Rick Barry Challenges Blazers' Character

[jlprk]

Oh boy! I love history threads!

You know, because the lack of money accounted for the same record at this time last year, so it's perfectly logical to point to it being the new contracts that are causing the problems this year.

Uh yes, it IS perfectly logical to do so.

Rick Barry is the last guy who should be making statements like that. This is the guy who was the first "big" star to jump to the old ABA for (mainly) monetary reasons. Eventually (the short version) he got sold to the Virginia Squires, where he refused to play because he didn't want to live in Virginia. I like Rick Barry but this is a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black.....

He jumped back to the NBA when they outbid the ABA. He went for money, not loyalty to his team or league, which is how all players do it now, but he was the first.

But Barry isn't claiming that getting paid is bad. He's saying getting paid and then relaxing and not playing to your maximum potential is bad. I've never heard any suggestion that Barry was lazy after getting paid.

Right. Barry took the big bucks and led both pro leagues in scoring, repeatedly. He worked hard.

During the second half of Game 5 of the 1981 NBA Finals, CBS play-by-play man Gary Bender drew attention to a 1956 Olympic team photograph, one in which Russell, the African-American basketball legend, was smiling ear to ear. Barry, working alongside Russell as an on-air analyst, commented jokingly, “It looks like some fool over there with that, um, that big watermelon grin."

He's dead to me.

He was dumb and immediately apologized all over the place to Russell. He was surprised that Russell's feelings were hurt and asked him on the air why he was acting hurt, like, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I was stupid. The NBA black player percentage was at least as high then as now, and he was often the only white starter, so he knew plenty of blacks. He wasn't a racist, just sharp-tongued and insensitive, which made him the best color commentator in history in national NBA telecasts. Other former players wouldn't criticize players, but he loved to get into it. It's hard to find retired superstars who are verbal (the only other one was Bill Walton, later) so they aren't as good as non-player sportscasters. He used to scream like Sheed at referees, so Dviss, you have a separate reason to dislike him.

"Canzano uses Rick Barry to troll Blazer fans for ratings."

No doubt the "BaldFacedDouche " gave him the rundown beforehand and Barry's just going with it for lack of any balanced view.

Right. Barry knows no more about Blazer personnel problems than what Canzano prepped him in the preview before the show.

How exactly is shooting FTs underhanded subversive?

Check your thesaurus for "underhanded" before asking dumb questions.

The author may have meant that a male pro athlete proudly using a "feminine" shooting style was subversive, socially.

First time I ever heard that shooting underhanded is how women players do it. You once told me how manly you are, so your hairy chest obviously knows nothing about women.

 

[Sinobas]

Only 5 guys got paid. CJ has been playing great, Turner was not even here last year, and the other 3 are playing as well as they did last year. The only individual I see that has clearly regressed is Davis.

 

[crandc]

Had Barry said the Blazers record is disappointing I'd agree. Had he said they had regressed I'd agree. Had he said clearly this is not the team of last year I'd agree. But without any inside knowledge, without so far as I know being personally acquainted, let alone close to, any of the players, he pontificates from on high the problem is their lack of "character".

Asshole.

 

[Minstrel]

First time I ever heard that shooting underhanded is how women players do it.

In the '60s and '70s, shooting underhand was considered "feminine," from what I've read (which includes Wilt Chamberlain's shorter-lived experiment with it). I have no idea if girls who played basketball back then actually shot underhanded, but it was ridiculed as such.

 

[jlprk]

What you read may have confused women's softball (pitching underhanded) with basketball. I didn't see many underhanded free throws by women..but then at least half of high schools didn't field women's basketball teams, so I didn't see many games. I remember when I was 5 foot 2 in the 6th grade, I shot free throws overhanded without trouble (and missed them) so I would think high school girls wouldn't need any extra power from shooting underhanded. By the 7th-8th grade, I was heaving them from halfcourt (and missing them). So short people shoot overhanded. But I could be wrong (don't bet on it...have I ever missed about anything?).

Take your pick. Does the above paragraph discriminate against dames, runts, or softball?

 

[riverman]

Oh boy! I love history threads!



Uh yes, it IS perfectly logical to do so.



He jumped back to the NBA when they outbid the ABA. He went for money, not loyalty to his team or league, which is how all players do it now, but he was the first.



Right. Barry took the big bucks and led both pro leagues in scoring, repeatedly. He worked hard.





He was dumb and immediately apologized all over the place to Russell. He was surprised that Russell's feelings were hurt and asked him on the air why he was acting hurt, like, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I was stupid. The NBA black player percentage was at least as high then as now, and he was often the only white starter, so he knew plenty of blacks. He wasn't a racist, just sharp-tongued and insensitive, which made him the best color commentator in history in national NBA telecasts. Other former players wouldn't criticize players, but he loved to get into it. It's hard to find retired superstars who are verbal (the only other one was Bill Walton, later) so they aren't as good as non-player sportscasters. He used to scream like Sheed at referees, so Dviss, you have a separate reason to dislike him.





Right. Barry knows no more about Blazer personnel problems than what Canzano prepped him in the preview before the show.



