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I was surfing the web and I ran across an article at the New York Times. I'm a huge Phoenix Suns fan and I thought I put some excerpts here. In addition, I thought I'd gloat a bit about my Las Vegas NBA summer league experience with the whole Suns front office. I got to sit right next to coach Mike D'Antoni and his brother, team owner Robert Sarver, new GM Steve Kerr, all the assistant coaches, and Vinny Del Negro (not quite sure what he does, but I always seem to see him around the team). I didn't say much, little star-struck, but it was fun just being around them and enjoying the moment. Much to my delight, I did get a promise that the core (Nash-Stoudemire-Marion) were sticking around for another year.
On to the article: Nash spends most of the year running the point for the Phoenix Suns, but in the off-season, he can be found playing soccer in rec leagues in New York.
“It’s better for me than just running lines,” he said. “I don’t want to play a lot of basketball until September’s over or I’ll burn myself out. I just shoot, work out and play soccer.”
Standing on the sideline with his children, Claudio Reyna, who was captain of the United States national team in last summer’s World Cup, said Nash was an excellent soccer player.
“He’s got the vision like on the court,” Reyna said. “When you have vision in soccer, you can connect the pass. It’s the same idea. You can see that from playing basketball, and also from growing up playing soccer, he understands the game.”
Soccer was Nash’s first love — he said his first word as an infant was goal. His father played professionally in South Africa and England, his sister was the captain of her university team, and his younger brother, Martin, has played on Canada’s national team.
“I think my dad, more than anything, gave me the passion,” Nash said later, in a telephone interview Tuesday night. “I remember sitting on the steps waiting for him to come home, and we’d be playing in the backyard before he even had his tie off.”
Nash’s other recreational team plays in an eight-a-side league at Pier 40, in a league populated by college friends trying to stay in touch and desk-job dreamers trying to stay in shape. Nash’s team wears T-shirts adorned with the name Phebe’s, a bar and grill on the Bowery where they sometimes adjourn for postgame camaraderie.
“At Pier 40, it’s better because everyone’s there for our league,” Nash said. “There’s not a lot of people around. I can just be one of the guys.”
At a game there in June, the Phebe’s team beat a group of Cornell graduates, 8-4. Jeremy Freyer, the opposing squad’s goalkeeper in that match, said he initially was not aware that one of the N.B.A.’s biggest stars was in the game.
“I didn’t even realize it was him until it was the second half and he scored a couple goals on me,” Freyer said. “It made me feel a little better.”
Nash travels to Europe occasionally to attend soccer matches; he said he followed the English Premier League the closest — particularly his favorite team, Tottenham Hotspur.
“The atmosphere is electrifying,” Nash said of England’s top league. “The pace is great, with the fans singing along. They demand a passionate performance. The fans are right on top of the players. Anyone who’s ever had a chance to go to a premiership knows there’s nothing like it.”
Certainly not Central Park, where the only fans who watched Nash’s entire pickup game were his wife, Alejandra, and his twin daughters.
By the end, Alejandra seemed excited to leave. As Nash grinned and shook hands with his teammates, she said, “The one time I come to one of these games, it’s just three hours of eating dust.”
On to the article: Nash spends most of the year running the point for the Phoenix Suns, but in the off-season, he can be found playing soccer in rec leagues in New York.“It’s better for me than just running lines,” he said. “I don’t want to play a lot of basketball until September’s over or I’ll burn myself out. I just shoot, work out and play soccer.”
Standing on the sideline with his children, Claudio Reyna, who was captain of the United States national team in last summer’s World Cup, said Nash was an excellent soccer player.
“He’s got the vision like on the court,” Reyna said. “When you have vision in soccer, you can connect the pass. It’s the same idea. You can see that from playing basketball, and also from growing up playing soccer, he understands the game.”
Soccer was Nash’s first love — he said his first word as an infant was goal. His father played professionally in South Africa and England, his sister was the captain of her university team, and his younger brother, Martin, has played on Canada’s national team.
“I think my dad, more than anything, gave me the passion,” Nash said later, in a telephone interview Tuesday night. “I remember sitting on the steps waiting for him to come home, and we’d be playing in the backyard before he even had his tie off.”
Nash’s other recreational team plays in an eight-a-side league at Pier 40, in a league populated by college friends trying to stay in touch and desk-job dreamers trying to stay in shape. Nash’s team wears T-shirts adorned with the name Phebe’s, a bar and grill on the Bowery where they sometimes adjourn for postgame camaraderie.
“At Pier 40, it’s better because everyone’s there for our league,” Nash said. “There’s not a lot of people around. I can just be one of the guys.”
At a game there in June, the Phebe’s team beat a group of Cornell graduates, 8-4. Jeremy Freyer, the opposing squad’s goalkeeper in that match, said he initially was not aware that one of the N.B.A.’s biggest stars was in the game.
“I didn’t even realize it was him until it was the second half and he scored a couple goals on me,” Freyer said. “It made me feel a little better.”
Nash travels to Europe occasionally to attend soccer matches; he said he followed the English Premier League the closest — particularly his favorite team, Tottenham Hotspur.
“The atmosphere is electrifying,” Nash said of England’s top league. “The pace is great, with the fans singing along. They demand a passionate performance. The fans are right on top of the players. Anyone who’s ever had a chance to go to a premiership knows there’s nothing like it.”
Certainly not Central Park, where the only fans who watched Nash’s entire pickup game were his wife, Alejandra, and his twin daughters.
By the end, Alejandra seemed excited to leave. As Nash grinned and shook hands with his teammates, she said, “The one time I come to one of these games, it’s just three hours of eating dust.”
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