Crime in Sports - #65 - The Death Of Black Superman - The Debaucherousness of Billy Ray Bates

Episode Date: April 25, 2017

This week, we look at a man who always lives in the moment, and never learns from his mistakes. His drinking, drug use, and general shenanigans were legendary, even among the party crowd of the 1980s. He ruined his chances at fame & fortune, and even screwed up enough to be escorted from the Philippines. A beloved figure, on the court, due to his wild antics, and uncanny ability for producing excitement. A mess, off the court, where he never met any trouble he didn't fall head over heels for. It's a sad tale of making something from nothing, then returning it right back to nothing. You know... Hilarious! Tie on your cape, fill your sports bottle with whiskey, and hold up a gas station with Billy Ray Bates!!Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman New episodes every Tuesday!!Please subscribe, rate, and review!Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts!Head to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things Crime in Sports!For merchandise: crimeinsports.threadless.comCheck out James and Jimmie's other show: Small Town Murder Follow us on social media!Facebook: facebook.com/crimeinsportsInstagram: instagram.com/smalltownmurderTwitter: twitter.com/MurderSmall Contact the show: [e-mail] on Patreon: patreon.com/crimeinsportsPayPal: paypal.me/crimeinsports See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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It's streaming. You can say anything. It's an all-new season. Judy Justice. Only on Freebie. Hello, and welcome back to Crime and Sports. Yay! Yay. Oh, God, the yay.

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This takes way longer than two minutes to put together. It does. Hope you guys enjoyed last week's episode. Shit did I do. Kelly Lane. Oh, she's terrible. What a monster. She was cool.

She was wild. I don't even know what to say about that. I mean, how do you do that to that many pregnancies? We dipped into Australia. She was, wow, I don't even know what to say about that. I mean, how do you do that to that many pregnancies? We dipped into Australia. We dipped into water polo, which is way outside of our realm of everything. And we had a crazy time, didn't we? We dipped our balls in that polo pool.

We did. We did. And it was pretty gross in there. It was after birth and everything else. Actually, not after. Pregnant women everywhere just killing it. It was awful. Just killing it. Killing it. Oh, Jimmy, Jimmy, that's terrible. What an awful joke. else actually not after pregnant women everywhere just killing it was awful just killing it oh

jimmy jimmy that's terrible what an awful joke that's kicking the balls worthy right there that is a kick in the god i wish i could reach you killing it this damn big studio i can't reach you you son of a bitch but now we have a complete opposite story this week. It is as opposite as you can be from a wealthy, well-to-do, good family, water polo, Ravenswood private school, like all of the complete opposite. We have a completely different story and a guy named Billy Ray Bates. All right. Billy Ray Bates. He is a basketball player and he did not grow up in a wealthy environment with all the support in the world.

No Harry Potter minus the magic? Nothing like that. No, no, no. He grew up in a nightmare, basically. His nightmare began on May 31, 1956 when he was born and continues to this day. He was born. Foreshadowing. It's foreshadowing.

He was born in Kosciusiko, Mississippi. Have you ever heard of Kosciusko, Mississippi? There's a good reason you've never heard of it, because there's no goddamn reason in the world for anyone to ever hear of this place. It's not even a dot on the map. It's not even a dot on the map. I feel like it's like, oh, there's a gas station at that exit. We'll wait until we get to a better exit. It's one of those.

I ain't stopping in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Is that what it is, Mississippi? Yeah, yeah. Kosciusko, Mississippi. Not great. We'll find out why it's not great in a second here and why he had a hard time growing up here. He grows up big.

We'll just say that again. He's eventually 6'4", 210 pounds and a basketball player, but it doesn't start out like that. He grows up in Mississippi. Now, he's born in 1956 i have to i can't explain this enough the area he grows up in and how he grows up it's not 1956 it is goddamn 1856 he grows up in 1856 this is our first player pre-civil war that's ever been but he might as well have been born then because it's the exact same thing. It's basically what a lot of the South was like in the 50s still, but he had it as bad as it could be. He's the eighth of nine kids.

Good God, that's a litter. That's a lot of kids, and he's the eighth. So by that point, they're like, what fucking ever? We don't even care. There's no food left. Go away. Fend for yourself. Fend for yourself.

They all live, the whole family family this is the mother the father and eight kids this is 10 people live in a sharecropper shack oh my god a shack not even a house they don't even crop in the sharecropper shack on a millionaire's farm in goodman mississippi so there's some millionaire colonel sanders looking asshole sitting at the top of the hill like they're sitting in the shack with 10 people. That's fine. We can deal with that. No problem. With that bow tie. That's not even a bow tie.

It's just like a piece of ribbon that he ties into a bow. Yeah, that's exactly. This is Colonel Sanders is running this. The shack has no plumbing, no electricity and no floors. So this is like Willie Mays Aikens to the next level or Tommy Morrison to the next level. This is as bad as you could possibly have it. Even if you grow up, a lot of these guys are like, oh, he's from the projects or he's from here.

He's from the shit area. Yeah. That pales in comparison to this. There's no nothing around. Right. Like you can't. There's where are you going to go? This is this is essentially like like a ghost town that still operates.

Yeah. You live on a farm in a shack with your 10 kids. There's no way out of that. And ghosts of slaves are haunting you every day. I probably hope not haunting them. Why would you haunt the poor black people who are having to live that life now instead? Hopefully they're haunting Colonel Sanders or the guy that deserves it. Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed here, man. So the parents worked the field. Like I said, they worked the field as sharecroppers. They're actual sharecroppers. In the 50s. In the 1950s. This isn't 1874. You know, they didn't just lose the war down there and a little pissed off. This is a complete, this is the guy.

Think about this. For one second. Elvis was on television while this was going on. This is modern day shit here. It's fucking insane. I can't even get over this shit. And he's right down the road in tupelo too like yeah how is this legal also how is it legal to just have a family of

sharecroppers get farm for me and you can live in that shack that's not legal that's called slavery last time yes they're free to leave i guess technically but where the fuck are they going this is horrible i've never been more like this is a a horrible upbringing. This might be the worst. But you have to think about, like, what are their other options? You know what I mean? But I'm sure that there were other options, but maybe they were worse. And how do they even know these other options? They're all from there.

This is just how life is. It's horrible. Juneteenth didn't get to them. No education for them. I mean, this is awful. This is horrible. It's really horrible. Now, Billy's father is a hardcore alcoholic. Like, I mean, this is awful. This is horrible. It's really horrible. Now, Billy's father is a hardcore alcoholic.

Like, I mean, he is a horrible alcoholic. He cannot control himself. Well, he's got a drink to deal with this reality. I don't know how you could have 10 kids living in a shack with no electricity or plumbing and sharecropping all day and not fucking drink. I don't know how that would be possible. You have to. I would jam anything in a needle into my arm. And he can't afford it, so he's probably making it, too.

Oh, that's, yeah, they make it. Yeah, he's probably drinking moonshine and everything else. And that's not even a joke. This is the truth. And the buzz from that is a terrible buzz, and you become a terrible person because of that terrible buzz. So I don't know if Billy's father was a terrible person or what, but it doesn't really matter because he died when Billy was seven.

Wow. He's out of the picture. He's gone anyway. So now we have a single sharecropping mother with 10 kids in a shack and a dead husband. Wow. That's a nightmare. That lady, that's a strong one. You don't even have the guy to keep them in line.

You got to beat those kids, please. Hey, go outside and beat five, six of the kids, would you? Could you beat them all fucking into better shape? What would you do? Even back then when they're beating, would you just take a belt and swing it around in a circle and hit whatever you hit? And just be like, I think I hit a couple of them and go on with your day? How would you even go about that? As a kid that was beaten so much as a child, that sounds hilarious.

There's so many of them. Even being beaten, I can relate. God, there's 10 of them. Even being beaten, I can relate. God, there's got to be a dozen of them. I'd watch. Now, after the father died, you have to keep up your quota if you're a sharecropper. You have to get a certain amount to be able to have what you're owed, I guess, which is nothing, which is a shack with no plumbing. So once Billy's father died, Billy and his siblings take up the father's slack and work in the fields.

As a child. As a child. He has to go share a crop now. He is seven years old, work in the fields. He wasn't around long enough to beat him into the next Jackson 5. No. The Jackson 8. Dance.

Come on. Shit. God damn it. None of you can sing. You figure out if 10 of you, five of you can sing. What the fuck? Get out in the fields and start humming and bone up on your harmonies. Every one of the Jackson kids can sing, except Latoya, but we don't have to deal with her.

Every one of them could sing. What's wrong with you people? Jesus, I figured maybe one of you wouldn't be any good, but not all of you. Somebody have some talent. I'm telling you, he picked soybeans and cotton and broke up chunks of fertilizer behind tractors and worked also hooking logs for lumbermen. As a child, he's doing this. How is this legal?

He smelled so terrible after that. He's breaking. And he feels even worse. He's breaking clumps of horse shit and cow shit. It's not horse shit. It's cow shit. And sharecropping. And picking cotton.

How is it legal to make children pick cotton for no money in the 19 fucking hundreds? How is that legal? I guess they needed money and they didn't say a word. I can only assume. I don't know if they didn't know any other way or what. Like we've said before, I'm just blown away by the fact that this is illegal. There was no internet for those kids to Google. Is this shit legal?

Hey, it says trial labor laws. They're like, no, no, no. You go out there and pick the soybeans. Like, it's unreal. That's for the kids with houses. That's for kids with plumbing. They get to do that. Those laws apply to them.

You pick soybeans because you shit in a hole. That's sad as shit now. In school, he never learned to fully read. This just gets sadder and sadder and sadder, this fucking story of this poor guy. Luckily, he turns into a real asshole and makes it not so sad anymore. So we'll get to that. He loves basketball at an early age. Loves it.

Gets into basketball. Loves to play basketball. Wants to play basketball. I don't know where the hell he's even seeing basketball. There's no electricity. He's throwing clumps of cow shit through a bucket. I think that's what he's doing. There's got to be a sport for this.

I think I can make a living out of this. This is pretty good. Around nine years old. Okay. This is probably the saddest thing I've ever heard, but it's also a metaphor for his entire life. Okay. I've never heard an anecdote be such a metaphor for a person's entire goddamn life.

It's unreal. Around nine, he saves up his soybean picking money. Oh my God. I mean, imagine how long it takes to save up money for anything, picking soybeans as a sharecropper. 37 cents at a time. Unbelievable. He saves this money up for over a month so he can buy a basketball hoop and a ball. Because that's all he wants is a hoop.

And he's nine years old. All this poor kid wants is a hoop and a ball. An entire month of slaving all day. I hate to use that word. Of working so hard. Slaving. They're treating him like a slave. It's that An entire month of slaving all day. I hate to use that word. Of working so hard. No. Slaving. They're treating him like a slave.

It's that slavery. In the fields all day long. He's slaving. What does a basketball hoop cost back then? I don't even know. 40 bucks? I doubt even that much. An entire month to get a basketball hoop and a ball.

This isn't where it's like a breakaway or like a fancy one. This is just a metal rim probably. Right. There's no springs under the hoop. It's probably not even a backboard. It's probably a rim and you get a ball there's no springs under the hoop. No, it's probably not even a backboard. It's probably a rim, and you get a ball, and that's that. That's what it is. He bought a basketball hoop, and then he built the fucking backboard.

Yeah, probably. And then sewed a basketball together. That's what you do. You put it up on a piece of wood, and that's what it was. So he saves up for a month, a month and a half. He finally gets the hoop and the ball, right? I mean, this has to be like the most, he achieved something. What a day.

Achieved something. Banner day. Banner day at the Bates household here. This is fantastic. Smoke up, Johnny. Banner day just made me think of Judd Nelson and Breakfast Club. It's a banner day. Our basketball hoop is worth more than our house.

Yeah, especially if it doesn't have a floor plumbing and you don't own it anyway. This is the equivalent of putting $3,000 rims on a $40 car. Pretty much. So this is sad what happens to these rims at this point. He hits a curb with the wheel. No, no. He finds a smooth patch of dirt where he could dribble a ball. He's like, this is where I'm putting the hoop up.

Okay, we'll put it up here. This is cool. Puts it up, finds the perfect spot, right? Nice enough, he says to his older brother, he says, you take the first shot. This is my hoop. I'm so proud. Gives it to his brother. Said, you take the first shot, man. hoop i'm so proud gives it to his brother said you take the first shot man what a what a heart what a nice kid right and he saved up and i'm

you're rooting for this guy right now are you he the brother takes the first shot it's a perfect swish i mean right through the hoop couldn't have been any better a good way to christen the hoop right he didn't have a net on it he couldn't afford that yet no probably not it's probably just a bear but it went right through the right. It just made no sound. He silently went through the rim. The ball bounces when it hits the ground and lands on some wood that he hadn't cleared and lands right on a nail and

pops the ball. He doesn't even get to dribble it one time. What a day. Nothing. That is a metaphor for his entire fucking life. Like a Charlie Brown cartoon. That's exactly. He just put his head down and slumped away. He's gone. Snoop, take the first shot.

Snoop, he throws it right on a fucking nail. So he saved up all that time, all that work, everything, and now he can't even play because he has a flat ball. So he has to wait another like three weeks to be able to afford a ball of back-breaking field work to get another ball. So, I mean, this kid wants basketball, man. He wants it bad, and you're rooting for him, and you're hoping he gets it. He figured out in the seventh grade, which is about 12 years old,

that he could dunk, which is pretty athletically impressive. Seventh grade, he can dunk on a 10-foot rim. 12 years old, he can dunk. Unbelievable. He's dunking, which is wild. So he decided that that's his calling because no one else can dunk, and he's dunking. So he's like, this must be what I'm good at.

Yeah. Which, great. Good for him. It's something. Maybe get him out of a shack in the sharecropper farm. Basketball was everything. He goes to a high school, McAdams High School in Camden, Mississippi. So he's in school.

That's good. In a town. An actual town. In a town. That's good. He dominates in high school. Good. Absolutely.

Just athletics. His athleticism, and this is the way it is in college and high school sports. If you're a really good athlete and you're from an area, if you're not from like L.A. or Miami or somewhere like that, and you're a decent athlete, you just dominate based on, you don't even have to have skills. It's just based on athletic ability. You know what? You just jump over people. They can't hang with you. In a single-A school with zero population. There's two athletic people at the school.

