It’s All……
Relative, right? I’m talking about taking things into context and realizing that some things may seem to fit perfectly in one situation but be completely out of place in another. For example, a band-aid is a very handy thing to have when you have a cut and you want to cover it up. A band-aid, while always a good thing to have, does you relatively no good when you have a fire out of control that you are trying to put out. All relative to the situation at hand. And where am I going with this you ask, well, it has nothing to do with band-aids but definitely about being relative.
Last night I decided to tune into the NBA draft, for anyone not familiar, an annual event that allows professional basketball teams to bring in (draft) new (and by new we are talking younger) players into the league. Typically, these days, this involves college basketball players. Also, typically, these days, this involves recent college freshmen because the NBA requires them to spend one year in college prior to being drafted, however, in the past you could get drafted right out of high school but the current rules state that you need to be one year removed from what would have been your high school graduation, thus many players go the one year in college route. Keeps you in the public eye and theoretically, increases your worth (unless you have a really bad season). The other rule being that you need to be 19 years of age. So, late teenagers technically. Anyway, this year things got a little more interesting as the big news being generated was about a young man named Victor Wembanyama (cool name), a 7’ 5” center from France who has been playing in some French basketball league of late, and while fairly thin he seems to have tremendous skills that often cannot be measured just working from a checklist. Mind you, a few other players from leagues I don’t believe I have ever heard of were also drafted in the first 10 picks so overall, a very interesting draft year and not all centered around college players. In the weeks leading up to the draft, as would be expected, the sports talk shows ran a bunch of highlight reels and it really was clear that Victor was something of an anomaly. The best way I can describe his play is that he resembles Mr. Fantastic from the Fantastic Four, and if you don’t recall him, he was the one who was kind of made out of rubber and could stretch himself into any shape or position. And Victor kind of plays like that. He can be 10 feet away from the basket, take one step and jump and then this long winding windmill arm and hand with the ball slams it home! Quite impressive to watch for sure. In the end, however, Victor looked like a basketball player playing hoops with other basketball players, all kind of normal.
And with the first pick, the San Antonio Spurs take Victor. Prior to the draft, Vitor is being interviewed by Stephen A Smith from ESPN. Stephen A is speaking and then the camera seems to pan back. And then it hits you. Victor is gigantic. Strictly in height, and that may be the key as to why it never really sank in on me, but he literally towers over Stephen A (who is at least 6 foot tall). And then he continues to tower over pretty much anyone he stands next to. A quick shot of just him, he looks perfectly normal, then back to next to someone….oh my! Something like Andre the Giant in the movie “The Princess Bride” (okay, how about Andre the Giant pretty much anywhere!) but Andre weighed in at over 500 pounds so he really did look like a giant, Victor, at 220, seems almost normal….until!
So all relative but I am truly looking forward to seeing what this guy can do. The talk is almost like the second coming of Michael Jordan so it will really be cool if that all pans out. Big props to the NBA and ESPN on the draft last night, great sports TV!
All for now, see you next week (yes, I did miss a couple blogs, things are real busy in Pulpland)!
