Chasing Hardware
1.2K posts
@ChasingHardware
All of my subjects had one thing in common; they wanted to win titles & championships. They were Chasing Hardware. https://t.co/1xyrnOV6IM
@brettmgoldberg Question: did you ask Rick Barry his idea why the Warriors turned down a showdown with the ABA champion Colonels and who he thought would win? He started for that Warrior team but only recently left the ABA, so he would have a great perspective.
Well now, here's a chapter of my life some folks may not know about. I helped start the ABA, the American Basketball Association, and I was the only entertainer involved. I owned the Oakland Oaks, and by God's grace we won the championship our second year with the great Rick Barry. I was proud as could be. But I'll tell you something else. When the ABA struggled, it nearly took me down with it. I was funding the team myself after my partner went bankrupt. We won a championship, and then I was staring at financial ruin. And then, almost miraculously, a gentleman flew in from Washington, D.C., walked into the Bank of America, and bought the team. That moment changed everything for me. Now Amazon has released a new docuseries, "Soul Power: The Legend of the American Basketball Association," telling the story of the rise and fall of the ABA and how it eventually merged with the NBA. It was the wild, colorful beginning of something that reshaped professional basketball forever. I'm grateful I got to be part of that history. It was risky, exhilarating, and yes, miraculous too. vist.ly/4rziu #ABA #SoulPower #BasketballHistory #OaklandOaks #RickBarry #PatBoone
Asked Rick about this today! His reply: “I had no idea that that was something that was going on re a game. I found out years later. I think any NBA team was afraid to do that because there would’ve been so much expected of them to win the game and they might’ve lost.” 😳🙌 @
