Barry Tompkins

Sausalito

Sports Broadcaster at Marin Independent Journal

Boxing play by play commentator for @SHOsports. 35 years play by play commentator Pac12, Mountain West, WCC football & basketball.

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Articles

Barry Tompkins: Stephen Curry and the Gamekeepers

1 week ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

Isn’t it odd that somehow by losing to the Los Angeles Clippers in the home finale on Sunday, the Golden State Warriors might have put their team in a better position to keep themselves vital in the NBA playoffs? The NBA is 100 percent a league of matchups. And frankly, there are a number of teams that could lie ahead for the Dubs that they simply don’t match up with. The Houston Rockets, however, are not one of them.
Barry Tompkins: Love and hate in the Peach State

2 weeks ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

I am of the same belief as the long ago comedian Groucho Marx, who said, “I’d never want to join a club that would have me as a member.”For that reason I’m very happy that Augusta National either never sent me an invitation to join, or it was tragically lost in the mail. I’m quite sure it was the latter. Mind you, when it came to a pecking order for membership in one of the world’s most exclusive golf clubs I was on the list somewhere behind Ted Bundy and Charles Manson.
Barry Tompkins: Torpedo bats and the Giants both off to strong starts

3 weeks ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

Just when you thought the game of baseball was headed back to it’s rich cultural roots — like sunflower seed spitting, body part scratching, and game plans not printed on a spread sheet, along comes another propeller head with another computer print out that, mercifully, no one had ever before considered. This one has to do with the sports’ primary weapon of mass destruction, the bat.
Barry Tompkins: The sad, untimely death of Cinderella

4 weeks ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

The sports world this week mourns the tragic death of Cinderella. The cause of death was bludgeoning by her ugly stepsister NIL. She was last seen publicly in 2022 in the NCAA College Basketball Championships in her incarnation as the St. Peter’s Peacocks. Until her untimely death this year Cinderella would often appear during March Madness. In 2018 she showed up in the form of Loyola Chicago.
Barry Tompkins: You’ve got to like the odds

1 month ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

I’m hoping to not be embarrassed again this year. It’s now been four seasons in a row where I have finished second to my dog on my March Madness brackets. This year I’m even more concerned than in previous seasons. We have a new dog and she is way smarter than her predecessor. Rosie, my previous opponent, wasn’t really a fan. I’d present her with two pieces of paper for each game, and the one she tripped over is the one I interpreted as her choice. Dottie, her successor, is formidable.
The purge, and what comes next

1 month ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

Football is a brutal sport. It breaks records, it breaks bones, it breaks traditions, and every year, it breaks hearts. In the end, there’s only one team getting confetti poured on it. Only one team that wins the last game. Only one world champion. There’s a parade through the streets. Hundreds of thousands of people who just want to be a small part of it. Then it’s over. And the overriding theme when the last champagne cork has popped is, “now go out there and do it again.”And if you don’t?
Barry Tompkins: Curry’s joy puts him in elite company

1 month ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

I think I’ve mentioned this before in this weekly yarn, but all the reasons that one might have for getting into the business of covering sports for gainful employment are completely stripped from your soul the minute you no longer cover the “home team.”I get asked often, “Who’s your favorite team? Who do you root for?” And, the sad truth is I don’t have one and I don’t root. That joy of fandom is promptly beaten out of you the first time you do a game outside of a local broadcast.
The mystery of locker room culture

1 month ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

Good morning class. I wanted to talk to you today about culture. Not that I profess to have any mind you. The only culture in my house growing up was that in yogurt. But over the years I’ve somehow managed to learn how to sip tea, not nod off at the symphony, and not eat pasta with my hands. The culture I wanted to chat with you about today is of a different sort. It’s locker room culture. And it’s a lot harder to master than sticking out your pinkie while swilling a cup of tea.
Giants have better vibes heading into Spring Training

2 months ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

The San Francisco Giants are tied for first place and all is well. Of course it is. Not a pitch has yet been thrown in anger, nor a ball struck with such ferocity that it brought the crowd to its feet. There have been no disputed calls, no bats flipped, and no questioning of a single decision the manager made. It’s before serious sets in. Everyone’s in the same uniform. Most are just trying to get noticed.
Barry Tompkins: I predict … no more predictions

2 months ago | marinij.com | Barry Tompkins

I am humiliated. A Philly Cheese Steak beat out barbecue. A coach who looks like he’s just eaten a bowl of haggis beats a coach who loves him some chicken nuggets. The quarterback who has made a career of pulling rabbits out of hats is suddenly served up on a platter to a group of voracious Elmer Fudd’s. Taylor Swift was last seen leaving New Orleans in the talons of the Eagles mascot. For the first time in the history of the City, Philly fans had nothing to boo about.