Sacramento Kings moving franchise to the OC, CA.

Trivial knowledge: Scooter is the only male in the Barry family (first marriage, I think he has a younger son now) to win an NCAA championship. He hit some key free throws down the stretch in the '88 title game. He's also the only one not to play in the NBA, though he had a nice, long career overseas.

And for the record, he doesn't have a Southern accent.

 

No, the 757 Virginians.

 

Doubt if the Squires name would resurface. Colonials, Admirals, something more nautical perhaps. Using the state name would be OK for many I suppose.

 

Barry sounded like an arrogant asshole when he made that comment. Of course many would say that's what he is. He totally disregarded the fact he went to the University of Miami when, at that time, many of those who were non-Hispanic spoke with a twang.

 

He meant to sound like an arrogant asshole. He had signed a big-money deal to jump back to the NBA with the Warriors, and Earl Foreman was suing to prevent him from going. Barry signed when the team was the Oakland Oaks, so he didn't have to leave the Bay Area, but Foreman bought and moved the team to DC a few years after Barry signed. In Terry Pluto's excellent ABA biography "Loose Balls," Barry explained he wanted to say something so outrageous, Foreman would be forced to let him go because there was no way fans would pay to see that asshole play -- and with Foreman's money problems, he needed all the butts in the seats he could get. And the plan worked, at least in that Barry never wore a Squires uniform. He went to the New York Nets to play out his ABA contract.

 

Teams can do great if they're in a small market if it's the only show in town. That was the case in Sacramento for a long time. It's been the case in Utah and Oklahoma City.

I don't see this team drawing too many fans from two hours away, especially when Richmond is almost equal distance from Virginia Beach as it is from D.C.

 

I know that Barry meant to sound like an arrogant asshole in order get traded. But normally doesn't it just comes naturally to him, like breathing?

 

Wonder how much under the table money it would take to call them the Slims?

 

He was at a card show in Oakland in the mid 1990s and I went up to him to get an autograph for my uncle, who is a huge Barry fan.

The line for his autograph was not long at all. I asked him to personalize it (which we were allowed to do) and I said, "Can you make it To Fred. that's my uncle, you were always his favorite player."

He looked me directly in the eye and said, "I don't give a fuck..." and practically threw the picture at me.

Not a pleasant man...

 

A lasting memory for you no doubt eh Mizzou?

 

To go one more on the Barry-jack -- one of his most infamous moments, pointing out Bill Russell's "watermelon grin" during a 1981 NBA broadcast. Russell, to no one's shock, didn't find that funny.

http://classicsportsmedia.blogspot.com/2012/05/looking-back-on-rick-barry-watermelon.html

And here Barry is in 1988, after a seven-year exile from national broadcasting, calling the All-Star dunk contest, referring to one of Jordan's dunk as a "Chinese Superman," because "it had a slant to it." I'm stunned that NBA TV didn't scrub out Barry's voice on the rebroadcast.

 

Barry loves golf and I recall his giving me a half decent interview once while on the course.