Re: Does he have a tattoo? (fwd)

[davide <david.moskowitz@yale.edu>]

sorry Paul, you'll get this twice (accidentally didn't reply to all)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 1998 22:57:24 -0500 (EST)
From: davide <djm43@pantheon.yale.edu>
To: damekmo@teleport.com
Subject: Re: Does he have a tattoo?

Thank you, Paul for more clearly demostrating my point.  I am 20 and
therefore perhaps suffer from the exact opposite of the notstalgic
impulses of some of my elders on this list.  I have played organized
basketball, however, and also went to school four blocks from Antoine's
school in Chicago, so (with those authorial claims!) let me add a point or
two.  As Paul stated, talking is part of Antoine's game; he's been doing
it (at least) since high school.  The Mt. Carmel team he played on (which
also had Syracuse QB and future NFL star Donovan McNabb, by the way) was a
high-flying, showboating, fancy-play (esp alley-oops) making team.  They
yapped a whole lot, but they also won three league titles, I believe.  My
coach in high school was a lot stricter than Coach Curta, and if he saw us
jawing in a game, he would usually sit us.  We also won our league title
(albeit in a much less competitive conference!).  I don't think the
trash-talking (or lack thereof) had anything to do with either team's
success.  Don and Toine (as many knew them) talked becuase that's the way
they played the game, and it made them feel comfortable.  We didn't, cuz
that's the way we played the game.  Walker's talking is almost certainly
not holding him back from becoming an elite player in the league.  It may
on occasion fire up his opponent, but my guess is it fires him up more
frequently.  I am inclined to believe that Wallace fouled Walker b/c he
thought they were down one, but if Wallace's story is true, then Toine's
constant jawing allowed the Celtics to much more easily win the game
(after all, making 1 of 2 free throws is easier than making a basket out
of the half-court set for any team that shoots under 48% or so - gotta
discount transition baskets).  
I am also inclined to believe an earlier account of Antoine's scorer's
table jump: he was happy - about winning a close game, about not choking
and missing both throws, and about Stoudamire's miss.  Dancing and
jiggling to the crowd harly seems like classless taunting; more likely, it
was part of the jubilation that every athelete plays for, and that which
makes up for the proverbial agony of defeat (sorry for the cliches).
A professional athlete must strive for consistency, but eliminating the
expression of joy from winning takes away what sports are all about.  NBA
players are so handsomely (yet still under-) payed because so many fans
wish to vicariously partake in their uncertain fates, and especially their
victories.  Let's not blame Walker for expressing what many Celtics fans
were feeling at that moment.
peace,
davide 

On Tue, 3 Mar 1998 damekmo@teleport.com wrote> 
> Cecil:
> 
> A couple thoughts.
> 
> I'm 41. You're not an old fogie. I'm also going to guess you aren't a
> Puritan. Sometimes I'm a little sarcastic. Sorry. I think these discussions
> about trash talking tend to be more about nostalgia, aesthetics, and
> morality than about basketball. Let me address your question about
> strategy. Wallace's foul was the stupidest thing I've ever seen on a
> basketball court. Perhaps, just perhaps, it wasn't enough for Rasheed that
> the game was on its way to overtime. He wanted to humiliate Walker for all
> the trash he'd given out during the game. So...he fouled him convinced that
> Walker would choke. His head was more into punishing Walker, making Walker
> look bad, than winning the game. Somebody needs to tell Rasheed that the
> trash talking is no big thing. Don't get caught up in it. He screwed
> up...not Walker. Gary Payton trash talked his way through college and
> hasn't stopped. He faced the same criticism from the fans and press. He
> said it was no big deal, it's the way he keeps his head in the game. He
> can't play if he's not talking. He needs to talk to play. It keeps him in a
> rhythm. It's a way of challenging himself...to back it up. It has nothing
> to do with disrespecting anyone. You call it disrespect. I call it having
> fun...being involved. It might signify nothing more than that. You choose
> to read something else into it. Walker is exuberant, expressive, emotional,
> volitile. It's his style. It doesn't mean he's cruel, nasty, disrespectful.
> It happens all the time on basketball courts all over America. He's from
> Chicago. The South Side, the West Side, the entire city is full of kids
> trash talking and having fun doing it. They do it, they walk away friends.
> "Next time..." Look, every time I hear Barkley complain about these kids
> coming into the game I just laugh. His time is done. The elders always say
> the same thing, "Our time was better...it had more integrity." Please. I'll
> stop now...I'm rambling. I'm going to go tell my kids to get rid of those
> piercings, stop listening to that devil's music, and get rid of those baggy
> pants before they head off for those Ivy league schools this fall. Know
> what I mean?
> 
> Paul M.
> 
>