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NBA ALL-STAR WEEKENDFebruary 17, 2007Dick BavettaLAS VEGAS, NEVADA Q. Give us like a general reaction, and what you really thought your chances were coming into this? DICK BAVETTA: Well, I honestly thought I could win the race. I had no doubts in my mind that I could do the prescribed distance. It was just questionable what Charles could do. And like I said at the beginning, you never underestimate the heart of a champion. And I never underestimated him from day one. I think some of the silly footage that we saw of him slowmoeing it and staggering along, that was not the Charles Barkley I saw tonight. What I saw tonight is what I expected. And I give him all the credit in the world. Q. When you first heard his comment or heard about his comment a couple of months ago, what did you think? How did you guys get together to do this event tonight? DICK BAVETTA: Well, I go like most people generalization-wise, Charles is so great for our sport and I think it's tongue in cheek. And I've learned as an official in all my years, I never take myself too seriously. It's still a game and Charles is great for the game. So his comments I never really took personally. And I think one thing led to another when ultimately $50,000 is given to the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas, whatever took place is a fantastic situation. And what I said to him tonight I really meant, he gave me the opportunity to be here with him tonight and who wins is the Girls and Boys Club of Las Vegas. Q. Did you do any special training? DICK BAVETTA: No, not at all. I do my normal exercise. I'm a humble basketball referee. That's what I do best. I'm not a sprinter. When I do my five miles, I don't wear a watch, I go out for an hour, hour and 20 minutes an day, and try to keep in shape. Keep these 67-year-old legs in the best shape I possibly can, so I can do my profession. Nothing special, really. Q. Knowing what you know tonight how many laps would it have taken for you to overtake him? Six laps? DICK BAVETTA: I don't really know. No, I really don't know. It's hard to say. He seemed to pace himself quite easily. I was running as fast as I could, so it's hard to say in another distance what would have happened, I really don't know. Q. Who did you feel like you were representing tonight? Officials or your generation? DICK BAVETTA: My thinking is if I had won, I would have represented all officials all over the world. And as much as I didn't win, I represented myself alone. Q. No regrets about this? DICK BAVETTA: Oh, no, this is fantastic. Are you kidding me? This is absolutely wonderful. At this stage in my career to be on a national stage like this, and for charity to benefit from it, for people for the last few weeks to be talking about it as they have, it's great for our sport. And it's so wonderful that people can get caught up in the magnitude of a race between two people, Sir Charles and myself. I think it's wonderful that we're talking about this instead of some other crazy things that are going on in the world today. Q. Can you just talk about the charity again and what it does? DICK BAVETTA: TNT put up 25,000 and the NBA put up 25,000. So it's $50,000 that goes for the Boys and Girls Club of Las Vegas. I applaud the NBA and TNT for getting behind all this. They certainly had the foresight to recognize that there was a greater cause than Charles and/or myself that could benefit from this and I think that that is wonderful, absolutely. Q. Did you give it a real Sea Biscuit cut effort. It looked like you and Charles were cruising at times? DICK BAVETTA: No, what you saw was what you got. There was no strategy in this. I go out as hard as I could for as long as I could. I wish Sea Biscuit was here tonight and it was the real War Admiral versus Sea Biscuit. Q. There's rumors on The Strip about a rematch. Is there a possibility of a rematch? DICK BAVETTA: I'd love a rematch, sure. It's up to Sir Charles. If he thinks I'm a worthy opponent, maybe we'll have it. If charity can benefit again I think it's fantastic. Q. What do you have to say to the people who gambled money on you (laughter)? DICK BAVETTA: Bad bet. End of FastScripts |
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