And you're dunking when you're 12. So, I mean, he's just dominating. He must have been blown away, too, when he walked into the gym and the boards are the upside-down way with the nails going the other way. And he's like, this is incredible. You don't even have to watch out for nails in here. He's like, do I have to sweep the dirt off the court? They're like, there's no dirt on the court. He's like, oh, really?

No, we got boys to do that with towels on the floor. We don't have to sweep the rocks? No. Because if you hit a rock, the ball will bounce off that way. You can't really do it. It goes all kinds of crazy directions. It does. So, like I said, amazing athlete.

Gets more and more athletic. He's even got a nice outside jumper. Really? He's got a nice outside jump shot. Not bad at all. He's a man among boys, basically. It looks like, you know, if you're going out and playing with your son, you're just going to dominate the shit out of him.

I hope, anyway. I hope you dominate. My boy's pretty athletic. You you're just going to dominate the shit out of him. I hope, anyway. I hope you dominate. My boy's pretty athletic. You better dominate him for at least a couple more years. But I can block him all day. Yeah, of course. Yeah, you're bigger than him. I'm swatting the ball and talking all kinds of shit.

Get that out of here. That's what he's doing to other high school kids. The kid's his age, though. I'm not doing that to people my age. My boy's the same size as me. Almost, yeah. He's eight. So everything is going well at this point, you would imagine, right?

Now he's in high school. I don't think he's sharecropping at the moment or at least not all day. He's got basketball practice. He's got things to do. He's got prowess. He's impressive. He's got prowess. He's impressive.

He's got a future. So at this point, you'd figure straight and narrow. Keep it together. Just stay on. Toe the line. No, he decides this is a good time to start drinking moonshine. Let's start drinking moonshine. I've seen how that ends. I'm going to do that.

What? You saw what it did to your dad. That seems like fun. So yeah, he starts drinking moonshine just to, you know, hey, you got to have something to do at night, I guess. Like we said, there's nothing to do. It's going to escape the reality of being amazing. What are you escaping? You're living a dream. Well, he is. And he's even going to live more of a dream here.

Like I said, he starts training. It doesn't even affect his basketball, the moonshine, because he ends up going to college. Wow. He gets a scholarship to Kentucky State University, which you're wondering, probably, why would a guy who's such an amazing high school athlete and so athletic go to a college that you've probably never fucking heard of, I doubt. This isn't the Jayhawks. No, no. There's no Rock Chalk going on probably never fucking heard of, I doubt. This isn't the Jayhawks. No, no.

There's no Rock Chalk going on here. This is Kentucky State. This isn't the Wildcats. This is not a real big sports-dominant powerhouse here. The major schools basically passed on him because he's not ready to go to college. They're looking at him. He has no social skills. He's drinking moonshine.

They smell moonshine on his breath. He couldn't read the application, and I smell moonshine. We're not having him at our school. I don't care. There's lots of kids in the country that can dunk. But Kentucky State, they just need an athlete. They're like, well, shit, we'll give him moonshine. I don't care.

Get him out there on the floor. Have him dunk over people at some other shitty state school you've never heard of. We'll put him in chemistry and teach him how to make better moonshine. That's it. Let's do it. So we have an in their own words here in their own words on his young days and everything that goes along with it in their own words quote i think i was dunking in the seventh grade i was basically the shortest guy around and all of a sudden i shot up like kobe

i had the ability to jump around like a deer i was really michael jordan before michael jordan wow that's a lot of comparison that's some real real... He compared himself to Kobe, Michael Jordan, and a deer in one statement. He's name-dropping like crazy. He can't stop name-dropping so much that he's gonna bring species into this. He is a simile machine, this guy. I'm telling you right now. Bambi ain't got shit on my vertical.

No, I got a vertical like Bambi wouldn't believe. Are deers known for their excessive jumping? They kind of prance jump. Yeah, they frolic. They bounce. I've never seen one where, holy shit, that deer's got up. So you see them go? If you pay attention to road signs, they look like they can jump. That's true.

Those road signs always look like they're skying through the air. Okay, fine. If there were deer shoes, they'd have that street sign on their logo on the side of the fucking shoe. Not only that, he pretty much lives outside. So he's seen deer more than I have probably. So let's say that. He's very well versed in the fauna of Mississippi. In deer athletics, I believe, he's seen it all.

Now, he's in college in 1974-75. That's his freshman year. He plays in his freshman year, which most of the time in college, you redshirt your freshman year, but when you go play for Kentucky State and you can dunk over people, they stick your ass out on the court as soon as possible. Go play for Kentucky State, and you can dunk over people. They need you. They stick your ass out on the court as soon as possible. He scores 7.8 points per game in limited minutes because he's a kid, and he can't read.

So, you know, they're like, let's take it slow with a guy who can't read. And I still smell moonshine in his breath. That's going to be a problem. Now, 75, 76, he's a sophomore. He has limited minutes again because they're working him in. 10.6 points a game starts to improve. It's going up. It's going up. Now, we're going to talk about some sports stuff.

People who are just true crime and don't care about the sports. You got to understand, this isn't about the sports. This is about anybody else. It's about a fall from grace. You have to know where the fuck grace is. You have to know where that is to fall from. You have to know where the fuck grace is to fall from it. That's clever.

I like that. If we were talking about some billionaire businessman, you wouldn't just go, oh, so this billionaire businessman killed someone. You'd go, well, how did he end up being there? How did he get a billion dollars? Teach me that. What's his story? You have to know this stuff here. As a junior in 1976-77, he gets impressive on the floor.

Now he scores 22.9 points a game and has 10.5 rebounds. That's some numbers. Because in college, it's a 40-minute game. So, I mean, that's impressive. And rebounds are important. That's huge. In college, they're missing so frequently.

Did you watch the Final Four? Oh, it's just constant. It's fucking ridiculous. And these are great players in college. Oh, they're great, yeah. And they're missing like crazy. Two of them are going to the NBA, basically. That's it.

Because they're all, nobody cares. There are some who are selling cars. That's it. They're insurance. They'll get a nice job through the alumni. You know, they'll be the next generation of generation of silver hair middle-aged women, basically. You betcha. His field goal percentage is over 50%, too.

So, I mean, he's not a center. He's not a down-low player who's right next to the hoop if you're not a basketball fan. He's a guard. And he's shooting over 50%? He's shooting over 50% because he's just dunking on people. That's amazing. And 10.5 rebounds. He's only over 50% because he's just dunking on people. That's amazing. And 10.5 rebounds. He's only 6'4". That's impressive.

In context, Russell Westbrook and James Harden are the two best, I mean arguably the two best shooting guards in the league right now. And they're shooting around 37%. Russell Westbrook's supposed to be a fucking point guard. That's why. He's not supposed to be shooting that much. Even still. Fucking pass, asshole.

Still 37%. He's garbage. No, that's garbage. Yeah, LeBron's over 50%. Yeah, that's what I mean. 50% is garbage. No, that's garbage. LeBron's over 50%. Yeah, that's what I mean. 50% is at center numbers. They just usually get you a lower percentage. You get in close, quick hook shot.

Yeah, exactly. Or a put back or some shit. Further back from the hoop. Right, it's a little harder. It's a little harder. Your percentage is dropped. Just by sheer numbers. You know how that goes.

Now his senior year, he had 77-78. He has 22.8 points a game, 8.2 rebounds. And even his free throw shooting improves. He's working hard. Because free throws, you don't just go do it. You have to work on free throws. Oh, my God. They're practice based.

And they're difficult. And they're difficult. Because you're not jumping. There's no dribble involved. It's just stand still, throw the ball. What is it, 15 feet? Something like that. And people have, you know, they get in their own heads.

But he never gets in his own head. I don't know if it's being drunk on moonshine will help you just brush past that sort of thing. Have you ever sat at a free throw line and just shot free throws? Oh, yeah. I'll shoot and I'll maybe make six of them. You can get on a streak and you'll miss eight in a row. And I feel like I'm fucking incredible when I miss it. He shoots 82%, which is like a good NBA guard shoots that.

That's eight of 10, people. That's amazing. And he shoots 60% from the floor. Wow. 60% field goal percentage, which is incredible for a guard. It's absolutely ridiculous. All I can think is I don't know what Division 14 schools they were playing against and 5'10 white guys that he's soaring over,

which is better than 5'10 Filipino guys, which we'll talk about later. We'll get to that. We'll definitely get to that. Now, June 9, 1978 is the NBA draft in New York City. All right. This is not like it used to be. Not like it is today. Today, the NBA draft is on TV, and they have a big thing with the balls in it,

you know, with the lotto balls, and they pick who the first draft pick. You know, who's the first team. First 10, right? Yeah, who the team. 14, it's the lottery. Oh, okay. Is it 14? I think it might be 12. I don't know. I don't fucking remember. Whoever didn't make the first 10, right? Yeah. Who's the 14? It's a lottery. Okay. Is it 14? I think it might be 12.

I don't know. I don't fucking remember. Whoever didn't make the playoffs. You get in that. Right. You get some balls in the thing. It's those assholes. The ones that definitely need help.

Yeah. You get more balls based on how shitty you are. That's how it works, basically. So this back then, it's not even televised. It's not even. Nobody gives a shit. It's in 1978. It's probably.

Nobody cares. It's barely covered in the newspaper, probably. Number one overall pick is a guy named Michael Thompson, who is the first foreign-born number one overall pick. How about that? First foreign-born, yeah, which is interesting. Patrick Ewing would be a number one pick a few years later in 85. He's from Jamaica originally. Michael Thompson, though, yeah, first guy.

He's a forward center. He ends up playing for 13 seasons, has about 14 points a game, 7.4 rebounds. Not a bad player. Not a No. 1 overall pick. Was Mutombo a No. 1 overall? Don't think he was, no. He was first round, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's from the Congo. Top five or whatever. Yes, yeah. Olajuwon, too, was up there, too. Where was he from? Olajuwon is from – it's an African country. I don't remember exactly where he's from. Is he the inspiration for the air up there?

God, I hope so. Probably. That'd be great. That'd be fucking great. We've talked about the air up there multiple times. I love that movie. You do love that movie. That's my favorite Kevin Bacon movie of all time.

Isn't that embarrassing? Not she's having a baby. No. Or like the big picture. Not Hollow Man or even fucking Footloose. None of that. No, I'm out. You better not be Footloose, Jimmy. I'm out. The air up there, I'll watch it every time. If it's Footloose. None of that. No, I'm out. You better not be Footloose, Jimmy.

I'm out. The air up there, I'll watch it every time. If it's Footloose, this show is over. We're hitting stop and I'm leaving right now if we're not doing this anymore. That other movie with him where he's hiking with Sean Astin and those boys and he's like a real dick. Whitewater Summer. That's the one.

That one's great, too. When he's a cunt. That movie's great. Sleepers, also a great movie. And he's a horrible monster in that movie. Guys, Kevin Bacon's been in a lot of movies. Back to Michael Thompson, who's not been in a lot of movies. He's also going to be a future teammate of Billy Ray down the line, which is kind of interesting.

Now, this is the draft where Larry Bird is picked. Larry Bird is No. 6 overall to Boston. So, yeah, rather than Michael Thompson, you could have had Larry Bird first overall. But you get Michael Thompson. That's what you could have, rather than Michael Thompson, you could have had Larry Bird first overall. But you get Michael Thompson. That's what you got. So they have Michael Thompson. Now, round three, pick 47. By the way, there is two rounds now. There isn't even a third round. This is like, you know,

third round, pick 47, the Houston Rockets select Billy Ray. All right. Yay. Now, like I said, only two rounds now, so he wouldn't even have been drafted now. From sharecropping to the NBA. So getting drafted to the NBA. That is incredible. It really is, man.

At this point, this is a success story. This is grace. It is. This is grace. We're getting to grace. We're almost to grace right here. I mean, for any average person that played college sports, high school sports, this is the reason that they do it. This is amazing.

And he's there. Teams were leery of him. That's why he didn't go to – because, I mean, athletically, they were, like, blown away by him. But they were leery of him because he went to a small school. And their thing – it's so funny how they just, like, they passed the buck from, well, if they thought this, then maybe they were right.

Nobody wants to be the wrong one. So they went, why wasn't he recruited by better schools? Hmm, that's something wrong there. And that's a knock against you and that drops you down in your draft status. But, I mean, if I was a basketball player and I wanted to show off how good I am,

I think I want to go to the little school. I don't want to go play against KU. A lot of people have that. I don't want to play against Duke and North Carolina. Fuck that. True, but nowadays they want to be on TV. They're going to schools where you play on TV. Back then, I don't even think that was a big concern. You were just, you know.

TVs were still black and white. Yeah, it didn't matter. It didn't matter at all. Now, his agent, he's got an agent now. This was a bad move here. His agent holds out. You're a third-round pick. Idiot.

You are not even. They picked you as like, eh, we'll see. If not, we'll toss him in the dumpster. Listen, Dick, you're not Michael Thompson. Yeah, exactly. Who do you think you are? Michael Thompson? Damn it.

You're not Michael Thompson. Larry Bird? No. So his agent holds out for a guaranteed contract and guaranteed money. He's like, yeah, we don't want the, you know, if you cut him, we want guaranteed money. We don't want him to earn it. And they said, no, fuck you. Take a hike.

Fuck off. So they does not get it. He never signs. So he's drafted. He just never signs. Take a hike. Fuck off. So they does not get it. He never signs. So he's drafted. He just never signs. They don't sign him. That's a indicator that agents are dicks. Agents are dicks.

And they can ruin your career in any path, really. His silver-haired, middle-aged white man just fucked him over huge. That's terrible. No doubt. So he ends up having to sign with another team in another league. He ends up out of the NBA. He signs with the Maine Lumberjacks of the CBA

who we've talked about a bunch of times. The CBA, if you kill a guy and can still have a decent 16-foot jumper, they'll hire you in the CBA. It doesn't matter. Once you serve your time, come on through. Come on in. And that's the Continental Basketball Association. Let's not make the Canadians

the bad guys here. It's not Canadians. This is continental. This is everywhere. This is in Maine in the United States. Maine, the Lumberjacks, this is their inaugural season. First year as a team. Basically, the CBA actually is really old. I don't know if anybody knew this, but the CBA, you would think

like, what did that pop up in the middle of nowhere? They're actually two months older than the NBA. They started exactly two months before the NBA in 1946. It's like those people that catch wind of something about to happen, so they create a product, but it's clearly inferior to the one that they heard about. The GoBots of the NBA. But I think it's what it is, the GoBots. Hilarious.

