Peyton’s good, but let’s not get carried away...

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I had an interesting chat with Bill Walton on Thursday for a story on Peyton Manning in Friday’s edition of The Times. I had called Walton because I wanted to ask him about the rigid pregame routines John Wooden put his teams through to hammer home fundamentals and inspire competition. I was making a comparison between those and the warmup drills the exacting Manning conducts with his receivers.

Anyway, Walton clearly thinks the world of Manning, whom he knows from the awards-dinner circuit. He heaped praise on the Colts quarterback, comparing him to Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan among others.

‘So,’ I asked, ‘what would Coach Wooden think of a guy with Peyton Manning’s focus and winning attitude on one of his basketball teams?’

Walton thought for a second, then asked: ‘How tall is he?’

‘He’s 6-5,’ I said, trying not to flinch at the strange question.

Walton thought a bit more.

‘Coach Wooden,’ he said finally, ‘would want him to feed the post.’

-- Sam Farmer