The Son of Bill Walton

[Frank Reynolds]

Thought this was a pretty interesting read from Joe Gabriele about Thanksgiving with Bill Walton


When most of us sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, we’ll look around the table and think how unique our family is.

But it’s fair to say that none of us have had holiday gatherings quite like the ones that Cavaliers forward Luke Walton and his family shared growing up in Southern California.

Luke – the scion of one of professional sports’ most iconic stars and incomparable characters – has described parties at his father’s house before: with his dad playing one-on-one games against Larry Bird in the driveway or members of the Grateful Dead relaxing in the backyard hot tub.

If that’s the kind of stuff that went down at Big Red’s hacienda during the year, we were curious what the holidays were like. So Cavs.com got a glimpse of what Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s – or, in this case, a combination of all of the above – was like for the basketball version of The Waltons ….

Can we assume that the Walton family holidays are unlike most family’s?
Luke Walton: Our holidays have always been a little different. Like, between our schedules and my dad’s schedule, we’ve had Christmas as late as New Year’s Eve.

Luke WaltonWe try our best to get the whole family together, it’s just normally not on the day of the holiday.

How big is the holiday gathering?
Walton: My mom’s side of the family is huge. And my dad’s side: we have me and my three brothers, a couple cousins, uncles, grandparents that all live in San Diego. So we try to all get together for whatever holidays we can. We have a good time, cook it up.

Do you go with the traditional Thanksgiving meal?
Walton: We keep it pretty traditional out there. Other meals we go vegan, but for Thanksgiving, you gotta do the turkey, the stuffing. You gotta do all that. So we keep it pretty traditional.

Do you do the traditional football-watching after dinner?
Walton: We always do football. My uncle – my dad’s brother – played in the NFL; he played for the Cowboys. He was an offensive lineman, went to UCLA and played for the Cowboys for a couple years. And the Cowboys always played on Thanksgiving.

So we always had the football on – which was great for us, because our dad never let us watch TV – except for basketball. That was the only thing we were allowed to watch.

So Uncle Bruce, who is his older brother, is the only guy who can tell my dad what to do. So when he was over for Thanksgiving, football was on. We would do that and afterward, between my brothers and cousins, we’d be in the backyard, doing some sort of activity until it turned into a fight. Then we’d come back in.

Any celebrities ever make it over for the holidays – Jerry Garcia, Grace Slick?
Walton: Well, they’ve all been over there, but not on the holidays.

For Christmas, we kinda had an open-door policy. We’d have friends over. And it was never on Christmas. So they’d do Christmas with their families and they’d love Christmas at our house.

And we’d do Trivial Pursuit – but there weren’t “presents,” per se. It wasn’t like “Luke’s present.” It was like: “Here’s the present, whoever gets (the answer) right, gets it.”

So sometimes our friends would leave with more presents than us.

So anyone who got Trivial Pursuit questions would win your family’s Christmas presents?
Walton: Well, you’d play Trivial Pursuit, and if they got more questions right … yeah.

It wasn’t the actual “Trivial Pursuit.” It was made-up questions from my dad. Completely off the wall stuff – whatever random questions he’d write down on paper, he’d read them, and whoever got the questions right would get to go pick a present out.

Did your family provide the presents?
Walton: My parents provided the presents – my dad and my step-mom. And everybody who played was eligible.

But there was a catch. One time, I got a heavy box and I was all excited. I opened it up and it was every NBA team’s old media guides from the previous year. They were wrapped up. It was whatever stuff he had. One time there was a box of power bars.

So even if you got it right, it wasn’t always the most exciting gift you’d ever gotten.

Luke WaltonDoes your dad do anything special before dinner? Say “Grace” or a few words?
Walton: He gives “the yell” – it’s kinda like the dinner bell.

He actually used to go in the backyard and ring the dinner bell. He stopped doing that and now he just gives a shout throughout the house that ‘dinner is ready and we are starting. If you want to eat, you better get down here and eat.’

And after everyone’s gathered at the table?
Walton: We have a big roundtable – my dad has a big custom-made Grateful Dead table – it has skulls and all kinds of Grateful Dead symbols on it.

And there’s a big lazy susan in the middle of the roundtable. And once that lazy susan starts spinning, you’ll be middle of grabbing something, and if Big Bill wants something, you’ll be stuck holding that empty serving spoon until it comes back around.

With the Cavs hitting the road, do you have any plans for this year?
Walton: It’s going to be real tough this year. For Thanksgiving, I have my girlfriend out here. So we’ll do a little something after practice (on Thursday).

But as far as the family, I think we’re going to do the usual and wait until after Christmas to get together.

[B3team]

So anyone who got Trivial Pursuit questions would win your family’s Christmas presents?
Walton: Well, you’d play Trivial Pursuit, and if they got more questions right … yeah.