I think it's even different than that, though. I think they were just like, hey, let's start up basketball leagues and let's see which one is good. I don't think, because there was no standard like the NBA is going to be good now. The NBA is a bunch of fucking white guys. Nobody knew. It wasn't that entertaining or anything. So they were like, hey, let's give it a shot. But the NBA started because of the Globetrotters, right?

Didn't it start because of them? I don't think so. I think the Globetrotters had something to do with that, though. I am not sure about that. That's out of my league. I'm going to have to Google that someday and bring it back up another time. But I am positive that the Globetrotters had something to do with the inception of the NBA. That would be really interesting if it was.

I'll have to check that out for another time. We'll get back to you next week with an update on the Harlem Globetrotters and their Scooby-Doo connection. with an update on the Harlem Globetrotters and their Scooby-Doo connection. The CBA is actually kind of, they had innovative rules because they were trying to get attention. It's like the AFL was an innovative thing. The American Football League in the 60s wanted to look different than the NFL. They wanted to look different than the NBA. This can't go any way but bad.

They had a no foul out rule in the late 70s. So you could just foul people as much as you want. How do the games have any score? Why are their fouls even called then? What's the point? Why would they even? The game should have no score. Every time a guy goes to shoot, you should tackle him, and that's it.

You get the ball, and then they tackle you, and you keep going back and forth, and the game is like four to two. Remember when you were a kid and you had the quote-unquote prison rule basketball? You just blast people with elbows and stuff. That's what this is. Full contact basketball. And I remember on my particular elementary school court, the only rule was, quote, no humping. Whatever that meant. No jumping on someone's back.

That was the big rule. No humping. Everyone was like, all right. I'll tone it down today. I'll tone it down. I was going to hump his head, but I'll pass, I guess. We ended up having to stop calling it prison rules because one of the aides took it to the principal, and then they took it to the board, and they had to discuss whether or not prison rules was a racist term.

I don't know if it's racist, but it's definitely not what you want your children playing. No, I mean, no. Either way. Prison rules just means it's rough. I would think safety would be the bigger concern than any sort of racism in that situation no we still play they just called it something else let's stop them from breaking each other's noses and then we'll worry about racism when that's done how do you say also too they were really ahead of the curve the cvs curve the cba in the three point line they had a three point line way back in the 60s okay which is way ahead of the before

the nba had one yeah way ahead of the mba how the NBA had one. Yeah, way ahead of the NBA. How deep was it? Was it just the 18 foot? I think it's the same 3.1. What is it, 18 or 22? 21, 22. Yeah. 21.8 or some shit like that. Yeah, some bullshit like that. Now, 1979, 1980, they were the first league to introduce collapsible rims.

Oh. Two years before the NBA did. Shit was getting broken. Yeah. They had Daryl Dawkins, the future NBA star. Oh, no kidding. They had him come in and test rims. Really?

To see what their breaking point was, basically, because he was a hard dunker. He was a badass. And that's what they did. And they found these collapsible rims work. That's if you pull the rim and it comes down. Right. It doesn't break. Spring loaded.

Yeah. It doesn't snap off the glass, basically. So they did that. So that was smart because these guys were Duncan. I'm telling you something. This is when Duncan really became a thing. High-flying shit. He was a star, Billy Ray, in Maine, which I don't know what that entails you to. I guess all

the lobster tails you want. I don't know. But he's a star in Maine. He averages 27.5 points per game in his rookie year. That's incredible. Yeah, he's the CBA rookie of the year. Wow. And he earns a nickname. This is kind of like the XFL where they had nicknames.

Yeah. And on his basketball card, which I have a picture of his basketball card from the main Lumberjacks, and God damn it, it's hilarious. You know they call them the Lumberjokes, just some hacky bullshit. Yeah, fuck the Lumberjokes. They're rivals. Right. They went to play, you know, I don't even know another team. Something terrible.

They went to play Albany. Yeah. The Albany Pelicans. And they were like, yeah, I figure there's a team in Albany. The Albany Sunbeams or some shit. That's a second-rate-ass city that would have a CBA team. You know what I mean? Second-rate-ass.

It is. I'm sorry. I've been to Albany many times. It's a shithole. Sorry if you're from Albany. I'm sorry for you that you must live in Albany. I'm sorry that you live there. You're like three hours from New York City.

Just get on the fucking thrruway and head on down. Follow the river, guys. You can't miss it. Lots of lights. Sorry. Sully did it. He did it. It's no problem.

So his nickname in this, and it's on his basketball card. God damn it, this is amazing. It just says Dunk Bates. Wow. Dunk, quote, end quotes. That's the first name? Dunk. Wow.

It's Dunk Bates. That's what they call him. There's no Air Jordan basketball card. It said Michael Jordan. No, no. Dunk, quote, end quotes. That's the first name? Dunk. Wow. It's a Dunk Bates. That's what they call him. There's no Air Jordan basketball card. It said Michael Jordan. No, no. Dunk Bates. That's it. They all called him Dunk.

Not even Dunker or the Dunk Man or like Dunk. Unbelievable. Dunk Bates. That's it. Which he's going to have a much cooler nickname in a little while. I can't wait. Oh, it's the best. One of the best nicknames in the history of sports.

I got to say, it's so much fun. So he does so well there that he draws the attention of the NBA back. Good for him. You'd think they would. Yeah. I mean, just by sheer curiosity of the NBA, how's our competitor doing? Who's their best player? That's what you want to know.

And they talk. The guys talk, and they have scouts that go around, I'm sure. I mean, if you're going to some second-rate college, you'll go to the CBA and see, especially if you're like, this guy like you know 18 years old he's averaging 27 and a half he's dunking over people right maybe we should who's your rookie of the year that's what that i want to know like and every year in the nba you get one and you're like that guy's going to be a star and they generally turn out to be one sometimes they're shitheads but that's that's why they know who he is because They know. Because he's a fucking star. They know. So even back then they scouted.

Now, June 25th, 1979, he signs as a free agent with the Philadelphia 76ers. All right. Where Dawkins is at. Back in the NBA, baby. How about that? This is good stuff. An actual signed contract in the NBA. With Dr. J and Dawkins.

And they're killing it. Yeah. Now, what happened, though, for Philly, he shows up for Philly. And this is his first time in the NBA locker room at all. He's never, because he didn't play, he didn't sign with Houston. So, Coach Billy Cunningham had the players run, they had him run a mile is what they did. Now, the previous winner, last year's best time was 5.30, 5 minutes 30 seconds. That was the best mile time they had last year.

Billy did a 5.15. He was 15 seconds faster than last year's fastest guy. He's a running son of a bitch. Yeah, he's just athletically crazy. Now, after this, he's a kid. He's 22 or whatever. He went to college, not 18, but 22. He shows up, and he's brash, and he didn't sign with the Rockets.

You know they know he wanted guaranteed money. He didn't sign with the Rockets. He's that idiot he wanted guaranteed money. He didn't sign with the Rockets. He's that idiot who didn't sign. And then he went and he's playing for them. He's dunk baits for the main lumberjacks. You know they're looking at him a little leery and he's got to straight and narrow right now. Just fit in, do your thing. Instead, after he runs the mile quicker than anyone, he brags about how he did it while being very hungover from drinking all night and being with multiple women the night before.

Imagine if I was sober and my dick wasn't sore. Yeah, exactly. He's like, I'm sore and hungover and my balls are drained and I'm still out there. I was chafed before this run. Multiple women. Not just one. Multiple women. That's amazing.

That's amazing. So guess what? He's cut from Philly. Really? They cut him for that. They're like, get this out. This is what we were afraid of. You were doing stupid shit like this.

And they cut him. Yeah. The night before your first practice, you were out drinking all night and having sex with multiple girls. You're not focusing, really. And then you admit it. And then you admit it. You're like, oh, yeah, it would have been even faster if I didn't.

He thought they would be impressed by that. Like, whoa, Billy's even faster than that if he didn't have that happen to him. So he never plays with Billy. So he's still never played in the NBA. Unbelievable. Ever. He's been drafted and then signed by a different team. Already two mistakes that are costing him huge.

So he goes back to Maine. Dunk Bates. May as well. We'll take him over there. Back to Bangor with you, asshole. So he goes there. Taylor Swift is soaring high. Her every move captured in the news cycle and devoured

by her devoted fans. She's broken billboard records and made Grammys history, not to mention becoming a billionaire in the process. But along the way, Taylor has had to wage war, first by taking on a very powerful, very famous manager, Scooter Braun. And then by going up against the biggest live events company, Ticketmaster. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's show, Business Wars. We go deep into some of the biggest corporate rivalries of all time. And in our latest season, Taylor Swift will shake up not only the music business, but Hollywood and the NFL. Follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. If you don't know when Crystal Pepsi was discontinued, what was in Al Capone's vault, or which famous meteorologist is Lenny Kravitz's second cousin, then you haven't spent enough time on Wikipedia. But that's okay. I am here for you. I'm Darcy Carden,

and I'm inviting you to listen to my new podcast, WikiHole, from SmartList Media. Discover the craziest rabbit holes on Wikipedia with me and my funny friends as we bring the cyber frontier directly to your tympanic membrane. And if you listen to my podcast, you'd learn that that's the science-y term for eardrum. We embark on a hyperlink rollercoaster as we start out on a Wikipedia page and go from link to link to link to link, careening through trivia, oddities and unexpected connections until we collectively shout, how the hell did we get here? Follow WikiHole on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to WikiHole ad free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Nobody figured out. He needs his booze. Just give it to him. It's his, you know, whatever. So his former agent, Steve Kaufman, his first idiot, silver-haired, middle-aged white man who wasn't very good to him, as we know.

He's an idiot. He guided him, misguided. He misguided him. He guided him all the way to Maine. He says, quote, and Jack Ramsey is for the Trailblazers, Portland Trailblazers. This is the Portland Trailblazers are looking at him of the NBA. He says, quote, Jack Ramsey approached us. He said he wanted to bring

Billy Ray onto the team, but no way was he going to put him in an NBA game yet. He said that would be ridiculous that Billy wasn't ready for it. So that's what they're thinking. We want to sign him up and we like his athleticism, but he's an animal still. I don't mean an animal like that, but he's uncontrollable.

We got to check the chafe marks on his dick before we're going to hire him. Yeah, please, pull down the pants. It's like a treat. We've got to see how many rings you've got on there because this is a mess. We can't have you in here drinking moonshine with multiple women. So they like what they see, apparently. They like his moonshine and ability. On February 21, 1980, he signs as a free agent with the Portland Trailblazers.

Within the first month, he comes on the scene like a storm. It's wild. He first signs a 10 day deal because they know that he drinks moonshine and does all that. So they're like, let's see what he does. But they're so impressed with him. They have to sign him again. He is in the first month. He's the NBA player of the week. Wow. Already. Yeah. It's wild because in that NBA, already. Yeah, it's wild. In that NBA, too, there was so many amazing teams. There wasn't enough teams.

There wasn't that many teams. So it was a lot of condensed talent, basically. Now, Steve Kaufman, this is the Blazers, were terrible at this time, too. They were not doing well. They had been declining that whole year. They weren't doing great. And now this guy bursts onto the scene, some brand new kid. He's dunking on people.

Was Walton there or was he over in Boston by then? I'm not sure if he was still there then. I'm not positive. I would hope so. I would hope he had a 79. He's the only fucking one. But yeah. The rest of the team is terrible.

Awful. God awful. So now Kaufman says about the Portland thing. He says, well, about Billy Ray going to Portland and why he's so successful. He says, quote, one thing about Billy Ray, he never met a shot he didn't like. While other players were running away from the ball and didn't want to take the pressure shots, Billy always did. Took every one of them. He has, you know, that thing in your head where you're like, oh, no.

And that's why he's a good free throw shooter. He doesn't get in his own head. He's drunk on moonshine. I'm thinking about multiple women. He doesn't care. He's like, whatever. I'm just, I'm out of here. Yeah, give me the ball.

I can do it. He's Westbrook. He's got confidence. Yeah, absolutely, whatever. I'm out here. Yeah, give me the ball. I can do it. He's Westbrook. That's what he's doing. Absolutely, except he's got moonshot. Yeah, he's drunk Westbrook saying there's bums on this team. It's a squad full of scrubs and I've got to take shots every chance I can.

Absolutely. Now, his first game in Portland, he comes to the arena, walks into the locker room in his uniform. Already wearing it. That's a crazy person. That's a crazy person. They're like, what the hell's wrong with you?

What goes on in Bangor, Maine, sir? What are you doing? You are not supposed to do that in the NBA. We got a whole room for that shit. He said he's literally never played in a big enough locker room to have people changing. Wow. He said, my high school is shitty. That college is Kentucky State.

It's probably out in a trailer somewhere. In Maine, they don't have good facilities. So I just come in my room. I could change here? Should I have slept in this last night? Yeah, I wanted to make sure it was on. I've been sleeping in this for a week. In my car.

So I'm ready. I'm ready to go. I've been running miles in this thing. Yeah, 515, no problem. So he hears that this is the fun. He's having a hard time socially here. He hears that a teammate named Calvin Nat was also from the Deep South. So he got that a teammate named Calvin Natt was also from the Deep South. So he got real excited.

He thought they grew up the same way. He was all pumped about it. He's like, oh, Calvin. There's a sharecropper here? No way. Oh, man. Do they pay you in soybeans, too? Awesome.

Where'd you pop your first basketball? You have a dickhead brother that ruined your dream? Yeah. So he asks this Calvin Nat. He gets all excited, sits next to him. He goes, you grow up eating possum and squirrel too? And a whole locker room laughed at him, including Calvin. He was like, what?

You hillbilly son of a... That's hysterical. That's amazing. He was excited. I grew up in some shitty ways too. And I've asked people if they liked the same things I did. And I got the same general looks. Like my family used to play volleyball in the backyard on Saturday

nights. Like I know who Karch Karai Randy Stoklos are and my friends are like, what the fuck? What are you doing? Why? We watched NASCAR, not even NASCAR. We skipped NASCAR and went straight to drag racing like NHRA, John Forrest and Don Perdomo. I know who Don Perdomo is. We watched a lot of tractor pulls.

