“Hey, I can outrun Dick Bavetta right now,” Charles Barkley told Marv Albert during an early season TNT broadcast.
“I believe Dick would beat you in a footrace,” Marv Albert countered.
“I can outrun Dick Bavetta right now, Marv.”
And that's how it all began.
By the 2007 NBA All-Star break had arrived, the stage had been set. Wedged between the Skills Competition and the 3-Point Shootout, 43-year-old NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley faced 67-year-old NBA referee Dick Bavetta in a footrace. In the end, a hot dogging Barkley won by a hair, two blackjack hands (aka $50,000) was donated to the Boys & Girls club, and Barkley & Bavetta shared a kiss that's left basketball fans flummoxed for over a decade.
For what it's worth, Complex.com published a story on the Barkley-Bavetta showdown in 2017 and provided TNT host Ernie Johnson's take on the kiss itself:
"Here’s the deal. If you know Dick Bavetta at all, you’ve probably been kissed by Dick Bavetta. I’ve been kissed by Dick Bavetta. He’s that kind of a guy. He comes up to you after he hasn’t seen you for a while and he gives you a kiss. No, that doesn't surprise me at all."
Complex's Story on Barkley-Bavetta: www.complex.com/sports/2017/0...