Check your thesaurus for "underhanded" before asking dumb questions.



First time I ever heard that shooting underhanded is how women players do it. You once told me how manly you are, so your hairy chest obviously knows nothing about women.

Translation....jlprk was living in a commune in Berkley when Barry was playing...he still has his autograph and this thread represents the fountain of youth sprinkled with People's Park festival spirit

 

[Minstrel]

What you read may have confused women's softball (pitching underhanded) with basketball. I didn't see many underhanded free throws by women..but then at least half of high schools didn't field women's basketball teams, so I didn't see many games. I remember when I was 5 foot 2 in the 6th grade, I shot free throws overhanded without trouble (and missed them) so I would think high school girls wouldn't need any extra power from shooting underhanded. By the 7th-8th grade, I was heaving them from halfcourt (and missing them). So short people shoot overhanded. But I could be wrong (don't bet on it...have I ever missed about anything?).

Take your pick. Does the above paragraph discriminate against dames, runts, or softball?

Well, as I said, it may well be that underhand free throws weren't even a thing girls did--but supposedly there was a perception that it was feminine (I think even the "granny-style" appellation points to that--while obviously it also brings in age, it's probably not random that the term was "granny-style" and not "grandpa-style"). I read that that was one reason that Wilt Chamberlain didn't like shooting free throws that way.

 

[riverman]

I would think high school girls wouldn't need any extra power from shooting underhanded

They have a longer underhanded arc....we have testicles shortening the stroke...unless...there was some horrible accident or angry wife involved

 

[BBert]

Had Barry said the Blazers record is disappointing I'd agree. Had he said they had regressed I'd agree. Had he said clearly this is not the team of last year I'd agree. But without any inside knowledge, without so far as I know being personally acquainted, let alone close to, any of the players, he pontificates from on high the problem is their lack of "character".

Asshole.

Post of the year!!!

 

[jlprk]

Translation....jlprk was living in a commune in Berkley when Barry was playing...he still has his autograph and this thread represents the fountain of youth sprinkled with People's Park festival spirit

The hell if the City of Berkeley is taking back our People's Park!

If I only had a dollar for every song I sung. Every time I came to play where people sat and strummed.

Saturday in the park. I think it was the Fourth of July. People dancing, people laughing, a man selling ice cream singing Italian songs. People talking, really smiling. A man playing guitar, singing for us all. Will you help him change the world? Can you dig it? Yes I can. I've been waiting such a long time for today. Slow motion riders fly the colors of today. A bronze man still can tell stories his own way. Listen, children all is not lost. All is not lost. Funny days in the park. Every day's the Fourth of July. People reaching, people touching. A real celebration waiting for us all, if you want it, really want it. Can you dig it? Yes I can. I've been waiting such a long time for today.

Legalize LSD!

 

[riverman]

The hell if the City of Berkeley is taking back our People's Park!

If I only had a dollar for every song I sung. Every time I came to play where people sat and strummed.

Saturday in the park. I think it was the Fourth of July. People dancing, people laughing, a man selling ice cream singing Italian songs. People talking, really smiling. A man playing guitar, singing for us all. Will you help him change the world? Can you dig it? Yes I can. I've been waiting such a long time for today. Slow motion riders fly the colors of today. A bronze man still can tell stories his own way. Listen, children all is not lost. All is not lost. Funny days in the park. Every day's the Fourth of July. People reaching, people touching. A real celebration waiting for us all, if you want it, really want it. Can you dig it? Yes I can. I've been waiting such a long time for today.

Legalize LSD!

I just saw Chicago in Eugene with Earth Wind and Fire...was a great show...saw them in San Diego in 71..good times!

 

[jlprk]

Not the same. The radical leaders of the group you saw in 1971 died soon thereafter.

 

[riverman]

Not the same. The radical leaders of the group you saw in 1971 died soon thereafter.

Story of my life.....this explains my lost years as a beat poet following that...I saw Terry Kath play those hits damnit! It was cathartic!

 

[jlprk]

Look at Chicago's album jackets in that era calling for revolution. Americans disappear for saying that. Nowadays, the word terrorist has replaced the word revolutionary.

 

[riverman]

Look at Chicago's album jackets in that era calling for revolution. Americans disappear for saying that. Nowadays, the word terrorist has replaced the word revolutionary.

except the terrorist is struggling to pay rent and the revolutionary live in mom's basement or sleeps on a buddies couch

 

[Stevenson]

Lots of people on this forum also think that players got paid and have lost motivation.

It's kind of human nature, is it not? For a short time in my life, right after my dad died, I was a trust fund kid. Truly it was a bad deal insofar as motivation goes. Yeah, the money was fun, but I was a slacker.

 

[Minstrel]

It's kind of human nature, is it not? For a short time in my life, right after my dad died, I was a trust fund kid. Truly it was a bad deal insofar as motivation goes. Yeah, the money was fun, but I was a slacker.

It can be. It depends on situation and personality. Most athletes are insanely self-motivated people (you almost have to be to make it through all the barriers to entry) and that doesn't change (usually) just because they get paid.