Listen to Bill Walton analyze a basketball game and passion oozes through the television. The 6-11 Hall of Famer built his career on winning championships whether it was at UCLA or in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers and Boston Celtics. One of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, Big Red has certainly created his share of great NBA moments and now documents others as narrator for the upcoming book and CD release, At the Buzzer!

Q: In the At the Buzzer! foreword, Kevin Garnett writes: "Old Bill was one of the greatest centers ever, but have you seen those wild old pictures? Bill had that frizzy, long red hair with headbands and stuff. Now look at him. All straight, proper and clean cut." Are you going to let him call you old?

Walton: What was I thinking?! Kevin, please call me anything you want other than the Mountain Man. But please take it from me, this getting old is overrated.

Q: What sets At the Buzzer! apart from other sports books?

Walton: This book represents the hope, the optimism, the dream, the ability of individuals to make something of their lives. The ultimate challenge in life is to deliver peak performance on command. These greatest moments in NBA history reflect the people, the character and the struggle that has made the NBA the greatest show on earth.

Q: Your team is down by one with three seconds left. You're double-teamed, whom do you want taking the final shot?

Walton: I'm throwing the ball to Larry Bird. Although, why would they double-team me if Larry Bird is in the game?

Q: Who was your toughest opponent?

Walton: The best player I ever played against, by far, was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He was my inspiration. Bill Russell was my favorite player of all time, but Bill was long gone before I entered the NBA. I had to and I did play my best against Kareem. That guy was so good, though, that he still threw 50 in my face every single time we played. His left leg belongs in the Smithsonian.

Q: The 1986 Celtics vs. the '96 Bulls. And the winner is …

Walton: The Celtics in a sweep. Next.

Q: What surprises people most about you?

Walton: That I can talk. While being plagued with a lifelong stuttering problem, that after all of these years where I couldn't say a single thing, now my life is on live television and as a public speaker. After legendary, Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman taught me how to speak, people are now desperately searching for that soul that can teach me how to stop.

Q: If someone told you back in the 1970s that your post career would see you experience great success as a broadcaster, what would you tell that person?

Walton: I would say that person had completely lost his mind. Nothing could be further from anyone's wildest dreams or imagination that I would be a broadcaster.

Q: Someone stole your bike at the 1977 championship parade in Portland and returned it. What did you say to that person?

Walton: I said the same thing to that guy that I said to Red Auerbach and Larry Bird when they allowed me to be on the Celtics: "Thanks for giving my life back."

Q: Select your All-NBA starting five, present company excluded.

Walton: Bill Russell at center. Bird and McHale at the forward positions and Magic and Jordan as guards, coached by Jack Ramsay.

Q: Finish this sentence: The Grateful Dead is ...

Walton: the continuation of the celebration of life that NBA basketball represents.

Q: Bill, How do you deal with people who question your taste in music?

Walton: Hopefully, over the years I've learned about patience, tolerance and the acceptance of the differences in others. I'm actually glad that not everybody liked the Grateful Dead because that gave me more room to dance. I grew up in the '50s and '60s with the birth of rock 'n' roll and I love the hopeful, joyful, positive, upbeat, rhythmic, melodic songs of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Dylan, the Dead and Neil Young. I'm still trying to figure out some of today's music that seems to promote negativity, violence and sexism. Will somebody please explain to me how these things can be good?

Q: You Love This Game because ...

Walton: There are winners and losers and reasons why. My whole life has been about the dream of being a part of a special team. A team made up of quality human beings with positive values in spirit who are chasing down the ultimate goal. The goal of building better lives and a better world. That's why I love this game.

(Excerpted from the NBA Finals 2001 Commemorative Program.)