Barnes Was a Man Ahead of His Time

Early in his career, NBC’s Bob Costas was a radio announcer for the Spirits of St. Louis of the old American Basketball Assn., a team that featured unpredictable Marvin (Bad News) Barnes.

Costas listed some of Barnes’ career highlights to Rick Morrissey of the the Rocky Mountain News. A sampling:

“Marvin looked at an itinerary that said TWA Flight 306 departs Louisville 8 a.m., arrives St. Louis 7:57 and said to me, ‘I don’t know about you, but I ain’t boarding no time machine.’ He didn’t understand time zones and thought he was going back in time.”

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Add Barnes: Costas told of “Marvin going AWOL and showing up playing billiards in Dayton, Ohio, when we were supposed to be playing the New York Nets.”

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Trivia time: Who was the first freshman to be a regular starter for the UCLA men’s basketball team?

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Color controversy: It was noted here that the San Francisco 49ers have changed the color of their jerseys and Edvins Beitiks of the San Francisco Examiner is figuratively seeing red over the switch.

“Forget that thousands of 49er fans will have to empty their closets of team memorabilia, relegating the old red T-shirts and 49er flags to a far corner of the garage, or head down to Earl Scheib to see how much it’ll cost to switch car colors from scarlet to blood red.”

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Canine logic: Denver Nugget center Dikembe Mutombo, a free agent after this season, on whether he might sign with Milwaukee:

“I want to be nowhere where it is going to be 40 below zero. I don’t care about the money. I want to go outside and walk my dog.”

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Nowhere to hide: Reggie Miller of the Indiana Pacers on rumors that he will join the New York Knicks when he becomes a free agent next season:

“I want to win a championship in Indiana. I want to start and finish my career in Indiana. You have one bad game in New York and you can’t go out and pick up your dry cleaning.”

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Dating game: From the Good Doctor in Inside Sports:

Q: Any new incentives for tennis players at Wimbledon this summer? A: Princess Di dates the winner.

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Supername: Gene Wojciechowski in the Chicago Tribune: “No one will have a harder time living up to his name than [New York] Met outfielder Wonderful Terrific Monds III, who signed a one-year deal last week.”

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Final plea: An obituary in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for Mariner fan Thomas Fallighee, 80, read: “In lieu of flowers, a yes vote on the new baseball stadium would be appreciated.”

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Reverse order: John Blanchette of the Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review, on the Seahawks’ move to Los Angeles: “This is a first: Dennis Erickson’s team leaving town before he does.”

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Trivia answer: David Greenwood, in the 1975-76 season.

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Quotebook: Arizona women’s golf Coach Rick LaRose on why his team will have to rebuild this season: “We had one player drop out, one transfer and one run off with Nick Faldo.”