IFWT_DorisBurke

Doris Burke has been around the game of basketball for a very long time and she loves every second of it. As you might expect when you’re around the game that long, you will have plenty of wisdom to share as well as personal stories from over the years. In a recent Q&A with New York Magazine, she reveals how hard it’s been at times being a woman in a field dominated by men and has a couple interesting stories for us.

@IamJoeSports

Anyone who is a real NBA fan knows that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is one of the best to ever do it but you also know he is just as famous for his in game interviews. No coach wants to be asked questions during the game yet the cable networks that air them insist this continues to happen. So coach Pop has decided to pretty much own any in game interviews by answering the way he wants, regardless of who is asking the questions. One time it was Burke who had to ask him some questions during the game and all he would keep saying over and over is “turnovers”. She said the interaction “had her choking back tears” because she felt she wasn’t being taken serious.

I’ve been expressing my vulnerability because it’s the truth. I was literally on the verge of tears. And my take on that Popovich situation has changed. We all used to give him a pass because he would say to us privately, “Well, I just can’t help myself. I’m in the game, and this is my job.” But I don’t give him a pass anymore. It now frustrates me to the point where I want to say, “I’m not giving you a pass because I’ve seen you when Jeff Van Gundy walks over there, and the interaction is totally different.”

On a better note, she dropped a great story involving Drake that happened during this years Eastern conference finals in Toronto.

Can I tell you something about the last time I was there? I just could not believe this happened. Drake turned around — my seat at game six was right behind him — makes a heart shape [with his hands], and points at me. I’m looking around behind me to see who’s there, turn back to him, and then he points and he does it again. I texted my daughter and said, “You need to know Drake just did this to me.”

Doris is great at her job and she dropped some more jewels in the full length story which you can read here.