Friday, December 18, 2009

By Rich Barton
NJS.com Staff Writer

Richie Ballgame was beat up again in the Barton Challenge by Dumont's Lady Huskies, who obviously had the strength and stamina advantage.

DUMONT -- As I have for the past several seasons, I brought my short shorts, my old school sneakers, and my C+ game to Dumont High School to challenge three different Lady Husky players in three separate challenges. Once again, I was shown that my athletic days are well in the rear-view mirror.

First was a foul-shooting competition against senior Jaclyn McClinton. Despite my incessant trash-talking, it wasn’t much of a competition. McClinton hit 9 of 10 from the charity stripe to win easily and make history in the process. McClinton also beat me in a three-point shootout two years ago and became the first two-time winner of the Barton Challenge other than Richie Ballgame himself.

“I would use the term ‘challenge’ loosely,” said McClinton. “Rich Barton is the only guy I’ve ever seen who was out of breath after a free-throw shooting contest.”

Next up was the three-point shootout against Katherine Rosa, and she wanted Richie Awesome to shoot first. The challenge was taking three shots from five different spots behind the three-point line. I got off to a torrid start by hitting my first three shots, only to fade fast. I finished 8 of 15, which I felt pretty confident about. But Katherine Rosa stepped up and shot a blistering 10 of 15 to send ‘Sunshine’ Richie B to his second defeat in less than 15 minutes.

Richie Awesome looked awesome in tight shorts, old Air Jordans and argile socks.

Going into the final challenge, I had to save face. I was matched up in a one-on-one showdown with Desiree Rosa and I had only one thing on my mind...revenge. There was a little history to this game as Desiree’s older sister, Jasmine, twice beat me in one-on-one games. The latter of which was extremely embarrassing as, after making a reverse layup, I was talking trash to her and my knee buckled. The end result was a torn MCL and being constantly made fun of (and rightfully so) by everyone I know.

This one was as close as the score indicated. I was on my game and had the crowd (the Dumont boys’ basketball team) behind me. Rosa missed her first shot and Richie Awesome put on a show. The highlight being some trickery that can’t even be explained properly on here, you’ll have to ask me yourself when you see me . Let’s just say it sent the crowd went wild and fueled me to a 5-0 shutout.

“What can I say? The law of averages says I can’t lose in every single challenge,” said an incredibly exhausted Barton. “By the way, how many Rosa sisters are there? They all hustle like crazy, which is completely the opposite of the way I play. I just hope I earned some respect and I’m happy I didn’t throw up my mouth this year.”

Hopefully, there will be more Barton Challenges at the end of the season. All I can say is look out because the Richie Awesome train is rolling through.

“I have to be honest, this is by far the best Barton has looked in the years he has done the challenge here,” said Dumont head coach Dave Cieplicki. “That said, he still lost two challenges and his clothes are way too tight.”

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