With the proliferation of 24-hour news looking into sports, athletes, and their exploits, it is hard to have respect for most athletes. It seems that the ones who "do the right thing" are now often the exception to the rule (funny...people say the same thing about my profession). Maybe part of it has to do with the fact that most athletes I watch are now younger than I am, but I had to take a second (and fully understanding how corny this may sound) and say how happy I am for Derrick Rose. If you don't follow sports, you probably think this is really stupid. But, even though I no longer live in Memphis, I will always be a Memphian. For all of its' many, many, many faults, I love to see when something goes well for the city.
Rose will, in all likelihood, be the #1 draft pick in the NBA Draft tonight. I am not going to be long-winded here, but everything I have ever read and discussed with people who have met and interacted with Rose, is how humble of a kid this is. He grew up in a very poor neighborhood in Chicago. His older brothers ran interference for him beginning in middle school when they realized the special talent he would become, and kept him out of the problems and pitfalls that often sideline these types of coronations. Derrick played one season for the Tigers, and what a season it was!! In all honesty, I am STILL not able to go back and watch the National Title game. It has been set on my Tivo since April 7 and is still marked as a new, unwatched recording. Despite the painful ending, I know the day will come when I can watch that and be proud of the team that we put out on the court this season. They did more than play basketball....they represented a city that has a lot of reasons to hang its' head...and made the city rally around Tiger Basketball and temporarily forget about its' problems for the first time in a long time.
Finally, I loved the pictures and comments going around the country this morning, that yesterday in his last formal media interview for the draft, Derrick wore a blue and gray suit to show his love for the U of Memphis.
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2 comments:
After talking a/b your blog w/Erica last night I had a dream that I logged on and you had a post with all these cuss words in it! I'm glad to log on this AM and realize it was just a dream! Weird!
Great post. The city of Memphis needed this year from the Tiger's I do believe. I hope that there are many more to come from this team and the Grizzlies. Sports are way over rated as far as pay goes, but when done right can do alot for a city and its morale.
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