Rhythm and Soul: NBA Life and Meaning Pt. Deux
2) Overcoming
Overcoming is a pretty interesting subject in and of itself. It has historically substantial and personal meanings to everyone. We all do it, right?
We overcome lethargy or laziness. We overcome oppression or unrighteous dominion. We overcome the world, we overcome the poverty of the past, or our childhood, we overcome the abuse of a parent or a system or a mean boss, etcetera and anon.
We, us humans, and even our pets, are resilient and we overcome. And, we love ourselves and each other for it. We are relentless and we win by working and overcoming.
Overcoming is largely begun and ended by the individual.
The NBA has shown this spirit and principle again and again in thousands of their athletes, coaches, trainers, commentators, and leaders, despite the underpinning team aspects of the sport of basketball.
It is the young boy or girl who individually has to have the will to run, jump, dribble, rebound (which is quite physical), day after day, week after week, year after year. No matter the parents or friends or coaches urging him or her to do it, no matter the literal hunger of the stomach or the violence or threats of the streets or the neighborhoods, it is the one player who was to have the desire and passion for it. To overcome the affluence, the apathy, the insult, the lack of a thousand suitable circumstances to be competitive in this hard ground sport.
In other cases, the man or woman does not learn the skills nor the passion of the sport till later in life. They learn to play at age 17 or 19, and work and drive themselves with the help and coaching and mentoring of others to thrive or contribute to a team, even up to the level of college basketball, a professional league, or even the NBA.
Men and women have come from all socio-economic backgrounds, lifestyles, cultures, sizes and shapes to succeed and overcome in the game of basketball.
Some had to deal with hardships, particularly injuries or health conditions during their careers, but even more astoundingly is where some of these overcomers have come from.
Kosic, Yugoslavia.
Shrempf, Germany.
Sabonis and Marciulonis, Lithuania.
Mutombo, Congo (former Zaire).
Olajuwon, Nigeria.
Nash, Canada.
Duncan, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Parker, France.
Ginobli, Argentina.
Harper, Panama.
Jose Juan Barea, Puerto Rico.
Yao Ming, China
Of course the grand majority of the NBA players came from the United States, where the game originated.
And most, if not all, had to overcome themselves and their respective circumstances.
For millions of African-Americans, it has been the city ghettos. Many found their way to the courts of the N.B.A and other professional leagues. This helped them overcome their plights.
For millions of whites from impoverished backgrounds, city or rural alike, basketball also offered a way to escape the streets or the drudgeries that they experienced. Black or white, brown or other, the game and the ultimate destiny of fame and fortune in the grandest stage gave them a chance to achieve a huge reward for their hard work, a true meritocracy.
I will cite four:
Jerry West
Moses Malone
Larry Bird
Isaih Thomas
But first, the international players. They overcame their "foreign-ness" to make it in the NBA, or at least most of them. Those who did not impact the Association directly inspired others that did.
Kresimir Cosic made his way to lesser-known Utah-based church school Brigham Young University in the early 1970s, when Communism was a huge Iron Curtain across Europe and the world. He had size, but he something more. Talent and vision. He was a big man who could move and shoot unlike American big men. He brought that style and knowledge back to his homeland, which eventually led to dozens of former Yugoslav players making it big in the N.B.A.
What did Cosic have to overcome in order to accomplish this? Language barriers, cultural obstacles, circumstances of a Western minority faith, political and ideological barriers, and a hundred other logistical trials.
But he impacted the sport and the N.B.A. as a pioneer to the world.
He tragically died young, but he overcame and brought a huge presence to the rhythm and soul of this league.
Detlef Shrempf came from a soccer (football) crazy country. He, like Cosic, had height in his favor. But his desire to be the best, as a minority, was unsurpassed. Well, until Dirk Nowitski and generation later. But I believe one would not have existed without the other.
Germany then added to the rich mosaic of the NBA. A player had to break through at the highest level to overcome those hurdles for this powerful nation in the heart of Europe.
Small Lithuania, then thickly ensconced in the massive and oppressive Soviet Union, by far the largest territorial empire in the world, produced some of the best basketball players of all time. Perhaps basketball was an outlet for many of them to express a freedom that they knew that they deserved?
