Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Statue honoring local basketball great Bill Walton is taken back to workshop after numerous structural failures
Monumental breakdown
!["You can’t put a [bronze] BAND-AID on a [bronze] broken bone.” Despite the exterior support provided by a ribbon of flexible metal, the Walton statue’s left ankle couldn't withstand the pressure placed upon it, and may have to be recast.](https://media.sandiegoreader.com/img/photos/2016/05/21/47d0b7e069_t670.jpg?b3f6a5d7692ccc373d56e40cf708e3fa67d9af9d)
"You can’t put a [bronze] BAND-AID on a [bronze] broken bone.” Despite the exterior support provided by a ribbon of flexible metal, the Walton statue’s left ankle couldn't withstand the pressure placed upon it, and may have to be recast.
Sad news out of Ski Beach: only two weeks after its unveiling, Alessandra Black’s statue honoring local legend Bill Walton will have to be taken back to the shop. Recent signs of buckling and stress along the 1200-pound, nearly seven-foot statue indicate that unless “serious reconstructive work” is undertaken, the statue may bend or even collapse.
The Walton Wince: Passersby first suspected trouble when they noticed that the statue’s facial expression had gone from a cheerful grin to a pained grimace.
Observes basketball statue writer Bob Parquet of ESPN.com, “I’m shocked. The Walton statue was easily the greatest basketball player monument ever to come out of San Diego. In terms of style and aesthetic power, it ranked with the Larry Bird statue at Indiana State, the Kareem Abdul Jabbar statue at the Staples Center in L.A., and even the Michael Jordan statue outside the United Center in Chicago. There is no reason why it shouldn’t have stood for decades, a joyous celebration of the two-time NBA champion and possibly the greatest college basketball player of all time. It really seemed like a statue worthy of a man who led UCLA on its 88-game win streak. But sometimes, what looks like a sure thing from the outside can be hiding some real interior problems. Looking back, it’s clear the artists should have paid more attention to the issues encountered at the start. They had breaks in the nose, foot, wrist, and leg but they thought that a combination of patches, pegs, and pins would provide a workable fix. Now, it’s clear that they were mistaken, and they may have to consider fusion casting. It’s either that or an early retirement for the Big Guy. It all seems a shame, somehow; I’d call it a tarnished legacy, but I don’t know if bronze tarnishes."
For his part, Walton himself seems to be taking the whole thing in stride. “I’m not bitter,” he says good-naturedly. “How many people get a shot at ever having a statue as great as this one, whatever its flaws? Sure, there’s disappointment, but I consider myself extremely fortunate. As Bob Dylan said, ‘It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe, so don’t think twice, it’s all right.’"
Here's something you might be interested in.
Statue honoring local basketball great Bill Walton is taken back to workshop after numerous structural failures
Monumental breakdown
Statue honoring local basketball great Bill Walton is taken back to workshop after numerous structural failures
Monumental breakdown
"You can’t put a [bronze] BAND-AID on a [bronze] broken bone.” Despite the exterior support provided by a ribbon of flexible metal, the Walton statue’s left ankle couldn't withstand the pressure placed upon it, and may have to be recast.
Sad news out of Ski Beach: only two weeks after its unveiling, Alessandra Black’s statue honoring local legend Bill Walton will have to be taken back to the shop. Recent signs of buckling and stress along the 1200-pound, nearly seven-foot statue indicate that unless “serious reconstructive work” is undertaken, the statue may bend or even collapse.
The Walton Wince: Passersby first suspected trouble when they noticed that the statue’s facial expression had gone from a cheerful grin to a pained grimace.
Observes basketball statue writer Bob Parquet of ESPN.com, “I’m shocked. The Walton statue was easily the greatest basketball player monument ever to come out of San Diego. In terms of style and aesthetic power, it ranked with the Larry Bird statue at Indiana State, the Kareem Abdul Jabbar statue at the Staples Center in L.A., and even the Michael Jordan statue outside the United Center in Chicago. There is no reason why it shouldn’t have stood for decades, a joyous celebration of the two-time NBA champion and possibly the greatest college basketball player of all time. It really seemed like a statue worthy of a man who led UCLA on its 88-game win streak. But sometimes, what looks like a sure thing from the outside can be hiding some real interior problems. Looking back, it’s clear the artists should have paid more attention to the issues encountered at the start. They had breaks in the nose, foot, wrist, and leg but they thought that a combination of patches, pegs, and pins would provide a workable fix. Now, it’s clear that they were mistaken, and they may have to consider fusion casting. It’s either that or an early retirement for the Big Guy. It all seems a shame, somehow; I’d call it a tarnished legacy, but I don’t know if bronze tarnishes."
For his part, Walton himself seems to be taking the whole thing in stride. “I’m not bitter,” he says good-naturedly. “How many people get a shot at ever having a statue as great as this one, whatever its flaws? Sure, there’s disappointment, but I consider myself extremely fortunate. As Bob Dylan said, ‘It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe, so don’t think twice, it’s all right.’"
Comments