself a Celtic forever. He certainly is in my book.

One of my favorite all time players. What an awesome passing center. I loved that l986 team. He was great. I met him one day at a mall signing autographs, asked him how he liked backing up the "BIG GUY" Robert Parish. He started talking and kept me there for fifteen minutes. What a great guy, and a great smile. Back pain is terrible. My husband is going through major problems right now and is going to the hospital for treatment on Friday. I am sure he could relate to Walton.

Great Story. I miss seeing him in the limelight.

rosie t

I found swimming and the steroid injections right into the area helped quite a bit.

I had two bulging disc. It also is key to keep your weight down but is very very hard when you are in too much pain to move. Sorry to hear about your husband. Hang in there.

Rosalie I too have a Bill Walton story.

In late 1986 or 1987 I was living in Santa Monica CA and used to frequently (all too frequently) hang out in a neighborhood bar named Jolly Jacks Saloon on Lincoln Ave. They sponsored our softball teams and there was a good sports vibe with transplanted guys like me from all over the country going there to see their teams play. Me and a few other Celtic fans would get our backs up all the time over the Laker-Celtics rivalry and you can imagine that era in LA. It was all good.

It turned out that Bill Walton's best friend from UCLA (Mokie) mom and Dad owned the liquor store next door and when Bill was in town visiting they would come in to the bar and have a few. Sometimes even with McHale and Bird in tow. The story was that Bill was a great guy like you said and would talk for hours with anyone who was a fan.

So I told the bartender that if he ever came in to call me at home and I would be right there to get geeked up over seeing him. One night I got the call. All I heard was "He's here!" amid the sounds of a bar in the background.

Anyway I showed up with my 1986 World Championship hat on and a sharpie pen in hand. He smiled and signed my hat and I asked him if I could buy him a beer and there we sat in Jolly Jack's on a weeknight watching the NBA games and shooting the breeze. Just a normal man who wasn't shy about telling stories and the game we were watching was the Blazers vs someone. I asked if the championship he got with them was better or worse than that of the 86 Celtics. He said something like..."Nothing compares to a championship in Boston!"

The best part was the mileage I got out of telling my friends back in RI about it. My best and oldest friend was silent and then said "You bought him a beer? He makes a million bucks and could have bought you one!"

A few years later I saw him again at a Clippers game. He was probably not remembering me as I did him but when we walked away he said "Go Celtics". His partner at the time Ralph Lawler who is a fabulous announcer IMO also talked about Bill in absolute admiring way. Bill Walton, top notch in my book.

I hope he finds some relief from his pain.

Hoop

Hoop

hoop

great story!