Chapter 773 - 15 The Strongest Opponent in the Western Conference

[Maggi Short (the female owner of MLB’s Cincinnati Reds) can be called a ’greedy Jew’, because that’s the society we live in.]

People say we have freedom of speech, no, there is no freedom of speech here.

What’s worse, she would pander to her players (Black people), drink champagne with her ’Black brothers’ when the Reds win the World Series, and then call these Black players ’million-dollar niggers’ behind their backs.

I respect the KKK more, because they call you a nigger to your face and won’t sit there drinking with you.

Oh, I know some of you will mention Tang Jianguo and Ah Gan.

I tell you, Ah Gan is different, he’s not a nigger, nor Asian, nor Indian.

He’s a totem, a stone statue, someone who makes you overlook skin color, and even gender.

Ah Gan to America is what Garth Brooks is to Phoenix—in Phoenix, Brooks is more popular than Michael Jackson.]

————"The Arizona Republic", November 22, 1990, interview with Charles Barkley.

In the summer of 1990, when Charles Barkley requested a trade to leave Washington, he was subjected to a barrage of media condemnation in the Capital.

Even as the 1990-1991 season began, the sharp-tongued critics in Washington D.C. still didn’t hold back on mocking Barkley, including voices filled with racial discrimination.

In response, the outspoken Charles Barkley fought back robustly, continuously making sharp statements in the media and newspapers to combat criticism from all sides.

The Bullet Team’s owner Pollin and Barkley spent the whole summer in a verbal war, turning into a stinky, lengthy soap opera of the off-season, with no signs of stopping even after the new season started.

The discord created between Barkley and the Bullet Team due to the transfer reminds one of the old grudge between the Bullet Team, Pollin and ’Black Pearl’ Earl Monroe more than a decade ago.

Back then, the Bullet Team’s home court was still in Baltimore, and Monroe, known for his unique style of play, was very popular among fans, but he was dissatisfied with his salary contract.

It was 1971, a time when NBA and ABA were in fierce competition, and ABA offered huge contracts to many talented players to attract them to play in ABA.

In 1971, the Bullet Team made it to the finals but lost to the Bucks, causing the players’ market values to skyrocket.

Earl Monroe, with his flamboyant and free playing style, was very suitable for ABA, so Monroe used the threat of moving to ABA to press Pollin for a bigger contract.

But Pollin was unwilling, thinking Monroe was too selfish to be offered a big contract, which led Monroe to request a trade in anger.

When the Indiana Pacers from ABA heard the news, they actively approached him, and Monroe went to Indiana to visit and feel it out.

He visited the sports arena in Indianapolis and watched a Pacers game; the Pacers won, and Monroe was satisfied with the Pacers’ lineup.

They were strong, with George McGinnis, Roger Brown, Freddie Lewis, and others.

However, when he went to visit the Pacers’ locker room after the game, he saw the players getting dressed after showers, and all the Black players were reaching into their lockers, taking out guns and clipping them to their waists.

Monroe was shocked and asked why, the Pacers players told him that in Indianapolis, the KKK was everywhere, and Black players needed guns to protect themselves.

Monroe did not want to play in a city filled with the KKK, so he declined the Pacers’ invitation.

Afterward, Monroe and his agent Larry Fleisher discussed and hoped to move to the Los Angeles Lakers.

He was attracted to the sunshine and beaches of California and hoped to collaborate with superstars like Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain.

Or going to the Philadelphia 76ers would be fine too, as his hometown was in Philadelphia and he just bought a Rolls-Royce there during the summer.

But after weeks of wrangling, the Baltimore Bullets traded Earl Monroe to their arch-rival — the New York Knicks.

There were two reasons for this: first, only the Knicks were willing to offer the Bullet Team compensation for the trade, and second, Pollin intentionally wanted to disgust Earl Monroe.

In the 60s and 70s, the Bullet Team and the Knicks had a deep feud, from 1969 to 1971, the two teams met in the playoffs for three consecutive years, with the Bullet Team winning once and losing twice.

Monroe being sent to the Knicks was seen by fans as a definitive betrayal; Monroe became a reviled traitor in the Baltimore area.

However, in reality, Monroe had no control over the trade; wherever the owner wanted to send him, he had to go.

Afterward, Pollin continued the verbal spat with Monroe, claiming Monroe was selfish, not thinking of the team, and dismantled a championship-level team.

He also used Jerry West as a comparison, saying Jerry West in the Lakers would never do such a thing.

But Monroe said that West is white, and he doesn’t have to worry about surviving after retirement, whereas he, being Black, needed to earn enough money for his old age.

After Monroe arrived at the Knicks, from 1972 to 1974, the two sides met again in the playoffs three times, this time without Monroe the Bullet Team lost all three games, and were consistently defeated by Monroe.

With vengeance against his old team and winning a championship, Monroe indeed settled his scores with the Baltimore Bullets who disgusted him.

As time passed, Monroe’s situation reoccurred in Charles Barkley.]