One was 7'3", which could make one think this was the advantage, but you had to see him play. He had moves and passes a man his size has never had. His smaller buddy Sariunas had the inside moves, too. These two brought new artistry to the American sport.
They overcame the Soviet Empire and the world of Russian oppression.
--A side note on the comparison to the art or display of the NBA and its basketball with music, or possibly the genre of jazz.
Millions of us listen to music, really we are in the billions. Millions of us perform music in voice and instruments. We all hear a little or a lot of it everyday. Millions of people participate in and play basketball, too. Some are mere amateurs and others get gain from it.
The NBA is the highest form of basketball, and therefore it is like the best of the symphonies, or orchestras, or jazz bands on the planet. The diversity of talent that comes together to make these teams are the synthesis of of a lot of honed fusion. So the disparate nations of the world, different peoples who bring their talents to the league enhance the musicality and tones of the art.
Therefore, the people mentioned from all these foreign lands (non-U.S.) are additional pieces that are placed in the jazz ensemble. But these are not middle school or high school or college level players. These are world class, best of the best players that are moving in their artistry throughout the entire human race.
And like a virtuoso in music, be it classical music, folk, rock, or jazz, the player has to perfect his or her skills and add their talents to the patinee of the art and flow of the work.
Thus, we continue with Monsieur Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo.
That is his full name. He was a part of many artful teams and seasons. Perhaps the most iconic was when his Denver Nuggets as an eighth seed (lowest) upset the first seed Seattle Supersonics in 1994. The "little" slayed the giants. Of course, this French and perhaps 7 other language speaker was no little guy, but his team was the last to qualify for the playoffs.
And they, the little regarded ones, knocked them, the fast and steady regular season champs, out.
But the best ever from Africa has to be Akeem, later Hakeem, the Dream, Olajuwon. He grew up playing soccer in Nigeria, and perhaps for this reason as a big man he had the best footwork ever.
Amazing skills and repertoire of talents. A champion.
These African men, despite their superior size, were much more in overcoming their situations and circumstances.
Steve Nash, of British Colombia, Canada, was a thin and not-so-tall white guy from a country that usually only provided big men to the south.
Nash took things to another level in the NBA, and overcame a small college off the radar background and environment where guys like him were an after thought. Hall-of-Famer all the way, in retrospect.
Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands, I think from lesser known St. Croix, was a swimmer who grew to 6'11''. He became the best power forward of all time. Not the prettiest shooter ever, but boy he could use the glass, play both sides of the ball, and win.
Tony Parker of France. Like Kobe Bryant who had a dad playing pro ball in Europe, Parker grew up with that advantage. But unlike Kobe, Tony Parker Junior played till adulthood in France, and then became a superstar with Duncan and the Spurs. He spoke with a French accent, he was French. Different.
Speaking of accents, Manu Ginobli of Argentina created the triumverate of the above-mentioned Spurs to make their mark on the 21st century. To me, a Hall-of-Famer along with the other two.
What a blend of talent and cultures! What music Popovich and the San Antonio community reveled in all those years.
Rolando Blackmon of Panama made it very well in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks. 6'5" is not that big, but how did he overcome the obstacles of little Panama to make it big in the NBA?
Jose Juan Barea, Puerto Rico. A little guy from a relatively little island. They list him at 6'0'' but I think he is likely 5'10".
If you were to show a picture of overcoming, I think that Jose might be it.
Giant Yao Ming did not succeed and overcome in the NBA simply because of his abnormal size. He had heart, vision, skill, and hard work.
He overcame a culture where the government "values" skills and talents, but who else had come from such a foreign environment where the game was still such a distance and cultural leap.
But let us revisit the American culture of our rich and poor and glorious and terrible history, the land of milk and honey and the land of slavery and genocide.
Here in the homeland of the leather round ball, the peach basketball turned hoop with the twines hanging below, the culture of outdoor and indoor courts became a crucial part of cultures, inner-city, suburban, and rural.
Overcoming slavery, human bondage, is more than just overcoming bondage. Some of the youth of our nation played basketball as an escape or release or opportunity to leave their impoverished settings. Some played it as a lifeline.