It wasn’t the actual “Trivial Pursuit.” It was made-up questions from my dad. Completely off the wall stuff – whatever random questions he’d write down on paper, he’d read them, and whoever got the questions right would get to go pick a present out.

Did your family provide the presents?
Walton: My parents provided the presents – my dad and my step-mom. And everybody who played was eligible.

But there was a catch. One time, I got a heavy box and I was all excited. I opened it up and it was every NBA team’s old media guides from the previous year. They were wrapped up. It was whatever stuff he had. One time there was a box of power bars.

So even if you got it right, it wasn’t always the most exciting gift you’d ever gotten.

It is hilarious that Bill Walton trolls his own kids on Xmas with bad gifts. That he makes them compete for.

[JiggleIt]

Bill Walton has always been one of my favorite celebrities. Would love to hang out with him.

[SRStark20]

Why has Bill Walton. not responded to this thread?

["Boobie" Gibson]

I hate looking at and/or listening to Bill Walton speak.

Possibly the worst voice of all time.

[howler1313]

Bill Walton is one hilariously cooky and slightly off guy. Loved his commentary:

[Frank Reynolds]

I hate looking at and/or listening to Bill Walton speak.

Possibly the worst voice of all time.

No!, NO! NO!

Reggie Miller, is THE WORST. Overly cocky, nasal-y voice, bitter because he never won shit, dyke sister, annoying as well. It can't get worse than Reggie Miller.

Oh Dick Stockton is FUCKING AWFUL TOO. Just his pauses during the game you can clearly tell that he is a football announcer first and foremost. And putting him with Chris Webber's black ass? Not trying to offend anyone or be racist or anything like that but when you have Old River Dick Stockton you think it's a good idea to pair him up with a stoned Chris Webber? Webber isn't half bad, it's just the mixture.


Great Commentary lineup: Steve Kerr, Kevin Harlan, Hubie Brown, Mark Jackson

Terrible Commentary lineup: Reggie Miller, Dick Stockton, Mike Breen (The biggest LeBron cock sucker of all time)

Mike Breen: "James having an off night tonight, but you know what Dick? This man could get a triple double on the toilet, I mean he could vomit into the toilet, take a dump, and piss sitting down all in one trip to the ladies room, I mean this kind of talent, it's simply supreme, call the stone mason, start chiseling his plaque for Springfield" BANG!

[Czvosec]

No!, NO! NO!

Reggie Miller, is THE WORST. Overly cocky, nasal-y voice, bitter because he never won shit, dyke sister, annoying as well. It can't get worse than Reggie Miller.

Oh Dick Stockton is FUCKING AWFUL TOO. Just his pauses during the game you can clearly tell that he is a football announcer first and foremost. And putting him with Chris Webber's black ass? Not trying to offend anyone or be racist or anything like that but when you have Old River Dick Stockton you think it's a good idea to pair him up with a stoned Chris Webber? Webber isn't half bad, it's just the mixture.


Great Commentary lineup: Steve Kerr, Kevin Harlan, Hubie Brown, Mark Jackson

Terrible Commentary lineup: Reggie Miller, Dick Stockton, Mike Breen (The biggest LeBron cock sucker of all time)

Mike Breen: "James having an off night tonight, but you know what Dick? This man could get a triple double on the toilet, I mean he could vomit into the toilet, take a dump, and piss sitting down all in one trip to the ladies room, I mean this kind of talent, it's simply supreme, call the stone mason, start chiseling his plaque for Springfield" BANG!

Disagree with the bold, I think they should be flipped, but otherwise agree.

[Homestar]

Reggie is definitely the worst thing to ever happen to broadcast.

[Jack Brickman]

Reggie is definitely the worst thing to ever happen to broadcast.

^^

[IWantAKouki]

Luke Walton has been.....fantastic.

Unlike pretty much anyone else on the team, he drives with the intent of passing (probably because he can't score, but don't tell anyone else that). He's been our best facilitator in a few of these games. We need more guys to do what he does. Slash and pass. Mix the defense up. He had the best +/- on the team last night and it was no lie.

[Jon]

It's pathetic that Scott has so little trust in our other bigs that he plays Walton at PF even as Lopez takes Zeller to the shed play after play.

[rabman_gold]

Forget that... it's sad that Luke has to put a word into our star's ear to get him prepped up to finish the game. No one else did that or can do that. That's what being a "leader" is. I know he doesn't have much left to show, but I understand the difference he makes for us just be being on the floor. That presence is a big thing.

[PATRICK EWING]

That's a 2 time World Champion we're talking about...

[gratefuldead]

luke's playing career is done after his contract runs out...im sure he knows this

i wonder if we could hold on to him in a coaching role?? kid has been on championship teams and really knows the game

imparting his knowledge of passing to some of these kids would be awesome