I had so many tractor pulls. I'm who Don Perdomo is. We watched a lot of tractor pulls. Oh my god, so many tractor pulls. I'm going to say 51 feet. You could call how far it is by a look. The mornings were dedicated to tractor pulls. On ESPN. That's what was on ESPN in the 80s. So much fun. If you didn't grow up in the 80s, be lucky because that's what was on ESPN. Full pull, full pull.

Like chanting that in my living room. You guys were the ones doing that? So white trash. Jesus. So this is, yeah, Calvin did not grow up eating squirrel and possum, apparently. This is kind of embarrassing for Billy, right? Because he thought he found a kindred spirit. He's like, oh, no, I'm the only one here that was a sharecropper.

He's like, I'm not an outcast. I am an outcast. What the fuck? Oh, yes, I am. Never mind. Now even the guy from down there is laughing at me. Fuck. I was almost not depressed. Now I'm more depressed.

Where's the moonshine? That's okay. Multiple women will cure that. Where are the whores? I want some chafe marks. Unbelievable. So 79 and 1980. 79, 1980 season. He plays in 16 games because he comes in late. 11.3 points a game. 1.8 rebounds. 1.9 assists.

Portland makes the playoffs. Now, they lose in the first round, but Billy becomes a legend in the first round of the playoffs. The reason why everyone knows who he is is because of the first round of the playoffs. He goes from averaging 11.3 points during the season and having little flashes where you're like, hey, this guy's something, but he's just still wild and young and everything else. Moments of greatness. Moments of greatness, too. In this series, he averages 25 points a game in the playoff series.

I mean, that's insanity. How many games did it go? Three. I think this one went four. Okay. Unbelievable. That's 100 points he scored in that round. That's amazing.

Yeah, and he was lighting it up, and it was like, whoa, where did this come from? It turns into a legend. The fans went crazy for him in Portland because they loved his play. People like that style of play, too. They like a guy who's dunking over people, who's brash, who doesn't like that. I still love it. I still watch the NBA now, and that's what I want. Who doesn't?

Yeah. Watching LeBron chase somebody down and swat him from behind, it's amazing. No, I love that, too. It's fucking incredible. It's incredible. So he would stay after games. He loved the attention because no one ever gave him attention. So he would stay after games and put on dunk displays for the crowd.

What? Everybody else would go back in the locker room, change, do their thing. He's like, I stick around. I'm going to dunk for you a bunch. He's like the original Suns gorilla. What the fuck is this? Yeah, he's just the original team mascot. That's crazy.

They should have given him a little trampoline and he could have done even more. But he doesn't need a trampoline because he can jump like crazy. Like a deer, like he said. What's crazy. They should have given him a little trampoline and he could have done even more but he doesn't need a trampoline because he can jump like crazy. Like a deer, like he said. What's the Trailblazers mascot? I don't even know what it is. It's like a bear thing. Is it?

Some sort of... I'm not sure. I don't know. What's a Trailblazer? I don't know. It's in Washington. It's like a fucking Wookiee or some shit.

Yeah, it's probably that. Something like that. It's stupid. Yeah, some sort of wildcat. They're all stupid. But that's the thing. That's what naming your team the Trailblazers.

What the fuck is a Trailblazer? I get what it is. Well, I guess that makes sense because you're going a trail out to Portland, out to the sea. It's probably a Lewis and Clark reference. I don't know. I could give a fuck. Either way. But the point is you can't have a mascot when your team name is the Trailblazers. No, you can't.

It's not going to make any goddamn sense. Unless it's a haggard mountain man who's like half dead and eating squirrel and possum for dinner. With an Indian lady showing him the way to the arena. And then he kills her and takes whatever she has. That would be an accurate mascot. In exchange for a smallpox blanket or something. That's the one right there. So Billy is beloved by the fans.

They love his style and he stays and puts on dunk contests and he's very accessible. He would just give his phone number to anybody. Just fans would walk up and he'd be dunking and they'd come up and be, hey, Billy, can I have your phone number? And they'd be like, yeah, sure. Here you go. Give me a call sometime.

I might do that. Anybody he wants. Just totally fine. I might do that. I don't know. But it's not like you're giving out your social media. These are people actually calling his home. Yeah.

You got a wife or at least a woman at home. Phone's ringing constantly. He's probably got four women at home, this guy. At least he has a phone now. That's a plus. That's probably what it is. He's like, I got a phone hooked up. I don ringing constantly. He's probably got four women at home, this guy. At least he has a phone now. That's a plus. That's probably what it is. He's like, I got a phone hooked up. Nobody has the number.

I don't know if it rings or not. Here, give it a shot. Yeah, I got a toilet if you want to come by. Oh, you do too? I didn't know you had plumbing. Everyone has plumbing? Shit, where are? I got a freezer full of possum.

Come by. This is great. Oh, it's so good. Now, Michael Thompson, who's the first round pick we talked about earlier, he said, quote, Billy Ray was like a comet that came out of nowhere. I mean, that's how everyone thought of him. Like, he was just this guy could be the biggest star in the NBA. A trailblazer.

He's a trailblazer for all sharecropping Southern. Blazing the shit out of it. So, 1980 playoffs. Portland played Seattle. And this is when Bates really, this is what I was talking about, tore it up. Another team, Supersonics. What a fucking stupid name. I love that for some reason.

I love the Sonics. That sounds cool. Supersonics sounds old school. What the fuck is a Supersonic? I don't know what that is either. If your team is the Sonics, at least. I think they're talking about speed and some sort of. I'm sure there was some reference to something.

It's stupid. It is stupid. God damn it. You can't have a mascot. God damn it, Northwest. Get your shit together. But with Seattle, at least they have the myth of Bigfoot up there. So they have that as their mascot.

I get that. That makes sense. That's cool. But it doesn't relate. No, not at all. So during this playoff series, though, they play a story. This is while he's ripping it up, while he's tearing it up while everyone's like amazed with his play yeah they had a story all done and queued up the timing couldn't have been better about his

upbringing at halftime so he's having everyone's like who is this amazing new player and then they show this you know fluff piece on him he grew up a sharecropper with the soybeans and the basketball and the nail and all that shit. And then people are like, I love this guy. Oh, my God. He's the best now. Oh, now they love him on a personal level. He's an underdog.

Everybody loves the underdog. And he's Duncan. You root for him. Yeah. He had just a great game. And Brent Musburger, who is a famous old guy. His hair, Brent Musburger. It just looks like somebody combed a foot across the top of his head.

It's the weirdest haircut. It's so big, though. It is. There's so much. He's so lucky. It's almost like shoulder padding. That's what it looks like, like two shoulder pads on his head. He's so lucky, though.

But, yeah, he's got a nice head of hair. Coiffed. He would have that jacket with the ABC patch on it, you know, that 70s look. ABC sports. it, you know, that 70s look. ABC sports. Sports, yeah. He nicknames him on national television The Legend. He calls him Billy Ray Bates The Legend. Larry's got something to say about that.

Excuse me. Excuse me. Larry Legend over here would like to talk to you. Yeah, but I mean that's where he went from obscurity to nowhere, from Cosa Cuso, Cuco, whatever the fuck it is. Couscous, Mississippi. Couscous, Mississippi to Kentucky State. And the locker room's not big enough to change into eating possum and squirrel and doing

all this horrible shit. And now he's dubbed the legend by pretty much the standard of the broadcaster at that time. Incredible. How small of a locker room can you not change in, though? Well, I figured it would just be uncomfortable, so people would just come. Maybe they didn't have lockers. Maybe it was just a room.

You know what I mean? I don't know what it was. Maybe his chafe dick just doesn't fit. Oh, that's what it is. It's swinging back and forth, knocking into people. Like, man, come on. There's not enough room in here for you and your dick. One of you has to go or both.

Somebody's got to leave. So now 1980-81 with Portland. This is when he turns up his off-the-court activities. Okay. Because's got to leave. So now, 1980-81 with Portland. This is when he turns up his off-the-court activities. Okay. Because now everyone loves him. He's famous. Now he can get away with it. Plus, you can't go from being nothing and nowhere and not even being able to afford

a basketball and picking soybeans to everyone wanting to pick you up and carry you on their shoulders and have that not go to your head a little bit, I think, at some point. You're being called the legend. Not just legend, the legend. Your, I think, at some point. You're being called the legend. The legend. Not just legend. The legend. Your shit does not stink at this point to you.

You're not a legend, just like some legend that people talk about. You're the legend. And everything you've done off the court has not affected your on the court ever, so why would you care? You know what I mean? He's known to go out and drink basically a lot. I mean, like, legendary amounts to where guys in the NBA are saying, I've never seen a human being consume so much alcohol like that much.

And if you can impress an NBA guy with your drinking, that's impressive. Those dudes can drink. Yeah. Also, he would also dabble in some cocaine from time to time, and he's going to keep doing that once in a while. It's going to be a problem. Alcohol and cocaine are a big deal for him. And I assume genetically he wasn't helped

by his father being a horrible alcoholic, so this isn't great. He becomes less dependable on the floor at this point. Also, too, he's got silver-haired, middle-aged white men everywhere. Everywhere, yeah. All over the city, because it's Portland, and they have nothing else but the Trailblazers.

Sports-wise, that's all they have. So when they're doing well, that whole town revolves around the Trailblazers. It really does. Now, an employee of Nike, because Nike is based up there, and Nike at this point is starting to get into shoes and starting to get into basketball shoes in particular. And they're outfitting the Portland Trailblazers, and they're backing them financially, and they're trying to get their name out there with the Trailblazers, basically. And that's what's going on. An employee of Nike claims that he took Billy's driving exam for him.

Literally, probably some little Asian guy went in and said, I'm Billy Ray Bates. I'd like to take my driving exam now. And they said, OK. May as well. And this guy got a license from that. He took a break from sewing the shoes and went down to the drive. Yeah, that's what it was. That's what I was thinking.

You were writing with me. Yeah. They got him locked in the basement, and they send him out there. Now, go take his test. And he's like, I'm Billy Ray Bates. And they're like, OK, fine. Yeah, get in there and take the test. What the fuck?

That's awesome. Unbelievable. So 1980, now 80, 81. He plays in 77 games. So they have him out there pretty much the whole season. 13.8 points or a game, two rebounds, 2.5 assists. So not bad. Real quick, Nike's smart in this situation because if you're trying to get into a big market

like that and have those players wear your shoe, you find a team that A, has colors that go with fucking everything because you want to be able to sell a ton of these shoes, and then B, you want to get the worst fucking team because it's going to cost you less to get your shoes on them. Well, it's not even that. The teams back then, they were happy to have free shoes.

They were like, oh, we don't have to pay for all these shoes? Great. But Nike's got to build them still. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. But Nike, for them, it's free advertisement now. This guy's going out wearing your shoes. And they can go, our shoes worn by that guy dunking.

You want to dunk like that guy? You wear those shoes. That's their whole thing. But it costs them a lot less to put them on the Portland Trailblazers than it does to put them on the Chicago Bulls. You know what I mean? Yeah. Or the Miami Heat. It wasn't even about that.

Today. Then, though, it wasn't even about that as much as they were just a local team. Yeah. Nike's based in Portland. Oh, Nike's in Portland? I didn't know that. Yeah, Nike's based up there. I mean, Nike's basically in Bangladesh.

The owner of Nike is from – Phil Knight is from Portland. Is that right? He's from Oregon. How come I never knew that? That's why Oregon University has 4,700 uniforms every year in 11 games somehow. I swear to God they switch them every quarter because Nike provides them for them because that's their local team. Phil Knight donates millions to Oregon, the University of Oregon. Is LA Gear from LA?

Probably not. What about British Knights? Are they from the UK? No, I think they're from Newark, New Jersey, probably, I'm going to say. Anyway. So yeah, this is going on and Nike is sponsoring them. He has

a decent season, but like I said, 13.8 points per game in the regular season of 80-81. In the playoffs, in only three games, he averages 28.3 points a game. So it's indisputable that this guy shines when the lights are brightest. That's when he comes out.

He is glitter and gold, for sure. Yeah, he needs motivation. It's all about motivation for him. It's like, if I feel like going out there and scoring 28, I'm going to score 28. But if I'm a little hungover, I'm a dick sore, maybe not. So we'll see. Maybe score 13. Yeah, but in Portland, he's being treated like a god. I'm sure. hungover, I'm a dick sore. Right. Maybe not. So we'll see. Maybe score 13. Yeah. But in Portland, he's being treated like a god.

I'm sure. Like a fucking god. I mean, he's the most famous athlete in Portland at this moment. This is pre-Clyde Drexler. There's no Tracy Porter. No. There's no Terry Cummings. No.

We have an in-the-roam. Cliff Robinson. No. No. Yeah. Please. Kevin Duckworth. I'm done.

None of it. Rasheed Wallace is not there. It's not happening. Damon Sotomayor has not been drafted yet. None of these people will get arrested for weed crimes in the future. Many times over. Many times. So we have an in their own words on the treatment he receives in Portland and how he's just

in heaven, basically. He says, in their own words, quote, you could have anything you want. I didn't have to pay for nothing. I go into a restaurant and they say, oh, Billy, you ain't got to pay. I was like, wow, I got the key to the city. I could have played there 10 years and been successful. But at the rate I was going and the people I let into my life just shot the fame right out from under me. Some bad things started to happen off the court.

Oh, boy. This is the doubt. Grace. We found Grace. We're at Grace, guys. We're right there. We found her. Guess what? Yeah. We're tipping over to the other side now and heading back down toward not grace. This is an hour into the Titanic hitting that iceberg. Oh, it's,

and here it is. So we needed to get you there from sharecropping to the key to the city to, it's going to go down. The lower class cabins are awful with water right now. Yeah. Shit is about to sink. It's not good. It's really bad. But everyone's still dancing up on top, on the top floor. Leo's still banging the redhead right now. No worries.

No one's even thinking about it. 81-82 season. He plays in 75 games. Only has 11.1 points per game. 1.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists. So his numbers have gone down because he's got the key to the city, and he is pillaging like a Viking probably out there. Now

I'm watching and I'm looking at this article about this and this is the one that has quote in there from 82 and all this shit. And it's so it's just so interesting everything there. And I'm kind of I'm blown away by his by his rise and by his stupidity and by I'm

thinking about how cool it would be to be in his situation at that moment where you have the key to the city. And then I'm looking on the next page because it's an old newspaper from the Eugene Register in February 16, 1982. I love this stuff so much. And I'm just blown away, not by him. I'm blown away by the sales, Jimmy. The sales of some of these stores and these ads.