Jerry West, a taller, lanky very talented and great shooting white guy from West Virginia, made it big in the city of lights, Los Angeles. Small town boy done good. From a state that has a lot of blue collar workers, miners, and people without great outlets for success.
Moses Malone, without knowing too much about him, was a giant of a man who made the pros out of high school. He was strong enough and good enough, and had a great career in the days of the NBA when blacks were dominating a sport that suffered some image problems due to lack of education among many of its stars (poor grammar and Ebonics was not considered good culture), plus the issues with drug use that was counter culture.
Like many black men, Moses came up through the tough neighborhoods of his city, and basketball was his way above the hopelessness of poverty and want.
Larry Bird came from a small rural town, isolated from the rest of the state of Indiana, let alone the country. His father was an alcoholic and Bird found refuge and strength in the high school gym, where he perfected his craft and superior will. White was a color he had to overcome to be considered among the best ever.
Isaih was the last son of ten children, raised by his single mom in the toughest projects of Chicago. His elder brothers had talent, and ghetto problems, but they nurtured the hungry youngest boy of them and bred him for success.
And he found it. From the wealthy private school in the suburbs where he was bussed, to the bucolic Bloomington where Bobby Knight would take him to the NCAA championship over North Carolina, to the Detroit Pistons where he was a multiple time champion as their captain, overcoming the giant stars Bird then Magic Johnson, before the supreme Michael Jordan could establish his dominance, Isaih was the David among the giants of the hardwood. And he brought the banners back to his cities, forever appreciative of his verve, vigor, will, determination, and skill.
When some said blacks were naturally gifted at jumping and running and playing basketball, Isaih correctly countered that African-Americans did not overcome in the sport by chance, but by hard work.
All these players, domestic and foreign, no matter wealthy or poor, small or large, fast or slow, had to overcome. First individually, and then as a team.
First in desire, then in pure determination and practice and team work, planning, and will.
The will to overcome.
There were no accidents in their successes.
I cannot fully explain here in this forum or maybe ever, but those who watch and observe the game year in and year out, night in and night out, see the gift to overcome among these players, teams, and coaches.
How to create and perform a virtuoso? A masterpiece? A championship in the NBA?
Dig deep, run, have a vision, and give all you got.
And that determination will lead to overcoming. It is a microcosm on a hardwood stage, this game of running and jumping, the modern day rugged yet graceful ballet and theatre we call the NBA.
Overcoming is largely begun and ended by the individual.
The NBA has shown this spirit and principle again and again in thousands of their athletes, coaches, trainers, commentators, and leaders, despite the underpinning team aspects of the sport of basketball.
It is the young boy or girl who individually has to have the will to run, jump, dribble, rebound (which is quite physical), day after day, week after week, year after year. No matter the parents or friends or coaches urging him or her to do it, no matter the literal hunger of the stomach or the violence or threats of the streets or the neighborhoods, it is the one player who was to have the desire and passion for it. To overcome the affluence, the apathy, the insult, the lack of a thousand suitable circumstances to be competitive in this hard ground sport.
In other cases, the man or woman does not learn the skills nor the passion of the sport till later in life. They learn to play at age 17 or 19, and work and drive themselves with the help and coaching and mentoring of others to thrive or contribute to a team, even up to the level of college basketball, a professional league, or even the NBA.
Men and women have come from all socio-economic backgrounds, lifestyles, cultures, sizes and shapes to succeed and overcome in the game of basketball.
Some had to deal with hardships, particularly injuries or health conditions during their careers, but even more astoundingly is where some of these overcomers have come from.
Kosic, Yugoslavia.
Shrempf, Germany.
Sabonis and Marciulonis, Lithuania.
Mutombo, Congo (former Zaire).
Olajuwon, Nigeria.
Nash, Canada.
Duncan, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Parker, France.
Ginobli, Argentina.
Harper, Panama.
Jose Juan Barea, Puerto Rico.
Yao Ming, China
Of course the grand majority of the NBA players came from the United States, where the game originated.
And most, if not all, had to overcome themselves and their respective circumstances.
For millions of African-Americans, it has been the city ghettos. Many found their way to the courts of the N.B.A and other professional leagues. This helped them overcome their plights.
