For Greens, trash talk runs in the family
Draymond Green never had a choice when it comes to talking trash on the basketball court. It’s in his DNA.
What else would you expect from a player whose own mother was nicknamed “the Heckler”?
“Everyone wonders why I talk junk, but I was doomed from the beginning,” the Warriors forward said. “Now you see what I’ve dealt with my entire life.”
He was referring to his mother, Mary Babers- Green, who is gaining fame for her Twitter feed. She has been livetweeting the Warriors playoff games, punctuating her commentary with the kind of banter Green grew up hearing.
“This Darn game is breaking me out in HIVES… elevated BP. #comeonFellows # Roaracle # sendthembirdsAgawking.”
“Come on Dubs… go to HOLE AND DRAW SOME FOULS! I DON’T WANT TO HEAR Barkley’s MOUTH!”
“I love it,” Babers- Green said by phone from her home in Saginaw, Mich. “It gives me a way to express myself. I’m not there, so I’m just saying the things I’d say if I was.”
Babers- Green, 47, isn’t watching her younger son play basketball because she has to be at work every day, as a campus supervisor at a middle school in Saginaw.
“I’m like the police,” she said. “It’s a tough job. It’s the inner city.”
Keeping discipline
Babers- Green was occasionally like the police with Green when he was growing up in Saginaw. She was married to Green’s stepfather until Draymond was about 12: Draymond goes by his stepfather’s last name, not that of his biological father, Wallace Davis. After that she was a single mom, trying to keep her three children, Torrian, Draymond and LaToya, on the right path.
“They had curfew, stuff like that,” she said. “I was pretty strict at times.”
One of those times was when Draymond was caught cheating on a ninth- grade science test. His mother came down hard, taking away all his privileges, even dismantling his bed, enrolling him in summer school and refusing to let him go to a premiere basketball tournament. She relented finally on the latter, but the point was made.
“I had to stick to my guns,” she said. “If he struggled, it would come back on me. School was more important than basketball. No one wants to deal with a dumb athlete. He was big, black and a man. That’s three strikes against him.”
Green succeeded in high school. He succeeded in four years at Michigan State. Now he’s succeeding in the NBA, beyond all expectations.
And part of his success is based on his trash talk. Really. Just ask his coach.
“Draymond needs to talk s—,” Kerr said. “So I let him talk s—.”
Green is confident, tough and doesn’t back down.
“I think it has everything to do with his success,” Babers- Green said. “I didn’t let him or his brother have idols. I didn’t let him pretend to be Michael Jordan or Magic. I always told him, ‘ You’re Draymond Green.’ ”
A way of life
Babers- Green explains that trash- talking is just a way of life in Saginaw, where she is from and where she raised her family.
“It’s a little city where there’s not a lot of positive going on, so we just try to have fun,” she said.
When her kids were young, she would tease them if they cried, or acted too important. She became a legend in the stands, first rooting on her sister Annette Babers, a standout player in high school and at Michigan State, and then her children. Her banter aggravated opponents.
“One of Draymond’s coaches called me ‘ the Heckler,’ ” she said. “It was just me being me.”
And now Babers- Green is just being herself on Twitter, @ babers_ mary. She has added over 1,000 followers this week to an account she’s had since January. Draymond shut her first one down.
“Now I’m more conscious of what I say,” she said. “I don’t want to rub anyone the wrong way.”
She’s made some news, like when she reacted to a reporter leaving Green off his All- Defense team: “Tell him to jump in the Lake w/ weights.” She has had to go back and delete some tweets. She has also been misconstrued, and felt the need to apologize after Monday’s Game 2, tweeting:
“For any comments that I have made that may have hurt anyone.. trust me it was not intentional. I am a joker and just love to make ppl laugh.”
She said that some took offense to when she called her workplace “Baby Iraq.” She even received objections to her tweet about Green’s free throws: “Come on Dray.. free govt cheese! EATT! It’s FREE!”
“People said it was racist,” she said. “But all the guys say that.”
The fun in yapping
Like her son, Babers- Green sees the fun in yapping. She wasn’t always like that. She took a bad attitude on to the court in her own basketball career, once hitting her coach in the head with a ball.
“I was the best damn player that never was,” she said. “I wanted to teach my kids a different way of going about it.”
Green learned to talk junk early. One of his teachers was his aunt Annette, who liked to point out that she had been a star at Michigan State, while she was pregnant. But he says his mother is probably the best in the family at trash- talking.
“She incredible,” Green said. “I tone it down some for her. If I didn’t censor her, you would all be in here saying, ‘ Your mom is out of control.’ ”
After Game 2, Babers- Green texted her son: “Way to get it done. I had fun on twitter tonight. Nothing crazy. #I’mfamous.”
He stayed up until 4 in the morning, checking her feed.
Babers- Green expects to come out for a playoff game soon. Until then, she’ll be participating on Twitter.
“She is,” said her son, shaking his head, “something special. She keeps me laughing.”