So if you are in Eugene, Oregon, and it happens to be February 16th, 1982, where you are, you can go down to the B&J Denture Clinic. B&J Denture Clinic. That is fucking horrible. That's perfect. That is... Come on, guys.

Jesus Christ. If you like your blows and jobs, come on down to the denture clinic. Or don't get the dentures. You can get dentures and pop them out, and then it'll be even grosser. So the B&J Denture Clinic, you can head on down there for 20% off like-life dentures with this coupon. Like-life.

Life-like, sorry. Life-like dentures with this coupon, though. You have to bring the coupon. You have to clip it. You have to clip it. You got to get your scissors. And it says, this is important, guys. You're going to want to know this information.

Quote, one coupon is good for the entire family. How many fucking people in your family don't have teeth? What entire family? What, your grandma and your grandfather? Your children should have teeth. The people under a certain age should have enough teeth to not need dentures, probably. That's why they're saying that, because they're like, all we need is this one for everybody, but I'm the only one that needs it.

That's what it's about. One coupon's good, and it's like exclamation point. Good for the entire family. Bring them all down. Makes B&Js seem like great people. Awful. Also, Lovejoy's Appliance and TV Center in 1982. You can get a 25-inch color TV, and this is one with the knobs on it, where you'd like

turn the UHF station, then have to click all the little knobs. Oh, the worst. The terrible old TV. No remote control. This is a non-remote control TV starting at $448. Holy shit! You can get a 65-inch flat screen for that nowadays. I believe cheaper.

Yeah, and think about $448 in 1982 money. That's like thousands. That's like $2,500. That's insane. That's like thousands. That's like $2,500. That's insane. That's like thousands. That's batshit for a terrible TV. That's a 401k loan to buy that TV. For a shit TV.

It's a piece of shit, this thing. For an antique. Unbelievable. Or you can get a deluxe portable dishwasher with a wood top, Jimmy. Portable. Portable. They used to have the ones that you'd move them across the kitchen. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, where you'd cut on.

Yeah, with a wood top to be a cutting board. was hot shit back then only 357 that is really expensive back then and if you're you've you've gone you've picked yourself up a portable dishwasher yeah your dishes are in you are watching your port in your 25 inch tv you found that uaf uhf uhf station just right you've gone down to the B&J Denture Clinic. You've got a full mouth full of lifelike teeth. You head on down to Poncho's Mexican Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge for the buffet down there. Only $2.95. That's a deal.

And the shits are on the house, guys. $2.95 for the buffet. Shits are on us, guys. 1982 Oregon Mexican food. Why? I don't know why I said that. It's so dumb. It's so stupid.

It was the way you said that and pointed at me. I was very enthusiastic. Yeah, I was very enthusiastic. You really sold me the shits. I was like, the shits are... I was selling that. I was doing a commercial. They sound amazing. For ponchos, yeah.

God, Jesus. Guys, support our newest sponsor to this crime in sports, ponchos. Mexican Grill, Mexican Restaurant, and Cocktail Lounge in Eugene, Oregon. Head on down. The shits are on the house. The shits are on the house.

So, wow. September 20th, 1982, he's waived by Portland. They shit cannon. So, I mean, that's where he went from I got the key to the city to they don't even want me anymore on the team. I'm not even allowed in the building anymore. I can't even get a free buffet with the shits anymore. Nothing. Nothing.

They make me pay $2.95. I have to pay extra. I used to get free meals. I used to get shits free and the meal free. Everything was free for me, damn it. Now I got to pay for my shits. So what happened to Billy Ray? Why did this all go down like this?

Let's find out with an in their own words. He's going to explain it to us in their own words. Quote, it just seemed like the wrong people off the court. It just seemed like the wrong people was coming into my life. They were trying to lead me down the wrong path. And some of them did. Things got out of hand. I wish I would have never had that drink. that first one. That was the wrong choice. I think people overreacted though

I mean, it's the first drink was so many years ago. Yeah, you had moon. Jai Plus he just named a bunch of shit He did wrong right and then he's like I think they overreacted to my to my not doing anything I need to do as a professional to keep my job to my not doing anything I need to do as a professional to keep my job. Overreaction. Try going home where your wife doesn't pay you to be there and being like, I fucked this woman, this woman, this woman.

I just did blow with a hooker. Yeah, see what happens then. Yeah, do that. We're still together, right? She'll cut you too. You're getting waved by everybody. You're cut. That's what we're going to call divorces from now on, waved.

So he got waved by his wife in 1985. That's what we're going to say from now on. She waved him. That's it. Gone. No signing bonus. You're out. Contract cut.

So September of 1982, September 29, 1982, to be exact, he's signed as a free agent by the Washington Bullets. This is now the Washington Wizards. He's signed there. That is, like I said, September 29, December 1, 1982, he's waved by Washington. So he's in and out of there. They don't want him anymore. It's April 6th, 1983. He signs a free agent with the Lakers.

He signs a 10-day contract with the Lakers. And this is Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Showtime fucking Lakers. This is the real deal Lakers. He says, Billy Ray says, he didn't get a chance. He only had a 10-day contract. He had no chance, basically. The lineup's stacked. You're not playing anyway.

You're not playing, no. Just be good and work hard in practice. Yeah, try to stick around on the bench and maybe work your way into the lineup. Be the guy that if somebody needs a rest, you get three minutes a night. That'd be great. Nope, he just acts like an asshole, acts like a jerk. He complains he's only on a 10-day contract, and he also claims that Magic Johnson and Kareem

Abdul-Jabbar made fun of his jerry curls. He was extremely upset. Well, Kareem was doing it because he was jealous. He had no hair, yeah. Magic was like, what are you doing with your head, man? Now, he had the jerry curls. Now, after that, his jerry curls, by the way, and this is actually a

fact, his jerry curls were so juicy. I mean, another 80s movie reference. He would make Coming to America guy look like just dry, brittle head. Soul clue. Juicy. Juicy. He said, and this is him.

This isn't me making a joke. He said he started wearing a headband to keep the jerry curl juice out of his eyes while he played. That's how much was coming out. Not for the sweat because he wasn't playing enough to sweat. That was just juiceled juice out of his eyes while he played. That's how much was coming out. Not for the sweat, because he wasn't playing enough to sweat. That was just juice. Dripping into his eyes. And he didn't wear a regular headband. He fashioned himself a Rambo headband.

Oh, my God. He tore a piece of towel off and tied it around his head like some sort of lunatic. Like my white trash stepfather who used to change the oil in the driveway with a fucking paper towel tied to his head. Is he from Coos Coos, Mississippi by any chance? Worse. Eloy, Arizona. Oh, that's even worse.

So he's getting made fun of by Hall of Famers at this point. They're breaking his balls, making fun of his jerry curl. Things just don't work out. He's released on April 16th. So after his 10-day contract is up, they shit can him. He checks himself into a rehab in Phoenix at that moment. He leaves the Lakers and he says, I should go to rehab probably. And it's shit can him. He checks himself into a rehab in Phoenix at that moment. He leaves the Lakers and he says, I should go to rehab

probably. And it's probably not him. It's probably his agent saying, hey, look, here's the deal. You're a mess. You drink moonshine. You're on a bunch of cocaine. You got a lot of problems. If you want teams to keep you and sign you, you should probably go to rehab and show that you're making an effort. Did it say which rehab?

Because I know which one it is. I almost guarantee it. I don't know because this was 1983. I bet it's St. Luke's. Maybe. I'll bet it is. But I mean, in 83, it could have been some private facility. There aren't many.

Yeah. I would think, though, like in Scottsdale, there's probably some private facilities. Yeah, but that didn't say Scottsdale. That said Phoenix. Phoenix. I'll bet it's St. Luke's because I think that's county fed. This isn't county, though. He's in the NBA.

They're trying to get him like, I hope it's county. Yeah, he needs county. He needs that. He doesn't need cushy. He needs someone to go, stop it, idiot. Fucking cut it out. You're ruining your life. Your dick's shaved.

Yeah, stop. Do you feel that? So over the course of the whole season here, playing with both Washington and the Lakers in 82-83. He only plays in 19 games. He averages 6.5 points a game. So we're on the downslide here. So what do you do at this point? You try to work your way back onto a team. You start at the bottom.

You say, look, I'm going to be clean. I'm going to work hard. And you just throw yourself on the mercy of the league, right? You really try. You recognize that steerage is flooded, and you make that SOS phone call and you start shooting the flares from the Lido deck. This fucking shit is going down. Or, or, or you have your agent get you a deal in the Philippines where they don't give a shit what you do. The Philippines now.

He's going, Maine is looking great compared to the Philippines. He's like, where's Bangor? I want to go back there. So he gets him a deal in the Philippines now. He's going, Maine is looking great compared to the Philippines. He's like, where's Bangor? I want to go back there. So he gets him a deal in the Philippines, okay? I cannot explain to you how terrible the competition was for him in the Philippines. There are pictures. I mean, you can gather just by thinking, what's in the Philippines? Picture a man who can just soar over people's heads and dunk, playing with a bunch of Filipino guys.

Playing with a bunch of guys who it's not hard for me to jump over their heads. Now, you'd think stereotypically. Now, guys, they're going, oh, they're being stereotypical. I'm sure there's a bunch of tall Filipinos. No. This league, maybe there are. No, they weren't in this fucking league. I will post pictures on social media of him towering by a foot above a guy who looks like a 48-year-old Filipino accountant.

Somebody's drunk uncle does this shit as a hobby. He's balding. He weighs 120 pounds soaking wet, and he looks like he's 50 years old. And Billy Ray is behind him. The guy's guarding him. And it's like, what is going on there? Billy Ray is twice his width and twice his height with a giant afro and a headband. It's insane.

It looks ridiculous. His first game in the Philippines, he scores 64 points. That'll let you know. He just goes off. He just does no competition. He's dunking on. I don't even think he's looking at anybody else on the court like, what defense? I'm just dribbling and dunking.

They're not getting in my way. He's nicknamed immediately by a sports writer. And here it is, folks. Probably the best nickname we've had. Black Superman. Oh, my God. How bad do you want to be Black Superman? You're not black, but still, if people called you Black Superman, you'd be like, fuck him, Black Superman.

That's awesome. Black Superman is just Batman. Oh. Well, Batman can't fly. Okay? Let's just say that. I Well, Batman can't fly, okay? Let's just say that. I mean, if he attaches his belt to the goddamn backboard, he can fly. There needs to be a backboard.

Superman can just fly. He's bulletproof and he flies. Batman's a... That's just terrible. I can't compare to that. What a horrible nickname. Terrible. It's a great one. It's the best nickname, Black Superman, because he's soaring through the air.

It does sound cool. It would feel great as a black guy just to be called Black Superman. Well, over there, too, it's like they have a few what they call imports over there, the American guys who are half-assed washouts of college or the CBA or whatever. Or dudes with coke problems. Or dudes with coke problems. And there's a few black guys. And over there, they're just Black Superman, Black Superman.

And they're very excited because no one else is doing in that league no one else is that athletic no one else should be in the nba if they weren't a complete fuck up that's over there really they have like they get guys that are like at the end of their career yeah or guys that are just you know washouts from college that aren't that great yeah things like that they don't get guys who are top level nba talents in the prime of their career right like that doesn't happen this sounds great like he's doing amazing over there. There's probably very little pay. Oh, yeah.

No, he makes okay money. Does he? Okay. He does okay, actually. Yeah, because we'll get into the structure of it. So right now the lifeboats are coming out. That's what's going on. It's not bad.

If he cleans himself up, he can make a decent little life for himself here. After the nickname was given, he's so proud of this black Superman nickname, he would come out in warm-ups before the game wearing a long black cape. Oh, my God. He's embracing the shit out of us. And put on dunking displays wearing the cape. Well, this is more impressive than in the NBA because these people don't see this shit very often at all. And seeing a guy actually do it over and over and over again.

And he's soaring through the air with a cape flopping behind him. That's got to be amazing. And they're like, Black Superman. They're so excited. So he plays mostly over there for a team called the CRISPA Redmanizers. That sounds like a dumb name, right? That is not even in the realm of the stupidest name. CRISPA Redmanizers?

CRISPA Redmanizers. They're all named after products. And that's a product. CRISPA is the company, and a Redmanizer is what they make. I don't know what that is. That is not even close. It makes you a Redman, apparently. Apparently.

Maybe it's chewing tobacco. Oh, that'll Redmanize the shit out of you. No, it's Redman chewing tobacco. So there's a team. There's other teams with way stupider names. Yeah. There is a team called the, wow, the Coney Island Ice Cream Stars. That's a team.

There's a team called the Corned Beef Cowboys. Yes. And then my favorite, favorite team of all time, the Pure Foods Gender – the Pure Foods Tender Juicy Hot Dogs. That's pretty solid. If anyone out there can find a Pure Foods Tender Juicy Hot Dogs jersey, you – show us, please. I'll take the Cowboys jersey. That one's pretty solid, too. I want the corned beef, but I want the pure foods, tender, juicy hot dogs.

Wow. Corned beef Cowboys. That sounds tough. That's pretty damn cool. The Coney Island Ice Cream Stars. That's pretty good, too. He was the best import they ever had in the league. Just the best.

Over his six seasons in the league, he averages 46 points a game. Jesus. That's Wilt Chamberlain kind of numbers. That is legendary shit. Now, there's a three-time MVP over there named Boggs Ordonato, and he says, quote, definitely Billy Ray Bates is the best import. You will need more than just one player to stop him. Even if we doubled up on Billy, he has the ability of jumping over his defenders using his athleticism. They'd have a bunch of guys surrounding him and he'd just leap up

over the top of them and dunk on their heads. So good. He would also drink himself silly. In the Philippines, he could just drink and drink and drink and still come out and score 50 points and go back and drink some more. So it didn't matter. Is that Filipino booze or do you think they just import American shit? I don't know.

They probably make Filipino booze, right? Probably would assume so, yeah. I'd like to try that. He's drinking booze or do you think they just import American shit? I don't know. They probably make Filipino booze, right? Probably would assume so. Yeah. I'd like to try that. He's drinking booze though. Yeah. But he can do anything he wants. I'm fascinated with the booze over there right now.

I don't know why, but I really can't stop thinking about it. I think it's just normal booze. You think so? I don't think it's anything special. He's got some Patron over there. He's got some Bud Light. I think so. It's a bar.

