[外電] Spirit of a Champion(Luol Deng)

看板ChicagoBulls (芝加哥公牛)作者rosebulls (fast don't lie)時間13年前 (2012/05/28 10:50)推噓2(2推 0噓 0→)

留言2則, 2人參與討論串1/1

Spirit of a Champion Luol Deng and the debate around his commitment to the Olympics. http://www.slamonline.com/online/nba/2012/05/spirit-of-a-champion/ by Ben Taylor / @benitaylor You’ve probably seen the discussion around Luol Deng representing Great Britain/the UK at the Olympic Games this summer—with some fans and media questioning his loyalty to Chicago, others hitting back by praising his loyalty to Britain, where he grew up. As a Brit, it is hard to be impartial, but I thought someone out there might be interested in my take on the issue. I can totally understand where Chicago Bulls fans are coming from. You’ve had a brutal season. Your number one player faces a lengthy spell in the treatment room, and now Deng wants to play through the summer, despite a wrist injury that needs surgery. You’re rightfully worried about his ability to start next season injury free, not to mention the fact that he is paid handsomely to play for the Bulls. Fans of any team in any sport can sympathize with that. I guess it would make you feel a tiny bit better about the whole thing if you knew that the whole of the UK was at fever pitch awaiting Deng’s return to lead our team into battle—his availability dominating the front and back pages of the newspapers, 24-hour news coverage dedicated to analyzing his every movement. But the truth is, most people in this country don’t have a clue who Luol Deng is, and it wouldn’t make the slightest difference to them if he played for Great Britain this summer or not. He’s not the ‘David Beckham of basketball,’ as some have suggested—not because he’s not worthy of hero status, but because sadly, basketball just isn’t that popular here. He could walk the streets of London unnoticed, aside from the fact there aren’t too many 6-8 guys walking the streets of London. The British public doesn’t know him. It doesn’t know that he grew up in Sudan, escaped civil war, and was granted asylum here—not to come and ‘take our jobs’ or accept a hand-out, as would fit the picture some of the British media paint of our immigrant population, but because we were the only country who offered his family the chance to get out of a situation in which they could have been killed. They don’t know that when he got here, he fell in love with our culture and our national sport, and would spend his days kicking a football around with his friends, trying to emulate Arsenal legend Ian Wright. They don’t know that he started playing basketball with a local community team, the Brixton Topcats—without whom hundreds of kids over the last 20 years could have taken the kind of path the media would like to have you think all young kids from inner city Britain take—and showed such talent that he was given the chance to develop his game in the US. They don’t know that when he got to the States, he worked his ass off, every minute of every day, becoming one of the best high school players in the US before playing for one of top college programs. They don’t know that this kid from Brixton, South London, got drafted to the NBA, and is now one of the most respected and loved players with one of the most successful teams in sports (with a