For millions of whites from impoverished backgrounds, city or rural alike, basketball also offered a way to escape the streets or the drudgeries that they experienced. Black or white, brown or other, the game and the ultimate destiny of fame and fortune in the grandest stage gave them a chance to achieve a huge reward for their hard work, a true meritocracy.
I will cite four:
Jerry West
Moses Malone
Larry Bird
Isaih Thomas
But first, the international players. They overcame their "foreign-ness" to make it in the NBA, or at least most of them. Those who did not impact the Association directly inspired others that did.
Kresimir Cosic made his way to lesser-known Utah-based church school Brigham Young University in the early 1970s, when Communism was a huge Iron Curtain across Europe and the world. He had size, but he something more. Talent and vision. He was a big man who could move and shoot unlike American big men. He brought that style and knowledge back to his homeland, which eventually led to dozens of former Yugoslav players making it big in the N.B.A.
What did Cosic have to overcome in order to accomplish this? Language barriers, cultural obstacles, circumstances of a Western minority faith, political and ideological barriers, and a hundred other logistical trials.
But he impacted the sport and the N.B.A. as a pioneer to the world.
He tragically died young, but he overcame and brought a huge presence to the rhythm and soul of this league.
Detlef Shrempf came from a soccer (football) crazy country. He, like Cosic, had height in his favor. But his desire to be the best, as a minority, was unsurpassed. Well, until Dirk Nowitski and generation later. But I believe one would not have existed without the other.
Germany then added to the rich mosaic of the NBA. A player had to break through at the highest level to overcome those hurdles for this powerful nation in the heart of Europe.
Small Lithuania, then thickly ensconced in the massive and oppressive Soviet Union, by far the largest territorial empire in the world, produced some of the best basketball players of all time. Perhaps basketball was an outlet for many of them to express a freedom that they knew that they deserved?
One was 7'3", which could make one think this was the advantage, but you had to see him play. He had moves and passes a man his size has never had. His smaller buddy Sariunas had the inside moves, too. These two brought new artistry to the American sport.
They overcame the Soviet Empire and the world of Russian oppression.
--A side note on the comparison to the art or display of the NBA and its basketball with music, or possibly the genre of jazz.
Millions of us listen to music, really we are in the billions. Millions of us perform music in voice and instruments. We all hear a little or a lot of it everyday. Millions of people participate in and play basketball, too. Some are mere amateurs and others get gain from it.
The NBA is the highest form of basketball, and therefore it is like the best of the symphonies, or orchestras, or jazz bands on the planet. The diversity of talent that comes together to make these teams are the synthesis of of a lot of honed fusion. So the disparate nations of the world, different peoples who bring their talents to the league enhance the musicality and tones of the art.
Therefore, the people mentioned from all these foreign lands (non-U.S.) are additional pieces that are placed in the jazz ensemble. But these are not middle school or high school or college level players. These are world class, best of the best players that are moving in their artistry throughout the entire human race.
And like a virtuoso in music, be it classical music, folk, rock, or jazz, the player has to perfect his or her skills and add their talents to the patinee of the art and flow of the work.
Thus, we continue with Monsieur Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo.
That is his full name. He was a part of many artful teams and seasons. Perhaps the most iconic was when his Denver Nuggets as an eighth seed (lowest) upset the first seed Seattle Supersonics in 1994. The "little" slayed the giants. Of course, this French and perhaps 7 other language speaker was no little guy, but his team was the last to qualify for the playoffs.
And they, the little regarded ones, knocked them, the fast and steady regular season champs, out.
But the best ever from Africa has to be Akeem, later Hakeem, the Dream, Olajuwon. He grew up playing soccer in Nigeria, and perhaps for this reason as a big man he had the best footwork ever.
Amazing skills and repertoire of talents. A champion.
These African men, despite their superior size, were much more in overcoming their situations and circumstances.
Steve Nash, of British Colombia, Canada, was a thin and not-so-tall white guy from a country that usually only provided big men to the south.
Nash took things to another level in the NBA, and overcame a small college off the radar background and environment where guys like him were an after thought. Hall-of-Famer all the way, in retrospect.
