When the Sons Don’t Shine, You See the Real Rick Barry

There’s nothing quite like sports when it comes to bringing a father and son closer together.

Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal recently wrote about the relationship between former NBA star Rick Barry and his basketball-playing sons--Scooter, Jon, Brent and Drew.

Said Rick: “I try to watch (their) games and take notes. Then I ask (them) if they want my advice. If they do, I tell them what I think they have to do to get better. But I never force my opinions on them.”

Jon, who starts as a shooting guard for Georgia Tech, laughed when he heard about his dad’s remark. He told Schultz: “He’s so full of it. He’ll let me know what he thinks, and he won’t back off.”

Add Barrys: Said Jon: “I’m just glad I don’t have to sit next to him during games. He never stops talking.”

Schultz included some of Rick’s commentary during Georgia Tech’s recent game against Georgia, in which Jon had foul problems but scored 16 points in 18 minutes.

After Jon’s second foul, his dad got going: “ What’s he doing making a play like that? Why’s he trying to take charge like that in the backcourt? That’s what I mean about not playing smart! Now he’s sitting on the bench. Is that helping the team? Is it?!” Trivia time: Name the only two stadiums that have been the sites of both the World Series and the Super Bowl.

No, it didn’t: Lyn St. James, a television motor sports commentator, is trying to become only the second woman to drive in the Indianapolis 500. She became the third woman to drive on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when she took a test run in November. Said St. James, describing the experience: “It felt like Centre Court at Wimbledon.”

Clear the track: Sprinter Jeff Williams, who will race against Ben Johnson at the Sports Arena on Jan. 18, was asked at a media luncheon Tuesday what it meant to be running against Johnson.

Said Williams: “Johnson’s just another guy in my way.”

Talking Dangerously: How is New York Giant linebacker Lawrence Taylor getting ready for Sunday’s NFC divisional playoff game against the Chicago Bears?

Friday night, Taylor will serve as a coach for professional wrestler Lex Luger, who will take on Curtis (Big Cat) Hughes at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.

Hughes is coached by the excitable Paul E. Dangerously, who seems to think that Taylor will forget his role and enter the ring.

Dangerously told the New York Post: “I’ll flatten Taylor if he pulls anything. If he tries to mess with me, I’ll knock (him) all over town.”

At the line?: A recent Morning Briefing item on the opening of Wilt Chamberlain’s Restaurant in Boca Raton, Fla., failed to mention that in addition to an exhibition of Chamberlain’s free-throw shooting, still miserable after all these years, diners witnessed the unveiling of a 7-foot 1-inch wax sculpture of the man.

Gentlemen, please: The current issue of the American Golf Club Los Angeles Region Newsletter includes a brief article on how golfers can play their own version of “The Skins Game.”

Near the end, the article advises: “The Skins Game may become pretty exciting, and the amounts in the Skins Game may be impressive!”

Trivia answer: The Los Angeles Coliseum, site of the 1959 World Series and Super Bowls I and VII; and San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium, site of the 1984 World Series and Super Bowl XXII.

Quotebook: Denver Nugget broadcaster Dan Issel, before a jump ball between Charlotte’s 5-foot-3 Muggsy Bogues and Denver’s 5-11 Michael Adams: “This will be the first time in history a referee drops the ball rather than tosses it up.”