|
|
Article: Turpin Plays Weighing Game;Facing Last Chance, Free Agent Means Business With Bullets
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 11, 1989
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
The story goes that two years and two days ago, when the
Cleveland Cavaliers traded Mel Turpin to the Utah Jazz, he told Salt
Lake City writers he weighed 265 pounds. The next day, when players
on the team got weighed, he was 282 pounds.
Reason?
"I like airplane food," he said.
So you may think it's funny that the Washington Bullets have
signed Turpin, a 6-foot-11 free agent center, and you may smirk at
the reported $180,000 he has been fined for being overweight during
his career.
Or you could have watched him sweat at the University of Maryland
this past summer, speed-walking, lifting weights and trying to shed
the jokes and the pounds that have burdened him since he was traded
from ...