Do you remember Chocolate Thunder, Darryl Dawkins, the backboard breaking, slam dunking monster of the Philly 76ers? He was a 6'11", muscled, massive guy, mean as he could be. He was listed as 250 pounds, but I think he was bigger. Would you believe that I almost took him on one night?
The year was 1980. It was the Maverick's innaugural season. WBAP carried the Mavs and Mark Holtz was the play-by-play radio voice. He had just moved down from Denver but his familly hadn't joined him yet, so, he gave me his two courtside tickets. Mark only voiced the Mavs the one season before becoming the long time voice of the Rangers.
Greg Cagle and I took the tickets and sat right under the backboard at one end. The seats were actually folding chairs placed very close to the baseline. There wasn't as much room allotted to photographers and cameramen, so the seats were closer to the court than they are today. There was an aisle running up the middle of the section and I was on the aisle, row 2.
As an expansion team the Mavs were horrible. I think they won 15 games all season and lost 67. They had a bunch of no name young guys who, while physically overmatched, played with spirit and intensity and they managed some upsets of good teams. Their center was Tommy Legrande a 6'10" toothpick compared to Dawkins.
The Mavs were playing well and it was a close, intense game. The crowd was really into it; and, being down under the basket, I saw the ruggedness of the play, the banging, and the blatantly cheap shots. Dawkins was big and intimidating and delivering more than his fair share of the hits and the refs weren't calling any fouls. We were really yelling at him, the crowd was really wild, and I felt like I was on the court.
As the Mavs came down on offense, Legrande starts down the lane. Dawkins delivers a forearm smash to his face, bloodying his nose and lip. Incensed, I start toward the court. "You're not going to cheapshot one of my teammates and get away with it," I'm thinking. On the third step toward the court, just a step or two away from the court, I realize, "You idiot! What are you doing? You can't go on the court. Besides, that's Chocolate Thunder and he'd kill you!" Wisely, I stepped back to my seat and contented myself with just yelling forcefully at Dawkins.
And, that's how I almost took on Chocolate Thunder.
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1 comment:
it's a good thing that you didn't cause then i probably wouldn't be here.
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