I'd like to see some Filipino booze though. Yeah. They probably have their own beer. Yeah. You're probably right. Maybe they're getting some from Japan. They're drinking Sapporo. I'm not sure what they're doing. Some of that Kirin or whatever. booze, though. Yeah, they probably have their own beer. Yeah, you're probably right. Maybe they're getting some from Japan. They're drinking Sapporo. I'm not sure what they're doing.

Some of that Kirin or whatever. Some shit like that, yeah. But whatever they have, he's drinking more of it than he knows what to do with. He's drinking all of it. And he can still just leap out of being defended by four guys and dunk on people. It doesn't matter. Dragging his chafed dick across him. Yeah, so he was telling the reporters while he's over there.

But he's doing all this, and he's partying and doing all this. At the same time, he's telling reporters in the Philippines. At one point, he's sitting in the locker room with a reporter, and he's telling them that rehab has made him completely sober. While he's doing this, he has a beer in his hand and he's drinking it. That's so great. He's like, no, I'm completely sober. Definition of delusional. Yeah, Billy was asked by the – because in front of him me he asked the equipment manager, hey, get me another beer.

And the equipment manager says, I thought you were sober. And the reporter's like, yeah, what's going on? So his quote here is in their own words, quote, I don't have those problems anymore, thanks to God. I'm a man's man and a man is going to have a beer. I'm all alone and I can't see why I can't have a beer. I'm in complete control of myself and I don't have no stacks of beer in my apartment. It's just a drink between friends.

That's what an alcoholic would say. Stacks of beer makes you an alcoholic. You have to have a stockpile back at your house. That's the only thing. Not just constantly drinking when you have a problem. I'm in control. I don't have those problems anymore thanks to God. God makes my buzz go away't have those problems anymore, thanks to God.

Thanks to God. He just got rid of them for me. God makes my buzz go away. He's fine. God makes the need for it go away. A couple of mans, man. The man's going to have a beer, God damn it. Drink between friends.

That's like the most excuses. Like anybody who's worked in any kind of rehab or anything, just go, that's so sad. That's just, he's so just delusional. He thinks what makes you an alcoholic is when you drink with other people. Yeah, that's just like, what? When you don't drink with other people. When you go back home, you've got stacks of beer, that's an alcoholic. When you drink alone, that's the only definition. The team

even over there, even with his 46 points a game and everything, they're still super concerned about him. They have they hire drivers and body guards to take him from the court to his hotel and not let him go out. They were like, basically, keep him on house arrest. But he would pay off the security guys to look the other way, and then he would go out, basically.

And then the team would always find out about it because, you know, he doesn't exactly blend in over there. They'd be like, oh, that giant black guy with the big afro? Yeah, he's the only one here. Yeah, he was over here all night last night. Drinking all of our beer. That's the only one here. Yeah, he was over here all night last night. Drinking all of our beer. That's the thing. And they said, too, like sometimes team executives would be like out and about in the city in the morning on their way to work. And they would see him stumbling back to the hotel.

And they'd be like, why is he not? What happened? How did he get out? Teammates said he would drink whiskey hard. Oh, my God. Like pound it while they were just like sipping beers. He'd be pounding it like to an extent where they were impressed and frightened yeah at the same time i can have maybe two of those a night yeah that's it no i like whiskey i love whiskey but i sip it as much

as was around as much as he could get to they said he would do crazy shit in the streets like he went out one time and just said to have he picked picked up a small car, little tiny car over there that they had, by the front bumper and did curls with it. He lifted the front of the car and was doing curls with it, just like, I'm going to work out for a second. That's how strong he is. This was shit-faced drunk in the street in the Philippines. A teammate,

a toy co, says that Billy used to bring a sports bottle to practice. This was his thing. Like everybody would, a sports bottle to drink out of. Like a Gatorade bottle. Yeah. Billy said it was orange juice. Yeah.

One of those squirt bottles, like a sports bottle. Yeah. Billy said that's orange juice in there. So Coe thought it was really weird that he would drink orange juice out there because it's just an odd drink to have while you're playing. You don't drink that when you're playing. That doesn't quench a thirst. It's thick and weird.

It makes that thick shit in your mouth that you can't spit. Yeah, you'd be doing that and spitting that all the time. So Kyle just thought it was weird. Out of curiosity, opened up his bottle and said it was nothing but whiskey. What? Not even a mixer. Wow. Just pure whiskey in his bottle.

Not even orange juice to kill the burn. No, no, no, no. Whiskey. Straight whiskey. So he would be on the court and go over and squirt a big thing of whiskey in his mouth and go out. He's drinking whiskey like water. Wow. Literally like be on the court and go over and squirt a big thing of whiskey in his mouth and go out. He's drinking whiskey like water, literally like Gatorade. He said he would go out and drink with teammates and every one of them to a man

said they've never seen a human being drink like this before. I couldn't do one squirt of that. No. Like that long squirt that they do on like the sideline in an NFL game when the water boy comes over. I couldn't do one of those and be like, let's get another. What if you just ran back and forth for an hour and a half? How would your abilities be then to do it? And you're hungry and you got nothing in your stomach and you're just jamming that shit down your throat. He went crazy with the groupies too.

The girls, he went nuts with the women. He's rich and famous over there and he stands out in a crowd. They all see him and he looks different than everybody else and the women loved him over there. Couldn't get enough of him. Teammates said that he never went home with less than four women at once. Never. So every night he's going out, pounding as much whiskey as he can.

He's lifting up cards. He's acting crazy, and then he's going home with four women. Here's something, though. That sounds fun. You know what I mean? No. It sounds horrible, honestly. No, even the drinking and the being a star, all that, it sounds exhausting.

I'm so lazy I couldn't do it. Yeah, it does. But it sounds amazing to be the star like that. Yeah, to the drinking and the being a star, all that, it sounds exhausting. I'm so lazy, I couldn't do it. Yeah, it does. But it sounds amazing to be the star like that. Yeah, to have everybody want that. The part that I'm hung up on that doesn't sound great to me, four women. It sounds fucking terrible. I don't know why that sounds so terrible to me. I don't want four women.

And he had to have four women every night. I can barely take care of one. No, this is ego. I don't even want two. It's just ego, the fact that four women would go with him, I think. That's so much. It would have nothing to two. It's just ego, the fact that four women would go with him, I think. That's so much. It had nothing to do with him even wanting them, probably. That's why he's up all night trying to fucking make that all happen.

Well, he's doing coke, fucking women drinking whiskey. He's got a crazy life over there. It's nuts. Coaches made him a deal to try to get him to slow down because he was gaining weight now, too, because he's drinking like a fish. Yeah. So they would weigh him before each game, and he would get $100 every time he was less than 210 pounds.

That was the deal. He would do that. But what he would do is they'd have a few days off in between. So like, because they had games like every four days. So he would have a game. He'd drink himself into insolvency for two days and then he would, you know, clean up for two days. So he would weigh in right, get his hundred bucks and then go out and spend it on booze that's what he did that was his thing uh now a night out

while out with a teammate named duane scales they were at a strip club yeah which this is not going to turn out well you can tell already at a filipino strip yeah i mean nba caliber players at a strip club in a foreign town yeah and he's the star and he really thinks he's hot shit too at this point big as shit yeah he's huge and he's feels entitled. And he really thinks he's hot shit too at this point. And he's big as shit. Yeah, and he's huge and he feels entitled, I feel like. They begin howling and making loud comments to the women, which apparently you don't do over there. You don't do that here.

No, no, no, but it's accepted here to an extent. You expect a couple of douchebags. Yeah, policy over there and custom and culture over there, you don't do that in the Asian culture. The locals didn't like it, so somebody threw a beer bottle and hit Billy in the head with it. Uh-oh.

So Billy waited for the song to end because he's looking at some titties now. He's not going to get distracted that much. And then went looking for the bottle thrower. So two more minutes went by, and then he was like, all right, now who threw that goddamn bottle? Motley Crue's Girls, Girls, Girls ends,

and he's like, now I can get to it. Now it's time. Yeah, cherry pie's over. I got to get out there. So no one admitted to it. He's fucking huge. Who's going to admit to this? He's a giant drunken psychopath.

And so he got mad and flipped over a large table like on its side and all sorts of drinks and everything went over. This made a mess and really pissed everyone off to the point where everyone in the bar started throwing bottles and shot glasses and anything they could cut at the pair. Wow. At Dwayne and Billy, basically. He's like, no, no, no. I got hit with one already.

I don't need this. But they were like, all right, screw this guy if he wants to act crazy. So they did that. Billy and Dwayne hid behind a table. They hid behind that table. It's like a bad Jackie Chan movie. Oh, it's a terrible. Yeah, it's an awful.

And they're like, oh, man, what are we going to do now? And then Jackie Chan jumps in the room and kicks 12 people in the head and they all walk out together. This is Shanghai Noon. This is Owen Wilson and Jackie Chan are hiding by the table. I was thinking Chris Tucker. Right. That too. This is way worse.

This is fashioning a rope around a horseshoe and they're about to use that as their weapon to get out. That's exactly what it is, man. So the owner kicks everyone out, clears the bar. That's exactly what it is, man. So the owner kicks everyone out, clears the bar. He goes with Billy and Dwayne back to their hotel and wakes up team officials at three o'clock in the morning as the hotel wake them up so he can demand money for damages caused by these two fucking. Can you imagine that happens here now with the NBA? Like, oh, God, the manager of like a hacky place like the candy store walks fucking. I don't even know who plays for the suns yeah who knows yeah well it's devin booker and some other asshole

because that's all they've got yeah uh back to back to sarver's office and is like my place is completely ruined you're paying for this that that's going to be in the paper tomorrow yeah this this doesn't this doesn't go away he's demanding cash so that happens there and they didn't know if too the they didn't know if the team was like they thought it was probably a scam maybe too like oh i could see that said hey everybody do this and then we'll go get money because that was like a thing but he also caused a riot in a bar so it might have been legit we don't know but they paid the guy off so he would go away and not go to the papers what is it what is the strip club cost you can probably yeah i'm sure it was like a straw hut anyway. It doesn't matter.

Here's a pair of Nikes. Get lost. Two matches would have taken that thing to the ground. Here's a pair of black Superman Nikes. Get lost. Yes. Now, let's talk about that for a second. You just cued me up beautifully.

Oh, fantastic. Because he has one of the best-selling shoes ever in the Philippines. Does he really? He has the black Superman model shoe. It's a legit shoe. It's a legit shoe. How beautiful. It's a great shoe. It looks kind of shoe. How beautiful. It's a great shoe.

It looks like kind of like an Air Force One Nike, like mid-80s. It looks like a Nike knockoff, but they're cool as shit. Really? They're really cool. They say black Superman on them. Bitchin'. They're so cool. So get online, or we'll post it on our social media, but you want to see these black Superman

shoes, because I was like, I want a pair of black Superman shoes so much. They're like the original Joe Man's. Yeah, I want them so much. It's not even funny, but they look like basically kind of Air Force One. I'd rock them. Oh, I would rock the shit out of these shoes. They're so cool. They come in different colors. Amazing. They're dope. And we'll talk about them later on. Your birthday's coming up. Yeah, yeah. I love it. Somebody give me some

black Superman's. So anyway, he goes at 1988. He's worn out his welcome with the team he played for here, the CRISispa Redmanizers. Wears out his welcome there, and despite the fact that he's the MVP and everything, it's too much now. They're getting woken up at 3 in the morning having to pay for strip club damage. This is above and beyond. So he goes and plays for another PBA team, Philippine Basketball Association, the Genebra.

Just Genebra. I think it was a tequila brand over there, I believe. Anyway, he has a deal with management. He's playing for a team named after booze. I believe so. I believe this is the booze team. And he has a deal. How ironic is this?

He has a deal with management not to drink. Really? That's his deal. Yeah, that you won't drink. They figured it out. They figured it out. Look, you can't drink, but he does it anyway. He goes out just as much as before, sneaks past people, does his thing.

Through the first four games, he averages 31 points a game, but he's not the same guy that he was. No. He's overweight. He's drunk. He's a mess. Leo and the redhead are on the back of the ship at this point, and he's telling them, when we go under, just kick for the surface.

Kick for the surface. You take the boat. Don't stop kicking. On the fourth game after the fourth game, in the fourth game he was awful. He had a terrible game. He basically embarrassed himself. He was getting shots blocked by rookies. Oh no. He was probably hammered.

Rookie Filipinos. He was probably hammered. He was just out there too drunk to even compete. So he was cut the next day. Oh, my God. Yeah, now he's getting cut from the Philippines. Now he can't even stick with the Philippines. If you can't make it in the Filipino Basketball Association as a 6'4 NBA player, you've got problems now.

This is terrible. You have a lot of problems. So he's still in Manila. This is after he's cut. He's in the Philippines in Manila. He's out drinking when he calls a team manager from a loud disco at 2 a.m. to try to get on this team. This is his business call. Yo, man.

No. Yeah. Cherry pie's on in the background. Can I be on your team? The manager just hung up on him. That's the place he's in now. That's where he's at now. That's great.

I don't even talk to this guy. 2 a.m. 2 a.m. And he's calling Skid Row in the background. Yeah. Talking about give me a job are you shitting me which is the one thing they're like if we're gonna hire him he can't be out of the disco at two in the morning he's totally missed the whole thing early 90s he continues to play basketball professionally not in the philippines and

not anywhere good for basketball he plays in switzerland which isn't really known as a basketball hotbed no plays there for a bit. He goes to Mexico and eventually ends up playing in Uruguay. Yeah. That's awful. He gradually went down in shortest people, and he still can't beat them all. He still can't beat them all. But he does leave his mark in Switzerland. Oh, boy.

He definitely does, because after this, for the next 20 years, he will have several women claiming to be his daughters. Oh, no. From Switzerland calling for him. He left his mark. All right. He left his mark, all right. He left his mark, yes. It's the whitest country in the world, and there is one brown M&M in the snowball, I think. And they're like, no, he was the only black guy in Switzerland for that tall guy.

There's no another. Nobody else was there, I'm assuming. I don't know anything about Switzerland. Hey, everybody, just going to take a quick break from the show to tell you about our new sponsor, Hunt a Killer. The wait is over. So far you're not losing. The only thing

you're losing is my patience. Quickly, I see that. Ding! The queen of the courtroom is back. I didn't do anything. You wouldn't know the truth if it came up and slapped you in the face. I see he's not intimidated by anything. I can fix that.

