30 for 30: The Luckiest Guy in the World

30 for 30: The Luckiest Guy in the World

However, no one ever goes around and calls himself “the luckiest man on the face of the earth” without a lot of bad luck as did NBA superstar and sportscaster Bill Walton. Steve James’ jolly docuseries taught us this about the towering, exuberant Walton: he loves hyperboles and makes an excessive use of the word “fantastic!” In fact, in his modestly grateful hall of fame mind where he has nothing but the grateful dead jams to listen to, being awarded this title would not come as a surprise.

Walton is a puzzle even without the huge egos of today’s sports that rival their paychecks. As a matter of fact while playing for the Portland Trail Blazers in the ‘70s, he was an unpretentious hippie and outdoorsy man who stood out among others with his six feet and eleven inches height and preference to move on a bike, also he was vegetarian due to this reason. It was difficult for him to talk in front of cameras because he stuttered.

For Walton, his primary focus has always been becoming a great basketball player, though at UCLA he followed in Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s long strides like no tomorrow. It was here that his free spirit found a home, and where his famous jump hook and unconventional thoughts have made him an icon.

Walton’s biography is in good hands with director James, who has an uncommon talent for portraying sportsmen from different walks of life (“Hoop Dreams,” “Prefontaine”). On long journeys, James gets excited after talking about some specific encounters with people who shared the career highlights with Walton, particularly when Walton drove the Blazers into the NBA Finals ’77 or when he later reached it again with Celtics during 1986.

However emotional memorabilia seems to be the main point of interest concerning this formal yet passionate project; therefore we are given plenty of spontaneous reminiscences by his peers such as Larry Bird, Abdul Jabbar and World B. Free among others. Generally speaking James’ gatherings are those where friends become family become teammates all at once; hence there is usually no shortage of anecdotes. Although you feel like you could burst from anticipation over what wasn’t reported here but evidently there isn’t one negative thing anyone said about Bill Walton.

With a major emphasis on emotional fallouts which occurred as foot and knee injuries began sidelining him for hundreds more games than any other players in history (but during which time Walton still got paid through contracts), James really tells this career story on court. But it doesn’t entirely address how a bike-riding hippie can also end up as the highest paid player of his era, but it does get to the heart of what these deals were not for Walton’s no play and guilt over letting down team mates. Doing that dark period, he’s got a very serious look on his face while being shot on camera.

Throughout James’ docuseries, he is often seen in tie-dye shirts expressing an abiding fidelity to Grateful Dead. Whenever Bill was rising to prominence as a basketball superstar, he also started listening to Jerry Garcia and his band music so that now the only thing that he wants is to share positive vibes with others (Says Larry Bird “Bill turned us all into Grateful Dead fans”).

And this band helps shape the narrative: thus James put whole albums by Grateful Dead over game highlights featuring Walton; then traditional photo driven parts of the doc get framed in tie dye. Thus when his career swings from “The Luckiest Man in the World” back again through team first guys like Maurice Lucas, or shows off Bill Walton’s rocker themed bedrooms their presence here speaks volumes. This four hour docuseries jams.

As one of ESPN Films’ “30 for 30” installments that each have to be exactly one hour long television episodes this one does not disappoint at all. James manages to develop such emotionally charged narration which will especially touch those who do not know everything; for instance like how after hiding from public speaking for years Walton became a sportscaster.

However, this is equally for those with a taste for the game who come to know of such technique from the people who play it best and cite some of its greatest moments.

Nevertheless, what is most moving about the film are the present day parts which form an epilogue of sorts to Walton’s life on court. An elder Walton guides us through his sunny Portland pointing out the house he once shared with other radicals (he claims there was a water bed on their roof), then meets high school kids playing basketball at his old playground. However, before leaving them, he cleverly tells them not to buy modern basketball commercials by stating “No sodas” which sounds funny.

Above all else, Walton’s story primarily tackles inner conflicts even though there are several odd and weird passages about his fame-such as when he got caught up in Patty Hearst’s circle but mostly it is about the spirit and physical endurance of this tie dyed b-baller. By this point, James marvels at Walton from behind the camera saying, “But you aren’t even close to being the luckiest guy in the world.”

Although his smile doesn’t fade when James says that from off-camera. In contrast to statistics or stats like numbers which he loves more than life itself on court, concerning himself with wins matters most in sports according to how things went between him and winning. It does not matter whether you’ve been handed such name as “the luckiest guy in the world” or perhaps you have earned it yourself.

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