One of the greatest I ever got to see play the game...his raw talent was next next level...watched him lead Providence to a Final Four....watched him in his prime in the ABA of which there is unfortuntaely very little video....his life was a circus...here are some examples
Barnes had earned the nickname ???Bad News??? for some of his off the court actions. Barnes once robbed a liquor store in broad daylight. If a being a 6???9??? Black male didn???t make Barnes stick out enough ??? the fact that he was wearing a basketball jersey with his name on the back was the clincher.
Teammates try to awaken Barnes to keep him from missing a team flight, Barnes snaps back, ???News will catch a later flight!??? Five minutes before tip-off the locker room door swings open and there???s Barnes in a full length mink coat, Big Mac in hand with just his uniform on underneath. Upon entering he bellows out, ???Have no fear??? Bad News is here!???
For the record he dropped 44 points that night.
My favorite Barnes story involves a road trip where the team is flying from Louisville to St. Louis. The flight leaves Louisville at 11am and is scheduled to arrive in St. Louis at 11am. Upon reading the flight itinerary Barnes becomes confused and asks how can this be, someone breaks down the time zones and how St. Louis is an hour behind Louisville. Barnes says that they can cancel his ticket because ???I ain???t gettin??? on no time machine!???
The Spirits has lost six straight to the Nets, but that didn???t seem to bother the rookie, as he went on to write this poem:
There once was a doctor named Erving,
Whose slam dunks were especially unnerving,
But when Marvin gets movin???,
And the crowd gets to groovin???,
For the doctor a hospital bed they???ll be reserving.
He recalls in graphic detail an incident that occurred of all places on the team bench while spending a season in Boston:
???I remember this one game, I was sitting at the end of the bench,??? he recalled. ???I had a towel over my head and I was snorting coke and my nose was bleeding. Don Chaney and Nate Archibald moved all the way up to the front and I had four or five seats between me and the next player. I was snorting coke and it was tearing my membranes up. Snorting it and blowing my nose. It was like my brains were coming out in the towel and I couldn???t stop snorting it anyway. It was terrible, man. I was addicted.???
[media]//www.youtube.com/embed/kIVw3KDA61U?feature=player_detailpage[/media]
Barnes had earned the nickname ???Bad News??? for some of his off the court actions. Barnes once robbed a liquor store in broad daylight. If a being a 6???9??? Black male didn???t make Barnes stick out enough ??? the fact that he was wearing a basketball jersey with his name on the back was the clincher.
Teammates try to awaken Barnes to keep him from missing a team flight, Barnes snaps back, ???News will catch a later flight!??? Five minutes before tip-off the locker room door swings open and there???s Barnes in a full length mink coat, Big Mac in hand with just his uniform on underneath. Upon entering he bellows out, ???Have no fear??? Bad News is here!???
For the record he dropped 44 points that night.
My favorite Barnes story involves a road trip where the team is flying from Louisville to St. Louis. The flight leaves Louisville at 11am and is scheduled to arrive in St. Louis at 11am. Upon reading the flight itinerary Barnes becomes confused and asks how can this be, someone breaks down the time zones and how St. Louis is an hour behind Louisville. Barnes says that they can cancel his ticket because ???I ain???t gettin??? on no time machine!???
The Spirits has lost six straight to the Nets, but that didn???t seem to bother the rookie, as he went on to write this poem:
There once was a doctor named Erving,
Whose slam dunks were especially unnerving,
But when Marvin gets movin???,
And the crowd gets to groovin???,
For the doctor a hospital bed they???ll be reserving.
He recalls in graphic detail an incident that occurred of all places on the team bench while spending a season in Boston:
???I remember this one game, I was sitting at the end of the bench,??? he recalled. ???I had a towel over my head and I was snorting coke and my nose was bleeding. Don Chaney and Nate Archibald moved all the way up to the front and I had four or five seats between me and the next player. I was snorting coke and it was tearing my membranes up. Snorting it and blowing my nose. It was like my brains were coming out in the towel and I couldn???t stop snorting it anyway. It was terrible, man. I was addicted.???
[media]//www.youtube.com/embed/kIVw3KDA61U?feature=player_detailpage[/media]