New cases. She wanted to fight me. Leave her alone. Okay, so, um... This is not a so. This is a period. Classic Judy. Did you sleep with her? Yes, Your Honor.

You married his cousin. His brother. That's not him. Yes, ma'am. I would make a beeline for the door. The Emmy Award winning series returns. How did I know that? I have a crystal ball in my head.

It's an all new season. It's streaming. You can say anything. Judy Justice. Only on Freebie. So he's doing that. He's still with his, he's married at this point, too. He's fucking married this whole time.

The whole time. By the way, yeah, he got married back when he was in the NBA. And she hasn't cut him. She has not waved him yet. He's still there. And he's got two stepdaughters also that his wife has. Now, 1995 we get to. He's done playing pro ball.

He's living in New Jersey with his wife, Beverly, and her two daughters. He has a job where he glues leather handles onto briefcases for $7 an hour. Oh, God. In 1995. Yeah. That is not good. They're bobbing in the middle with everybody right now. He's throwing punches to stay afloat.

Here's my thing. I wonder if he's wearing a cape while he's doing it. Is he gluing it with his cape? Sitting in like an underground bunker with one lamp and he's just- Calls himself Super Glue. Yeah. I'm Black Super Glue. That's great.

So he quits his job before a piece was done on him, basically, he quits his job right before there was a piece in the paper. In the piece, it said that they went out in this article, the reporter took him out, and Billy showed him he can still dunk, and he ate an entire pizza. To show him he still had some prowess. That's impressive. I can still play. Watch me dunk. Now watch me eat this pizza. Okay?

I guess you can still play. I guess I could play in that league. I can me eat this pizza. Okay? I guess you can still play. I guess I can play in that league. I can eat a whole pizza. Yeah, what the hell? So January 1998, Billy has two jobs. He's starting to get it together. He just got a car, and his wife and him and daughters just moved into a condo. He's starting to do better.

I mean, he's working, and it's hard for him, but he's at least starting to be a productive member of society, starting to get it together. Now, this is in 1998. Billy decides to go to the store and play the lottery. He's bored. He's like, I'm going to go to the store and get a lotto ticket. Whatever, right? He claims, this is all him now, he goes to the gas station down the street and the lotto machine was down. So he went to the one across the street from that.

And that one was down too. The luck. The luck when you're trying to play the lotto. So rather than going home, Billy decides to walk to a friend's house instead of going home. But before he goes to the friend's house, you know, he was in there in the gas station.

The lotto machine wasn't broken or was broken. So what do you do? Might as well buy a pint of vodka, which he is sober at this point and shouldn't be doing that. He downs buy a pint of vodka. Yeah. Which he is sober at this point and shouldn't be doing that. He downs the entire pint of vodka. Because he's frustrated over the lotto. Yeah. And he thinks, too, he's a drinker.

And he thinks, I can drink a whole bottle of vodka. And if you haven't been drinking, you can't drink a whole bottle of vodka anymore and still have your wits about you. So he goes and hangs out with these two younger guys that he knows. So now he's an older guy hanging out with two 20-year-old kids. He is hammered on vodka. Yeah. I used to play for the Blazers. That's the connection there. Absolutely. So now he's an older guy hanging out with two 20-year-old kids. He is hammered on vodka. I used to play for the Blazers.

That's the connection there. Absolutely. I'm Black Superman, goddammit. Look at my shoes. He's still wearing them. You know he is. Your shoes got your name on them? Oh, yeah, you know it. So Billy and two younger men, these two guys, decide they want cocaine.

Oh, no. Bad sign. But guess what? They don't have any money. Because he just spent it all on vodka. Yeah, and so what do you do when you really want cocaine and you don't have any money? Well, there are ways to get it. There's ways.

You could get a job and then work on it for a couple of days. Yeah, but you have to glue handles to briefcases. And for so many hours to get that eight ball. Yeah, that's terrible. But what you can do, if it's January 17, 1995, you and your two accomplices can go hold up a New Jersey Texaco station. That's what you can do. That's not what you're supposed to do. That's not the right thing to do?

Oh, shit. Billy, God damn it. Billy has a knife, and he's hammered, and he slashes the clerk's ear with the knife. Oh, God. It's an 18-year-old kid named Philip Cattell. At some point during the robbery, he slashes him with the knife. This is not the most well planned crime. It's the Swiss Army.

We've had probably. That's the Phillips screwdriver. Hold on. He slashed him with the scissor. I don't even know what that is. Is that a corkscrew? It's fucking sharp. I better get you. The corkscrew is too small to get wine. Why? Why have

that? Hold still. I see two of you. His corkscrew is too small to get wine. Why? Why have that? So he's... Hold still, I see two of you. Unbelievable, man. We've had a lot of dumb crimes where we're like, obviously, you're going to get caught for that, dummy. We've had plenty of those. People with sexual assaults. That'd be so great.

I don't think of that. You're probably so drunk you're seeing two of me. He's like, I got a Swiss Army. There's one for all of you. I don't think he got the line right at all. I don't think he got the line right at all. No, I don't think so. That's hilarious.

Yeah, that's great. I'll squeeze you to death. I got this knife and there's two of you. What does that movie say? What's that movie with the guy? I got so many blades, I don't care how many of you. What does that movie say? What's that movie with the guy? I got so many blades, I don't care how many of you there are. Jim Morrison guy.

You know him. Never mind. No. The Jim Morrison guy. He's fat now. He's fat now. Super fat. He's so goose, I think.

This might be the dumbest. This might be the trail of dumb here of more than any ever. I can see him running down so many movies. The Val Kilmer was just trying to get the guy. With Marlon Brando, with the animals and the people. No. Shit.

Damn it. Oh, my God. So here's Batman. Here's Batman on Black Superman. In the 80s. The Indian guy. And you remember that? You see that one?

Nobody's going to find this funny. No, they're not, unless they know every Val Kellen movie ever made. And I'm dying laughing. Oh, that's so good. So back to this fucking idiot now. Like I said, we've had dumb crimes where they've led clear paths back to them. This might be the dumbestest because this is the least. All the other ones you're like, yeah, 98% chance he's going to get caught. But there's like 2% if somebody overlooked it or bad police work.

No way to not catch this guy. Number one, he's caught on video doing the whole thing. Number two, the knife falls out of his pocket as he's leaving. And number three, he's found very near the gas station in some bushes, drunk and passed out with $7 in his pocket as he's leaving. And number three, he's found very near the gas station, in some bushes, drunk and passed out, with $7 in his pocket. Oh, my God. How depressing.

That is as low. Remember we said- We are so far from grace. Remember fall from grace? Hear that? Splat. That is the bottom. That is the bottom of grace.

And there's only room for one person on the door. If he looked up, he couldn't even squint and see grace up there. That's how far away he is. So far away. Passed out by a Texaco with a knife falling out, caught on video, drunk, $7. And if that's what you've accomplished with this whole thing, not great. So we have an in their own words

on what the shit happened here. In their own words, quote, I was up under the influence, not under the influence of drugs, under the influence of alcohol. I made the wrong choice. I bought that drink. I let somebody put the wrong choice in my head. I let some young people talk me into doing that.

That devil was the drink and got me into that trouble. No, you got you into trouble. There's not the devil. You could have just not got your lottery ticket, bought a Kit Kat and gone home and everybody would have been fine. There was a lot of room left on that door, actually. Did you see Titanic at the end? She was all sprawled out like it's a king size bed on that fucking door while Leo's bobbing in the water.

So much room. That was his choice. Yeah, it was his choice. That was his choice. You're right. Same thing. And this is his choice, too. This is him bobbing in the water.

The second he passed out in the bushes, that was him just giving up and dropping down into the water. That was the one. Just drowning and sinking. That's it. Hyperthermia and he's done. It's all over. So he is, come 2000, he's in jail for a while because that happened in, you know, 90-whatever. And then in 2000, he is convicted of first-degree aggravated assault and second-degree assault.

Oh, my God. With the knife. With the knife. Oh, Jesus.. With the knife. With the knife. Yeah, this is terrible. He's sentenced to minimum of five years in prison, maximum 10 years. He begins serving in Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, New Jersey. So he's seen better times now. So, I mean, this has been a lot here.

Let's go over this whole thing now. So he gets out of the sharecropping. First of all, too, wouldn't you want to take care of your mother who's been sharecropping? So his mother's not getting taken care of. Who knows what's going on with the siblings, the brothers and sisters, the poor kid who popped the basketball. There's a lot of shit going on. He's ruined a couple of teams. He's taken them down.

He's dripped Jerry Curl juice all over the locker room, gotten it all over Magic Johnson's cleanly pressed uniform. There's some half-black girls in Switzerland that don't have a dad. There are tons of kids that don't have dads. He has destroyed strip clubs. He's picked up people's cars. He's driven Filipino people nuts, dunked on their heads. This story is amazing. I feel bad for all these people, Jimmy, but not.

Why is it we do this all the time? Why is it every time it fucking surprises me? Why am I like, oh my God. I disguise it. I know what I'm doing here. It's like giving a dog a pill. I put it in a little cheese and you never know. Got it in the peanut butter and I'm like, oh, look, it's a delicious piece of peanut butter.

I stick it in the Kraft single. You don't know what's going on. And all of a sudden I'm asleep. Not nearly as bad as I feel for Billy Bates, liquid filtration technical specialist at Cummins Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee. Shout out to Dan Cummins. That's his side company.

That's not. He is something. Billy Bates, retired United States Marine Corps executive vice president at Autonomous ID in Ottawa, Canada. He's a hero. Yeah. Billy Bates, director of projects gathering and compression. It's an oil thing at Williams Company in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Terrible. Billy Bates, associate vice president, JLL Commercial Real Estate in Toronto, Canada. Uh-huh. Billy Bates, nuclear security lead at Contellation Energy in Washington, D.C. All right. This dude has a picture of himself as his LinkedIn profile with himself laying on the ground behind a sniper rifle. Oh, my God.

That's his fucking LinkedIn profile. That's because he doesn't want to be confused with this asshole. You are a scary son of a bitch. Yeah. And then finally, Billy Ray Bates, who is listed as a catering supervisor at Pericose Food and Beverage in the Philippines. And we'll find out why. That is our Billy Ray Bates in a second here.

Oh, is it him? That's him. Oh, boy. He put that up a while ago, I feel like. We'll find out what happened here. Now, about the robbery, he's feeling bad. He's in jail. We have an in their own words on the robbery.

In their own words, quote, I apologize to the business and I apologize to the kid that was there. I didn't kill anybody. The guy got a nick on his ear and I got seven years. So I just try to keep it moving and hope that nobody brings that up anymore. That's a terrible way to phrase that. That's an awful way. Kid got a kid got a nick on his ear.

I guess seven years. Who's the one with the real bad luck? That kid thought you were going to fucking kill him. And not only that, he said, I'm just going to keep it moving and hope nobody brings that up no more. Well, guess what? We are going to keep talking about that one anymore. Guess what? That was Well, guess what? We are going to keep bringing it up. Hey, let's not talk about that one anymore. Guess what?

That was 17 years ago, that conviction. We're still bringing it up right now. We're still talking about it. March 2, thanks. Still. What kind of thing is that to say? Unbelievable. So March 2005, after serving four years, nine months, and 11 days, Billy is paroled.

We have an In Their Own Words about that here. We have In Their Own Words, quote, I know now that if I would have turned it around and went back home that day, my life would have been different. I would have landed a great job in the NBA. I would have landed a great coaching job somewhere. I could have been that great guy, but I always get labeled as a bad guy. Maybe not a bad guy, just a fuck up. They don't think you're a horrible person. They just think you're a don't think you're a horrible person.

They just think you're a complete fucking disaster. Bad guys get labeled bad guys. That's where I'm at. I mean. Yeah. Jerkoffs get labeled jerk-offs. I don't even want to judge his character, but he's just a complete pile of shit as far as being reliable.

You can't rely on this guy. So September 2006, Billy is taken into custody after he tests positive for cocaine, which is a violation of his parole. So he's learned nothing. Nothing. He said that, and then he's positive for cocaine, which is a violation of his parole. So he's learned nothing. Nothing. He said that, and then he's doing more cocaine. He's sent back to Bayside for 18 more months. Hope that shit was worth it.

Jesus. Wow. Finally, March 23, 2008, he's released from jail, but he also completes a stay in a mandatory rehab facility. He goes to AA. He was big in the church now. Yeah. He's worked for an aluminum shaper, readying products for shipping,

which sounds depressing as fuck. That's miserable. Also completes a rehab program at a Salvation Army center. There's some rehab program there. They're putting him back in the fold, trying to get him to be a human being here. 2008, he attends a back-to-work program in New York where they're trying to get him

skills. Tries to start a basketball clinic with former NBA player Earl Harrison. Oh, my God. He's in the job corps or some shit? Yeah, he's in that. And then he tries to start a basketball clinic because he's like, I don't want to shape aluminum for shipping anymore. God, this is depressing. Unreal. February 2009, he goes on a three-day NBA NFL speakers cruise to the Bahamas.

What? They take him to talk to people for a second. Make sure he doesn't rob them or take their cocaine or something. He works at a grocery store supply chain at this point. In the meantime, works as a floor technician for the Colgate Recycling Company from 630. He's working the 6 p.m. to 430 a.m. shift at a recycling company. And he used to be in the NBA. And he used to take home no less than four women a night. Right. to 4.30 a.m. shift at a recycling company. And he used to be in the NBA. And he used to take home no less than four women a night.

I remember that. That is fucking terrible. Yep. 2010, there's a big fluff piece on him because it's all turned around now. Of course, obviously. He hasn't been stuck back in prison for coke in at least three years. He's working the graveyard shift. Let's not say nice things. He says he doesn't drink anymore and how nice it is to be in control of his own

life again and everything's great and it's all turned around and god life is good praise jesus and all of that shit uh november 2011 billy goes to start putting on basketball camps for kids in the philippines okay so he's getting back into that because they're talking about it. Because he's a legend over there. So he's like the best import they've ever had. So there's starting to be more interest in him over there. October 2011, the month before, when he got to the Philippines, he went there to accept a Hall of Fame award from the Philippine Basketball Association.

They put him in the Philippines Hall of Fame. Averages 46 points a game. To his credit, the child camps that he's booking, I'm the Philippine Basketball Association. They put him in the Philippines Hall of Fame. Averages 46 points a game. To his credit, the child camps that he's booking, those kids don't know what he did. They don't know the shenanigans and hooliganery. Their parents take him there and say, that's black Superman. And they go, oh, shit. Great. Maybe he can teach me how to fly.

