Bill Walton should be your spirit animal

For about a week now, photos of Bill Walton enjoying Grateful Dead shows have been flooding the Internet. He’s everywhere, popping up in photos he posts himself and random other snapshots from concert goers. This has led to a Where’s Walton? game, which might be the easiest thing in the world because a 6’11” man is easy to spot in any crowd.

It’s all been rather funny for rather obvious reasons. Putting aside the hippie jokes, and the acid trip jokes, and the “wow they’re all high as balls” jokes, and the sight of a very tall man in the middle of a very large crowd of Deadheads, there’s something truly awesome about seeing Walton attending show after show of the Dead’s 50th anniversary farewell tour.

It’s this:

If you scroll through Walton’s Twitter feed, you’ll see many other photos like the ones above. This is Bill Walton in his element, and it’s absolutely fantastic to see.

Despite the generally happy, carefree style Walton projects, the basketball legend has been through some shit. Debilitating back pain and an obscene amount of back surgeries led Walton to wonder if it was worth living another day and dealing with the pain. The pain became unbearable, and he thought about killing himself during a very dark period in his life.

Encouragement from friends and a lengthy, life-changing surgery got him through the difficult times. And, of course, there was the Grateful Dead. He still managed to follow the Dead around, even while struggling with back pain that left him unable to do much at all.

Which brings us back to Walton now. He’s doing announcing work for Pac-12 games, where he fills slow periods during basketball games with incredible stories. He is, once again, a crowd favorite -- not the famous former NBA player you’d want to hang out with, but just the guy you’d want to hang out with period. Judging by his on-air performances and interviews, Walton would probably regale you with incredible stories for days. The Return Of The Walton is one of the best things going.

I don’t have jokes about hippies still living in the glory days or acid trips or a very tall, very famous basketball player dressed in decades-old t-shirts rocking the hell out at Grateful Dead shows. I do have photos of Bill Walton, beaming ear-to-ear, in his element and looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world. It’s great, and it should make you smile.