contract worth $71 million). They don’t know that he played through injury for an entire season because his team needed him, and that last year’s MVP would have given the award to Luol. They don’t know that he took a personal moment in the spotlight, his introduction at the 2012 All-Star Game, to celebrate his African roots. They don’t know the stories of the kids who benefit from the amazing work of his foundation, or who take part in programs at the London School of Basketball, that without Luol’s support (financial or otherwise) would not happen. They don’t know that there are hundreds (maybe thousands) of basketball-obsessed Brits who would give anything to see our guy take on the best in the world this summer, and they don’t know that it doesn’t matter if we lose every single game, because with Luol on the team, we’ll have given it everything we’ve got and have a team to be proud of. What he means to the UK, or more specifically, what he might mean if he plays this summer, is so much more important than just new fans and jersey sales. It’s about inspiring young people not to give up, even when it looks like the odds are stacked against them (and with rising unemployment and the expense of attending college, it seems like the odds are firmly stacked against a lot of kids). It’s about sharing a positive story, for once, about a guy who came to this country seeking asylum, grew up in inner-city London, and is now set to take on the best in the world. If Luol doesn’t play this summer, your average Brit will never know any of this. And that would be the biggest loss of all. [翻譯團]冠軍的精神——魯爾鄧以及關於他參賽奧運的爭論由麵包listening 發表在虎撲籃球‧公牛專區 http://bbs.hupu.com/bulls 冠軍的精神魯爾鄧以及關於他參賽奧運的爭論 by Ben Taylor 你大概也看過關於魯爾鄧這個夏天將代表英國參加奧運會的討論了，一些球迷和媒體因此質疑他對芝加哥的忠誠，另一些人則以他對英國的忠誠作為回擊，畢竟那是他從小長大的地方。作為一個英國人，我很難真正做到客觀。但我想有些人大概會對我在這件事上的觀點有興趣吧。我完全能理解芝加哥球迷的想法。你們已經經歷了一個這麼殘酷的賽季，你們的頭號球星有那麼長一段時間都得待在治療室裡，而現在魯爾鄧卻不管需要動手術的手腕傷勢，而要在整個夏天裡都打球、比賽。你們擔心他下賽季是否能無傷無病地回來開始比賽，這是正常且合理的。更何況他還拿著公牛付的大筆工資呢。不管哪項運動、哪支球隊的球迷，都完全能理解這種想法。我想如果我能告訴你們全英國都在熱烈地期盼著鄧回去帶領球隊去戰鬥，那你們大概會對這整件事情感覺舒服一點。比如所有報紙的封面封底都充斥著他何時能回歸的消息，24小時的新聞報導追蹤分析他的每一個舉動。但事實卻是，那個國家的大多數人根本就不知道魯爾鄧是誰，而他這個夏天是否代表英國出戰奧運對他們來說幾乎沒有一點差別。他並非如有人所說的那樣是“籃球界的貝克漢姆”，但這不是因為他配不上這樣的英雄的地位，只是因為很不幸地，在英國籃球並沒有那麼受歡迎而已。他可以走在倫敦的街頭卻不被人注意，即使在倫敦街頭這樣6到8尺高的傢伙可不多見。英國人民對他並不熟悉。他們不知道他是在蘇丹長大，從內戰中逃出來並被這個國家所收留。他不是一些英國媒體所描繪的那種移民人口的形象，來我們國家搶走我們的工作或接受施捨救濟，而只是因為我們是唯一一個國家，能讓他的家人擺脫可能無辜被殺的境遇。他們不知道他一到英國，便愛上了我們的文化和我們的國家級運動，並整天都和他的朋友們到處踢球，試圖效仿阿森納傳奇伊恩‧賴特。他們不知道他的籃球事業是從本地球隊布裡克斯TOPCAT隊開始的。如果沒有這支球隊，過去20年裡幾百個孩子就只能通過另一條路維持生計了，正如媒體所希望讓你以為的那樣— —所有貧民區的年輕孩子都會走上一條錯誤的不歸路。而也是在這支球隊所表現出的能力讓他得到了去美國的機會。他們不知道他來到美國之後，每一天的每一分鐘他有多麼拼命的在努力，成為了美國最優秀的高中球員之一，隨之又獲得了為最頂尖的籃球大學打球的機會。他們不知道這個從倫敦南部的布裡克斯出來的孩子經選秀進入了NBA，現在已經是最成功的球隊之一裡最受尊敬和愛戴的球員之一，並拿著7100萬美元的合同。他們不知道他整個賽季都在帶傷比賽，只因為他的球隊需要他。而去年的MVP球員甘願將這獎項送給魯爾鄧。他們不知道在2012全明星比賽個人介紹環節時，他將娛樂性的全明星變成了個人的深情一刻，在聚光燈下感謝了生他養他的非洲。他們不知道如果沒有魯爾鄧的幫助（不管是金錢或其他方面），很多孩子就無法從他運作良好的基金會中受益，也無法參與倫敦籃球學校的各種項目。他們不知道有那麼幾百個（或者幾千個）英國的籃球迷們願意付出一切，只為看到我們國家的隊伍在這個夏天在全世界的關注下表現出最好的水準。他們也不知道，即使我們一場比賽也贏不了都沒關係，因為有魯爾鄧在我們隊裡，我們將會全力以赴地打好每一場比賽，我們也已經擁有了一支值得驕傲的隊伍。他對英國的意義，或更具體地說，這夏天他能參賽所代表的意義，遠超過吸引了多少新球迷、賣了多少球衣。它會激勵所有年輕人不要輕言放棄，即使所有情況似乎都不那麼樂觀（而且隨著不斷攀升的失業率和上大學的費用，很多孩子的前景都更加充滿陰霾）。這是一個傳遞著積極信念的故事，至少這一次，一個來到這個國家尋求避難所的孩子，一個在倫敦貧民區長大的孩子，如今即將在全世界的舞臺上展現自己最好的水準。如果魯爾鄧沒能在夏天參賽，英國人將永遠不會知道以上的任何一點。而這便是最大的損失。 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 59.121.4.151