That's it right there. Yeah, he's hired by a Philippine team, the Philippine Patriots, in Manila as a skills coach. They'll teach these guys some stuff. You know what I mean? Grosby, who was the company who made the black Superman sneakers back in the day, decides to re-release the black Superman sneakers, which is awesome. This is 2011. This is great. More checks.

Yeah. They re-release it. They advance him. They give him a big advance for the black Superman shoes because they were huge sellers over there and expect them to be big. It's a big retro thing, too. Like people are, oh, those are those black Superman shoes. They're doing it now here, too, with the Penny Hardaways. Absolutely.

Every old Jordan, you can find them. Oh, they're the best. So by the new year, he's got a little money in his pocket. This was October. By the new year, he's messing up again. He's screwing up again. Team manager Eric Arajola said that he would not show up to practices, Billy Ray, and when he did, he'd be reeking of alcohol.

Oh, God. So this is what that's going on. The shoe advance is going to booze. Yeah. Billy was also, this is not okay as a coach, he's borrowing money from players on the team that he's the coach of and not paying them back. So it gets so bad, they go to management and they're like, hey, coach is borrowing our money and he's not giving us back.

Like, what do we do? So then they have to step in, obviously. So February 2012. Can you imagine if Danny Age is like a degenerate gambler, and he's just like, hey, yo, no. Yo, give me like 50. You got like 50 I can hold? Just let me hold it till tomorrow, because I got more coming in. Dan Marley's coaching a college team right now.

Lifting money off college now. I could see Ryan Leaf doing that when he was coaching. He was stealing pills from those guys. Episode 13, Godfather of NFL Draft busts Ryan Leaf. You should check that one out. He's a terrible man. He was awful. Billy, by the way, he's in February 2012. He's over there.

Things are starting to unravel a little bit. Still married to the same woman, mind you. She's a saint. The patience of a saint is little bit. Still married to the same woman, mind you. Gosh, she's a saint. The patience of a saint, if nothing else. She might have brain damage to stick around this long, but we're going to say a wonderful person. Right. Billy picks up a woman over in the Philippines and brings her back to the team-owned condo

that he stays in. They put him up in a nice condo over there. So they get up there, they start to get down to business. And Billy finds a dick. And not his own. And it's not his. He's like, wait, I got my dick. He is with a transsexual. Better known as, I guess, a ladyboy in those parts of the world. And that's not an insult.

That's what they would call him over there. They're very common. So they find a transsexual. And what I'm told is that those ladyboys look much better than the actual women. So he probably was like, yo, I found a good one. This one. So too good. If it's too good to be true, it is. There's too many dicks in the room. Too good to be true. There's probably

a dick. Can we just use that as a slogan? Can that be crime and sports motto? If it's too good to be true, it's probably a dick over there. So he freaks out. Oh, yeah. Yeah. So I would do. he causes a huge scene in the lobby freaking out throwing shit acting a fool and he could have just dismissed this quietly so the team didn't find out look no real quick if you're bringing a lady back to your room whether it's

a prostitute or a regular woman a regular woman a woman A woman that you're not paying to have sex with you. Let's say that. Here's the thing. If you are hiring a prostitute or a regular woman, whatever. Yeah, a regular woman. Or a woman. A woman you're not having to pay to have sex with. If you have to pay to have sex with her.

If you're buying anything, you want to know what the product is. And expect the unexpected. Right. No, not expect the unexpected no not expect the unexpected i've been to poncho's mexican restaurant and cocktail lounge and i got the unexpected so what do you want from me but if you're gonna hire her to to have sex with her you need to know that there's only two areas there's not the third yeah well he found you need to know that and if there is not that extra spot yeah i'm gonna lose lose my fucking mind. So he does.

Loses it in the locker or loses it in the lobby. Causes a big scene. In my opinion, this is the only time he's behaving the correct way. Well, at least the understandable way. But it's not the correct way because guess what? He's fired by the team the next day for making it. This is their team-owned condo. They find out about this.

You should have just brought her out the back door or whatever. That's all that was there anyway. Yes, exactly. So we have an in their own words on the firing here. Billy is a talker. We'll say that. And I love that about him. In their own words, quote, I would like to apologize to my wife, my family, and to the sports world, and most of all to my fans.

My conduct that night was inappropriate. I wasn't in my clear mind. It's something that has happened, and there's nothing I can do about it. I am a very professional person, so I don't have any disciplinary problems. Somebody's glaringly absent from that apology. Somebody is glaringly absent. What about the dude that you beat up? He didn't beat him up.

He didn't beat the girl. He didn't beat the person up. He just caused a scene. He just caused a scene. But this is, he said, I don't have a discipline. I don't have any disciplinary problems was the last word of that. He just said, I did all this, but that doesn't mean I did it. That's what he said. I don't have any disciplinary problems.

Okay. So, holy shit. Now he's sitting over there. Yeah. Now he's like in the Philippines. He has no job, but he's stuck there he can't stay in the team condo anymore he's what do you do what do you do you'll wander the streets i don't know you wander the streets you're looking for some food nothing seems familiar because you're in

the philippines you don't know much about it and then you pass a shop and you're like that smells good what is that lamb and you open the door and it's the shawarma man. And he says, How is it you've come to arrive here? Why are you here? Philippine signs say close. Talk country. Why you come here? You come here, you find, what? You think that was woman?

You think that was woman? Really? You think, oh, very pretty. She must want to have sex with me. No, of course not. You old man. You go home. You go. No. The boobs look like she have huge rack of lamb in her pants. Huge rack of big shawarma.

I carve with knife. That's how big. I make for you. I make for you. Come on. I make for you. Then sign say closed. You go. You go. Back home. What's this say? Give me sneaker. I like those shoes. What does this say in Portuguese? What's closed in Portuguese? Sanse Abierto.

Isn't that Spanish? Something like that. I think that says open. Never mind. Yeah. So he's still in the country in September of 2012. He's still just hanging around. Just wandering.

He's drunk in the streets one night, September 24th. He's drunk in the streets near a farmer's market after midnight when he started throwing good-sized rocks, pretty good-sized rocks at a limousine. He's throwing rocks at cars now like a maniac. He's just jealous. Yeah. This limo is owned by a guy named Carlos Vincente. He breaks the guy's windshield with these rocks and then just takes off when police try to arrest him.

He runs away, but they end up finding him at like 6 a.m. wandering around. The cape gave it away. Yeah, the giant afro, the cape, Jerry Curljuice dripping into his eyes. Things happen. Bates claimed that Vincente stole his money and passport in a holdup. Limo driver's going around stealing people's shit in a holdup, although he still had his money and his passport on him. Wow.

So, guy didn't steal it from him. No. Do you not think the cops are going to look for that? Yeah. Like, they go, well, why do you have your passport in your pocket then, jackass? So, Billy's arrested for that? Yeah. Like they go, well, why do you have your passport in your pocket then, jackass? So Billy's arrested for that, obviously. The team manager, again, of the team he was with over there, to begin with, Eric Arajola, said of the incident, quote, we're sincere to try to help him, but he's misbehaving of

late and we have no choice but to sever the ties with him. It's like we tried. We kept him around. This is after they fired him. They still kept him around. There are disciplinary problems. Yeah. Vincente agrees not to press charges if the damages to his car are paid off, which is

nice of him. Down December 2012, he is still in the goddamn Philippines. Really? Still in the Philippines. He appears on a TV5, which is a station over there, a show called Will Time Big Time, which basically is a show where people who have financial problems go on and beg a rich guy. It's like Shark Tank without the idea. You just go on there and go, I need money.

Why? Because I got shit. I'm fucked up. I got bills. My knee hurts. I got disciplinary problems. I don't have any disciplinary problems. So that's what this is.

People go beg for money who are hard up, and people get entertainment out of that, like watching people beg. I would. That's a great fucking plan. That's an interesting premise. He says that he needs hip surgery and he's got to get back to California with his family and he just needs to get out of there and he doesn't have money for a plane fare, the whole deal, right?

And he came to Philippines to run basketball camps and he wanted to give back to the kids and he's running into problems. So January 13th, 2013, the PBA decides to give Bates a plane ticket home. Just get him the fuck out. Get the fuck out of our country. Stop. We brought you over here to put you in the hall. It's our fault you're here. We want you gone. You're embarrassing us. Rosalie Montreal, which is a

great name. That's fantastic. A league rep for them said, quote, we are doing this for humanitarian reasons and it's the only way we can get this guy to fucking leave. This is like there's a party going on and everybody else is gone and you're like sweeping up and he's just on the couch pouring himself another drink. It's like, should we call? I'll call the Uber and just pay for it.

I don't give a shit. Get him out of here. He's got to go. Fuck. So Bates complains that the money that he got from the TV show wasn't enough. He says. You've got to be kidding me. They gave him money and they gave him a plane ticket and he said, that's not enough money.

I need pocket money, is what he said. And I need to pay for my hotel that I've been staying in and not paying. It's a long flight back to the U.S. I got to pay. I got to get the salmon on the flight. Yeah, I got, you know, I need it. So he's asking for pocket money. So he's being, he is escorted to the plane by immigration officials.

Awesome. He has the balls to try to borrow money from immigration officials as they're kicking him out of the country, putting him on a plane. The last people he's going to talk to in the country. Let me hold 50. And he's going to beg from them. Wow. Terrific. Can I wash your windshield, fellas?

Unbelievable. So he eventually gets out of there. He goes to Anaheim, California, where he's now living in an apartment that the Illumination Foundation, which is a nonprofit. They find housing for people who need housing, basically. For homeless people. Yeah, kind of. They provide an apartment for him. He did have a recent hip surgery. So he's got that going on.

How the hell did he pay for that? I think probably that might have been one of the leads. I don't know. Or maybe a donor. I don't know what happened there, but he got the hip surgery. Or it might have been, you know, Medicaid. I don't know. That's possible. Obamacare or some shit. That's free.

Well, no, that was during it. So yeah, maybe. I don't know. That's expensive. I don't know what it is, but Bates is trying to do the simple things like hold a job in a car. Basically, that's all he's trying to do. He said he'd like to go back to his school and get his degree. Oh, my God. For what?

Why? He says that he's working on his autobiography, Born to Play Basketball. No need. No need. We got it. It's right here. It's good. All done.

He claims if the robbery didn't happen, he could have been an NBA coach, which nobody was looking for him there. He was gluing handles on a briefcase for $7 an hour. NBA was not banging his door down. Now, we have an in their own words on his whole life and situation. This is what makes him proudest. Yeah. And this sums everything up right here. In their own words, quote, you know what I would say?

That for all I've been through, I haven't changed. Didn't matter if I was drinking champagne in a limo or not know where I was going to live. I've stayed true to how I was raised. Oh, my God. That's not good. No, that's not a compliment. I've continuously fucked up at the most consistent rate possible for my entire life.

That's what I'm proud of. Don't get that tattooed. I never change, even no matter how much I need to. life. That's what I'm proud of. Don't get that tattooed. I never change, even no matter how much I need to. Now we have what I feel is the best quote I've read, and I read a million quotes about this guy.

A million of them you haven't even heard in this thing. Tons of articles. The best quote I heard is from an ex-teammate named Rich Barrett, and it sums it all up perfectly and wraps a little bow on it. I love it. He said, quote, Billy Ray lived for the moment. Who knows what could have been if he had looked beyond the moment

and thought about tomorrow. Like that is exactly, you nailed it, encapsulated the whole thing. Now, if you want Billy, if you need Billy, you can get you some Billy right now. Minus a cut ear, you can get Billy. You can get him. You go to Athletespeakers.com to book Billy for, quote, corporate appearances, speaking engagements,

autograph signings, endorsements, VIP meet and greets, and store grand openings. What does it cost? Not Texaco's. It says, not even to write on there, it says call for booking fee. Really? Travel is available on request. So no matter where you are, if you have the money, Billy Ray will fucking come to you. And that, you know, it's an insulting amount of money when he says call for pricing.

Call for pricing. We don't want to tell everybody. You know, it's ridiculous. You don't want people to go, what the fuck? Are you shitting me? Now, if you want more Billy memorabilia, you can get on eBay a signed Billy Ray Nike poster. It's him on the Blazers dunking. It's a really cool poster.

It's signed. It's $275. My God. Or best offer. I don't know. You could get him for 50 cents. He could sign it. That is way too much.

I think it's the poster. It's a rare poster is what it is, not the autograph. But there are 12 people watching this on eBay currently. So people are interested in this. Also, too, on eBay, this is cool as shit, and I want to buy it, but I'm looking at this. It's awesome. It's a 1980, 1981 Portland media guide with Billy Ray dunking on the cover. It's super awesome.

It's $14.99 or best offer. There you go. So if you want Billy, go get that. That's a cheaper alternative for Billy. He's out there, guys. He's out there. You never know. He could be impregnating someone.

Speaking at your next corporate engagement. You could look up and it's Billy Ray and you'll go, holy shit, Jesus Christ. Dude, I heard a podcast about you. This is amazing. Oh, my God. Are those black Superman shoes? Hilarious. Where's your cape, bro?

Oh, God. Put it on. That's what would be my requirement. You have to wear a cape. Yes. And I want jerry curls, and a headband. And a headband. No headband.

Drip it in your eyes. It needs to be tied, though. You don't get one of the- Yeah, Rambo style. You don't get these fucking Carmelo Anthony ones. No, no, no. None of this free-made night bullshit. I want you cutting up a collared shirt to make it.

So that's Billy Ray Bates. Wow. Holy shit, what a story. That is so depressing. Completely different than last week is what we had to do. So far off. It's a 180 from last Wow. Holy shit, what a story. That is so depressing. Completely different than last week is what we had to do. So far off. It's a 180 from last week. Holy shit.

Absolute 180. I mean, there's still children out there that are abandoned. True, true. But none of them are dead. Right. None of them are in a trash can somewhere. None of them are buried at an Olympic site. They get to live in Switzerland.

That's good. Unbelievable, man. That's Billy Ray Bates. Hope you guys enjoyed Billy Ray Bates. If you did, you know what you can do to tell us about it? You can get on iTunes. You can. You can give us five stars. That'd be helpful. Tell us you're following instructions, following directions. Please do that.

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