Tim Duncan of the U.S. Virgin Islands, I think from lesser known St. Croix, was a swimmer who grew to 6'11''. He became the best power forward of all time. Not the prettiest shooter ever, but boy he could use the glass, play both sides of the ball, and win.
Tony Parker of France. Like Kobe Bryant who had a dad playing pro ball in Europe, Parker grew up with that advantage. But unlike Kobe, Tony Parker Junior played till adulthood in France, and then became a superstar with Duncan and the Spurs. He spoke with a French accent, he was French. Different.
Speaking of accents, Manu Ginobli of Argentina created the triumverate of the above-mentioned Spurs to make their mark on the 21st century. To me, a Hall-of-Famer along with the other two.
What a blend of talent and cultures! What music Popovich and the San Antonio community reveled in all those years.
Rolando Blackmon of Panama made it very well in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks. 6'5" is not that big, but how did he overcome the obstacles of little Panama to make it big in the NBA?
Jose Juan Barea, Puerto Rico. A little guy from a relatively little island. They list him at 6'0'' but I think he is likely 5'10".
If you were to show a picture of overcoming, I think that Jose might be it.
Giant Yao Ming did not succeed and overcome in the NBA simply because of his abnormal size. He had heart, vision, skill, and hard work.
He overcame a culture where the government "values" skills and talents, but who else had come from such a foreign environment where the game was still such a distance and cultural leap.
But let us revisit the American culture of our rich and poor and glorious and terrible history, the land of milk and honey and the land of slavery and genocide.
Here in the homeland of the leather round ball, the peach basketball turned hoop with the twines hanging below, the culture of outdoor and indoor courts became a crucial part of cultures, inner-city, suburban, and rural.
Overcoming slavery, human bondage, is more than just overcoming bondage. Some of the youth of our nation played basketball as an escape or release or opportunity to leave their impoverished settings. Some played it as a lifeline.
Jerry West, a taller, lanky very talented and great shooting white guy from West Virginia, made it big in the city of lights, Los Angeles. Small town boy done good. From a state that has a lot of blue collar workers, miners, and people without great outlets for success.
Moses Malone, without knowing too much about him, was a giant of a man who made the pros out of high school. He was strong enough and good enough, and had a great career in the days of the NBA when blacks were dominating a sport that suffered some image problems due to lack of education among many of its stars (poor grammar and Ebonics was not considered good culture), plus the issues with drug use that was counter culture.
Like many black men, Moses came up through the tough neighborhoods of his city, and basketball was his way above the hopelessness of poverty and want.
Larry Bird came from a small rural town, isolated from the rest of the state of Indiana, let alone the country. His father was an alcoholic and Bird found refuge and strength in the high school gym, where he perfected his craft and superior will. White was a color he had to overcome to be considered among the best ever.
Isaih was the last son of ten children, raised by his single mom in the toughest projects of Chicago. His elder brothers had talent, and ghetto problems, but they nurtured the hungry youngest boy of them and bred him for success.
And he found it. From the wealthy private school in the suburbs where he was bussed, to the bucolic Bloomington where Bobby Knight would take him to the NCAA championship over North Carolina, to the Detroit Pistons where he was a multiple time champion as their captain, overcoming the giant stars Bird then Magic Johnson, before the supreme Michael Jordan could establish his dominance, Isaih was the David among the giants of the hardwood. And he brought the banners back to his cities, forever appreciative of his verve, vigor, will, determination, and skill.
When some said blacks were naturally gifted at jumping and running and playing basketball, Isaih correctly countered that African-Americans did not overcome in the sport by chance, but by hard work.
All these players, domestic and foreign, no matter wealthy or poor, small or large, fast or slow, had to overcome. First individually, and then as a team.
First in desire, then in pure determination and practice and team work, planning, and will.
The will to overcome.
There were no accidents in their successes.
I cannot fully explain here in this forum or maybe ever, but those who watch and observe the game year in and year out, night in and night out, see the gift to overcome among these players, teams, and coaches.
How to create and perform a virtuoso? A masterpiece? A championship in the NBA?
Dig deep, run, have a vision, and give all you got.
And that determination will lead to overcoming. It is a microcosm on a hardwood stage, this game of running and jumping, the modern day rugged yet graceful ballet and theatre we call the NBA.
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