Spurs Brazil
07-20-2007, 04:31 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA072007.05D.Oliver.en.327964c.html
Richard Oliver: Spurs' image glistens next to sullied stars
Web Posted: 07/19/2007 11:36 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Truth be known, today's Spurs have their notorious moments.
If it isn't coach Gregg Popovich cursing into the microphone like a drunken dock worker, it's Tony Parker and his actress sweetheart verbally sparring with a traffic cop or Manu Ginobili imploring us to "Go for 3!" in a benumbing ad campaign.
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Fabricio Oberto's hair? Criminal.
Why, as the recent postseason demonstrated again, the team doesn't even mind the occasional bloody dogfight.
Just ask Steve Nash and the Suns.
Indeed, the local franchise isn't perfect. But as the latest ugliness plays out on the sports landscape, with Falcons quarterback Michael Vick facing a disturbing indictment, we're reminded anew that the Spurs are closer than most.
San Antonio has something to celebrate, and an NBA championship is only part of the reason.
Vick's latest entanglement with ethical ineptitude simply adds another layer of muck to the growing reputation of professional athletes as hedonistic boors. It's a broad, unfair generalization, but there's little doubt that fans are no longer surprised when their heroes have muscles of stone on the field, but feet of clay off it.
Identifying role models in athletics these days is risky business ranking right up there with forecasting the weather or Harry Potter plotlines. All too often, a sunny smile, marketable when pitching you a sandwich or PlayStation game, hides a dark nature revealed in stormy headlines.
For the NFL, the federal allegations that Vick was an active partner in a hideous dogfighting operation represent the latest blindside blitz for a league desperately working to right its reputation.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has come down hard on miscreants including Tank Johnson, Adam "Pacman" Jones and Chris Henry, and his long arm of discipline made character a buzzword whispered in every official's ear during last spring's draft.
Now, Goodell stews over a nightmare imbroglio involving one of the NFL's highest-paid players, a quarterback whose bionic talents have made him a major promotional face of the league.
And an example of how vast athletic ability can earn a deep reservoir of remarkable forgiveness.
Players, as Bill Parcells used to say, are not created equal. How they are treated, he would add, does not require a democratic process.
Goodness knows there are examples of just that, time and again, throughout sports.
Until Goodell and good sense wore the Bears down, Johnson and his assault rifles, pit bulls and shady lifestyle had at least three second chances. Down the road, Henry's Bengals are handing out more absolution than a season of Catholic Sundays.
Each club, of course, was far from alone in that. Selling out on character issues in favor of the scoreboard is a tradition almost as old as leather helmets, steel cleats and knee socks.
When it comes to desperation going up against integrity, it's rare the ballclub that won't make a deal with the devil for a shot at heaven. In the NBA, the Knicks couldn't see Zach Randolph's rap sheet through his scoring stats, and the Nets gambled on drafting shot-blocker Sean Williams despite his tarnished reputation at Boston College.
Yet, it was also Parcells who once famously told New York writers that at one point, he just became too old to deal with jackasses. Simply, he wanted to close his eyes each night knowing that the only evil being plotted by his roster concerned the spleens of opposing players.
The finest franchises employ a similar mandate.
The Spurs and NFL Patriots, as examples, believe in a gold standard that doesn't refer only to championship trophies.
San Antonio's operation prefers a player be able to locate his moral compass just as easily as his wallet. If nothing else, it's good business.
Just ask Falcons owner Arthur Blanks, who dished out $167 million to Vick not so long ago.
But the Spurs aren't faultless. Parker, after all, imported a $40,000 cake to his wedding in France.
That's nothing short of scandalous.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]
Richard Oliver: Spurs' image glistens next to sullied stars
Web Posted: 07/19/2007 11:36 PM CDT
San Antonio Express-News
Truth be known, today's Spurs have their notorious moments.
If it isn't coach Gregg Popovich cursing into the microphone like a drunken dock worker, it's Tony Parker and his actress sweetheart verbally sparring with a traffic cop or Manu Ginobili imploring us to "Go for 3!" in a benumbing ad campaign.
advertisement
Fabricio Oberto's hair? Criminal.
Why, as the recent postseason demonstrated again, the team doesn't even mind the occasional bloody dogfight.
Just ask Steve Nash and the Suns.
Indeed, the local franchise isn't perfect. But as the latest ugliness plays out on the sports landscape, with Falcons quarterback Michael Vick facing a disturbing indictment, we're reminded anew that the Spurs are closer than most.
San Antonio has something to celebrate, and an NBA championship is only part of the reason.
Vick's latest entanglement with ethical ineptitude simply adds another layer of muck to the growing reputation of professional athletes as hedonistic boors. It's a broad, unfair generalization, but there's little doubt that fans are no longer surprised when their heroes have muscles of stone on the field, but feet of clay off it.
Identifying role models in athletics these days is risky business ranking right up there with forecasting the weather or Harry Potter plotlines. All too often, a sunny smile, marketable when pitching you a sandwich or PlayStation game, hides a dark nature revealed in stormy headlines.
For the NFL, the federal allegations that Vick was an active partner in a hideous dogfighting operation represent the latest blindside blitz for a league desperately working to right its reputation.
Commissioner Roger Goodell has come down hard on miscreants including Tank Johnson, Adam "Pacman" Jones and Chris Henry, and his long arm of discipline made character a buzzword whispered in every official's ear during last spring's draft.
Now, Goodell stews over a nightmare imbroglio involving one of the NFL's highest-paid players, a quarterback whose bionic talents have made him a major promotional face of the league.
And an example of how vast athletic ability can earn a deep reservoir of remarkable forgiveness.
Players, as Bill Parcells used to say, are not created equal. How they are treated, he would add, does not require a democratic process.
Goodness knows there are examples of just that, time and again, throughout sports.
Until Goodell and good sense wore the Bears down, Johnson and his assault rifles, pit bulls and shady lifestyle had at least three second chances. Down the road, Henry's Bengals are handing out more absolution than a season of Catholic Sundays.
Each club, of course, was far from alone in that. Selling out on character issues in favor of the scoreboard is a tradition almost as old as leather helmets, steel cleats and knee socks.
When it comes to desperation going up against integrity, it's rare the ballclub that won't make a deal with the devil for a shot at heaven. In the NBA, the Knicks couldn't see Zach Randolph's rap sheet through his scoring stats, and the Nets gambled on drafting shot-blocker Sean Williams despite his tarnished reputation at Boston College.
Yet, it was also Parcells who once famously told New York writers that at one point, he just became too old to deal with jackasses. Simply, he wanted to close his eyes each night knowing that the only evil being plotted by his roster concerned the spleens of opposing players.
The finest franchises employ a similar mandate.
The Spurs and NFL Patriots, as examples, believe in a gold standard that doesn't refer only to championship trophies.
San Antonio's operation prefers a player be able to locate his moral compass just as easily as his wallet. If nothing else, it's good business.
Just ask Falcons owner Arthur Blanks, who dished out $167 million to Vick not so long ago.
But the Spurs aren't faultless. Parker, after all, imported a $40,000 cake to his wedding in France.
That's nothing short of scandalous.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[email protected]