How did Larry, Magic and Michael touch people?
Walton: Those guys are rare in sports because when they win, people on both sides are happy. The vast majority of fans root for a particular team, the local team, the team that captures their interests. When a player is so unique in his commitment to the game, his commitment to excellence, his search for perfection, his willingness to sacrifice his game to make others better, the way Larry and Magic had from the very beginning, people fall in love with them. They have this unique ability to make everybody feel good about the outcome of the game. They put so much into it and they realize that its not just a series of individual trips up and down the court. That is the hardest thing for the young players to learn. And I think it is getting harder for those young players now with the incredible exposure of the game of basketball, the immense rewards on the individual level that go all the way down to junior high school. These players just don’t realize that the ultimate reward is winning
