Erin Barry Who?

Erin Barry isn’t from Texas, but apparently knows how to do the Texas Two-step with someone else’s husband.  Last month if you would have asked a Spurs Fan in San Antonio, Texas, “Who is Erin Barry”, you would probably get a response of, “Erin who?”   Even though Erin was the wife of one time Spurs player, Brent Barry, she wasn’t very well- known or recognized in San Antonio.

Today, it’s a different story.  When you ask Spurs Fans about Erin Barry you will have instant recognition of the name.  If you Google Erin Barry on a computer, all you have to do is to enter the letters ER and hundreds of news stories, videos and photos instantly populate the computer screen.
Before the Spurs game with the Chicago Bulls, you could hear the Erin buzz among fans coming into the AT&T Center worried about how all this might impact Tony Parker’s playing and the game.  With the Spurs defeating of the Bulls, 103-94, and Tony Parker’s performance of 21 points and seven assists there was less of an Erin buzz after the game.
After the game with the Bulls I showed several fans at a local pub a photo of Erin and asked them to identify the person in the photo.  Out of ten fans, only two were able to identify the photo as Erin Barry.  Other responses ranged from, “someone on Dancing with the Stars” to “I don’t know.”

It’s a sure bet that if you showed Spurs fans a photo of Eva Longoria, you would get instant recognition by everyone asked.  Eva is a Texas girl, born and raised in nearby Corpus Christi on the Texas coast. When she married Tony Parker in 2007, in what could be described as a storybook wedding at the Saint-Germain L’Auxerrois Church in Pairs, she won the hearts and minds of all Spurs fans, even those who had never watched Desperate Housewives on T.V.

But basketball fans are capricious at best.  If the Spurs hit a losing streak, as surely they will, you can bet that Erin Barry will get some, if not all, of the blame.