I've met a number of famous people in my day but none of them ever held a conversation with me besides Daryl Dawkins when I met him around 8 years ago. We spoke for around ten minutes. Fantastic person, he will be missed.
Some glory from his career. The Nets upset the defending champion 76ers in the first round of the 1984 playoffs. <iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mb0bLsolTjg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I've never seen him play but he left a lasting impression with his charisma in NBA home videos I've seen through the years. Thanks for the "The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Glass-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Babies-Crying, Glass-Still-Flying, Cats-Crying, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Thank You-Wham-Bam-I-Am-Jam." (I need help with that one, thank you google!)
yungins. That video has nothing to do with Dawkins. Dawkins was no longer on Philly then. He was traded the summer when we traded Moses to Philly for his fo fo fo year of '83
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I was listening to Sirius' NBA channel and heard them talking about Dawkins, and they mentioned something I had been thinking as well. How would Dawkins be received in this era? You've got Dwight acting goofy being torn apart by many for not taking the game seriously and maybe not living up to the hype. Dawkins came out of high school all-world, but never really lived up completely to the hype, either. And he was even goofier than Dwight on and off the court. Dwight keeps saying he just wants to have fun playing basketball and not take everything so seriously because he can't please everybody. This is what they said Darryl basically said when they talked to Fran Blinebury who was close to Dawkins early in his career. Here's a quote from a Blinebury article about Darryl's passing : http://www.nba.com/2015/news/featur...ins-changed-the-dunk-and-lifted-the-nba-game/ "I liked the game and I enjoyed being with my teammates, but I could never see it as life and death," he said. "The money is a lot better nowadays, but I'm glad I played when I did because I think we had a lot more fun." Maybe it was because it was a different time and there was less money involved. BTW, that article I quoted above by Blinebury is a pretty good read about Dawkins.
He may not have been one of the greatest players in NBA history, but he was definitely one of the greatest personalities. RIP.
I usually don't read Fran Blinebury much, but he was a writer for Philly at the beginning of his career, so it makes sense that he'd do the best tribute to Dawkins. Nice read, Dr of Dunk. Thx for posting.
Wasn't around to watch him play, but saw highlights and his interviews were always great. Seemed like a fantastic guy to have around. RIP.
"Bodies flying, women crying, backboard-swaying, game-delaying" is also how he described his dunks. RIP.
RIP. Thes guys like Mason and Dawkins needed to keep weight down, diet and exercise. Wonder if they ever went for annual physicals, blood work, statins, aspirin regimen. I guess with those big, aging bodies its way too hard to get. The needed cardio work daily to help ward off heart disease (and way too easy to find and retain calories in this world). AA have a genetic predisposition to HD too. Not saying they were Barkley-fat but somewhat close. Speaking of- Barkley and Shaquille need to watch it. Shaquille gaining wait yearly. I know he exercises but he needs to drop weight. Barkley needs an intervention. That weight loss ad Shiite ain't helping.
