Basketbawful

Monday, September 18, 2006

The guys over at Flumesday compiled a list of the Top 10 Dirtest Names in Sports. And since I still laugh whenever I see a midget or somebody farts, each and every one of these names amused me. I mean, come on...Dick Butkus, Johnny Dickshot, Dick Trickle...if you don't at least giggle at those names, then I'm sorry to inform you that you're legally dead.

Anyway, the Number 1 dirtiest name ever belongs to former NBA player Chubby Cox:

"And the #1 Dirtiest Name in Sport is Chubby Cox. Born John Arthur Cox III, Chubby was a standout at the University of San Francisco in the '70s and was drafted by the Bulls in 1978. Cox only played in 7 NBA games, for the Philadelphia Kings in 1983. Chubby couldn't cut it on the professional level and spent his post-playing years teaching and coaching youths in the San Francisco area. But what matters most about him is that his name is Chubby Cox."

I hate to break it to the guys over at Flumesday, but Chubby played for the Washington Bullets, not the "Philadelphia Kings." Oh well. As they so rightly point out, the most important "fact" is that his name was Chubby Cox.

C'mon. Nobody saw this coming?
The Kobe Bryant Connection: According to Wikipedia, "through his sister Pam, Cox is the brother-in-law of former NBA player Joe Bryant; and the uncle of current Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant." That's right. Chubby Cox, the man with the dirtiest name in sports history, is the Kobe's uncle. And since all 5,000 jokes I could make about that are too easy, I'll move on.

Chubby's son, John Cox IV, grew up playing pickup ball against Kobe, and he once noted that he's "more impressive in one-on-one games" than Bryant. Of course, he never actually beat Kobe (although he once lost by only 12-10), sucked in college (averaging 3.5 PPG for the University of San Francisco), and never made it to the NBA. But his dad's name is Chubby. He'll always have that.

Update: We received a comment from Chuck Miller, who runs The CBA Museum. He was kind enough to clear up the confusion concerning Chubby's time with the Philadelphia Kings:

"Chubby Cox did indeed play for the Philadelphia Kings -- it was in his third season as a member of the Continental Basketball Association, where the Kings were a franchise in the 1980-81 season. Cox also played for the Wilkes-Barre Barons (1978-79) and the Pennsylvania Barons (1979-80). In three seasons in the CBA, the 6'3" guard from USF averaged 21.8 ppg and 3.8 rpg. He also played in the postseason for each those three seasons."

So the Flumesday people mixed up Chubby's time with the Kings and his actual 7-game career in the NBA, which was, in fact, with the Washington Bullets. Now that that's cleared up...have we mentioned his name was Chubby Cox?

4 Comments:

Anonymous said...

Chubby Cox did indeed play for the Philadelphia Kings - it was in his third season as a member of the Continental Basketball Association, where the Kings were a franchise in the 1980-81 season. Cox also played for the Wilkes-Barre Barons (1978-79) and the Pennsylvania Barons (1979-80). In three seasons in the CBA, the 6'3" guard from USF averaged 21.8 ppg and 3.8 rpg. He also played in the postseason for each those three seasons.

9/18/2006 3:28 PM

Basketbawful said...

You're right, Chuck. But what I meant was the Flumesday guys got it wrong by saying that "Cox only played in 7 NBA games, for the Philadelphia Kings in 1983." Obviously the writers got his CBA and NBA careers messed up. I probably should have cleared that up.

9/18/2006 3:51 PM

Anonymous said...

I'm not one to usually post a comment about Chubby Cox, but I have to know: Why did they call him Chubby? He looks prety skinny on his trading card. Also, did his son earn the nickname "Sucks Cox?"

9/21/2006 2:01 AM

Anonymous said...

Chubby was a fat baby. That is how he earned the nickname.

10/02/2006 10:26 AM