Re: [灌水] A Basketball Fairy Tale

看板Thunder (奧克拉荷馬市雷霆)作者Ambre1110 (Amber)時間13年前 (2012/12/05 02:06)推噓16(16推 0噓 0→)

留言16則, 14人參與討論串4/8 (看更多)

第三棒～看大意請跳至最後一頁哈哈～ *** Oklahoma sits right in the middle of the country: it’s not the cultured East or the wild West or the frigid North or the humid South but exactly where all those things meet. The mountains touch the prairies, which touch the plains. This has created, over the millenniums, crazy animals and crazy weather and crazy 25-car pileups of culture. In 1889, the almost unbelievable land run sent tens of thousands of ragtag settlers from all over the country literally racing to claim tracts of practically uninhabitable land. Oklahoma, in other words, is the Hadron supercollider of states: it slams disparate things together, over and over, producing endless crises of cohesion. Even tornadoes, the region’s defining devil winds, are a result of a meteorological collision: a convergence of three different weather systems that happens with freakish regularity in Oklahoma and its immediate environs. Meteorologists in Oklahoma are basically rock stars. 奧克拉荷馬坐落在美國中部，不是富有文化氣息的東部，也非粗獷蠻荒的西部，不是天寒地凍的北部，更非潮濕悶熱的南部──但是，上述所有特質你都可以在這裡找到。從高山到草原到平原，千百年來，這裡的環境造就了瘋狂的野生動物、瘋狂的氣候以及瘋狂的二十五輛汽車連環追撞的自然與人文景觀。1889年，那場令人幾乎無法置信的土地哄搶熱讓數萬來自美國各地的中下階層人民湧入這塊土地，爭先恐後地索取實質無主地的土地所有權。[1]也因此，奧克拉荷馬州成為了美利堅合眾國的「大型強子對撞機」，各種不同的人、事、物在這塊土地上一遍又一遍地衝撞，使得團結一致成了一種遙遙無期的奢望。就連龍捲風──這個地區最著名的魔鬼之風──都是一種氣象學上的衝撞：這是一種由三種不同的氣候系統匯聚而成、頻繁在奧克拉荷馬及其近郊出現的天氣現象──以至於在奧克拉荷馬，氣象學家基本上就都跟搖滾明星一樣紅啦。 [譯註1]：也因為奧克拉荷馬市是通過這種方式建立起來的，我們可以想像，當時除了合法的開拓者之外，還有很多非法的移民藏身其中，這些人往往被稱為「捷足者」（the sooners），以至於奧克拉荷馬州有「捷足者州」（the Sooner State）之別名。關於奧克拉荷馬市的歷史，可以參考美國國務院的關於「1889年奧克拉荷馬的土地哄搶熱」條目，網址為： http://ppt.cc/aWaR 。 Professional athletes, on the other hand, have rarely had much of a presence here. That began to change in 2006, when a consortium of wealthy Oklahomans, led by the financier Clay Bennett, bought the Seattle SuperSonics — a once-proud franchise that had been stuck for years in the drain-swirl of mediocrity. Most people assumed, cynically, that Bennett was buying the team in order to move it, as quickly as possible, to Oklahoma City, his hometown. He had pledged to make a good-faith effort to keep the team in Seattle — an effort that came into suspicion shortly after the sale, when the new owner demanded that Seattle come up with nearly $300 million to build a new arena. Seattle refused, at which point the ownership group announced, regretfully, that it was going to have to move the Sonics to a city with a suitable arena — a city that also happened to be Oklahoma City. The fallout was intense: lawsuits, protests, scandal. Even Oklahomans who love the team admit that they were uncomfortable with the way it was acquired. The sportswriter Bill Simmons, in solidarity with the people of Seattle, referred to the Thunder exclusively in his columns as the Zombie Sonics. 然而，職業運動員卻鮮少會出現在這裡。直到2006年，當一個由金融家Clay Bennett所領導的來自奧克拉荷馬的財團買下了西雅圖超音速隊──這支曾經風光，如今卻身陷低谷的球隊──之後，一切開始有了轉變。大多數的人揣測，Bennett會願意買下西雅圖超音速隊，正在於他希望能盡快把這支球隊搬到他的家鄉奧克拉荷馬市。面對這些謠言，Bennett 信誓旦旦地保證他會盡可能地讓這支球隊留在西雅圖──然而，Bennett的承諾卻在球隊售出後不久，當他要求西雅圖必須支付約三億美元以興建新的體育館之後，變得搖搖欲墜。西雅圖當局遺憾地選擇拒絕這樣的要求，而這便促成了超音速隊必須離開西雅圖，另覓一個擁有合適場館的落腳處的事實。這座城市，正是奧克拉荷馬市。此事件激起了巨大的餘波：訴訟、抗議、醜聞。甚至於許多由衷愛護這支球隊的奧克拉荷馬人也得承認，他們對於自己的城市獲得這樣一支球隊的方式並不感到自在。運動專欄作家Bill Simmons── 他與西雅圖市民團結一致──在自己的專欄中甚至用「殭屍超音速隊」（the Zombie Sonics）來稱呼雷霆隊。[2] [譯註2]：個人覺得「zombie」的意象有點難翻，Bill用這個字應該是想要表達超音速的靈魂已死，但這個身體卻仍然在奧克拉荷馬被使用著的那種感覺。 One of the miracles of the modern Thunder — and there are several — is how quickly they’ve made people forget the stain of their origin. The re-branding of the franchise has been quick and efficient: the team is now widely perceived as principled, well run and — above all — thoroughly Oklahoman. ESPN recently named it the No. 1 sports franchise in America. This fall, it seemed like a step toward closure when the Seattle City Council approved a plan to build a new basketball arena there. Simmons announced, just a few weeks ago, that he was officially retiring the phrase Zombie Sonics. In almost no time at all, the Oklahoma City Thunder had achieved escape velocity. 不過，現在的雷霆隊所締造的諸多奇蹟中的一個，正是他們是如此迅速地使人忘卻其誕生過程中所具有的這個汙點。這支球隊快速且有效地重新獲致令名，以至於如今已被廣泛地認為是職業球隊經營的典範，以及──最重要的是──這是一支徹徹底底的奧克拉荷馬的球隊。ESPN最近更將這支球隊列為全美No. 1的職業運動隊。今年秋天，隨著西雅圖市議會同意在西雅圖市規劃一座新的場館，一切的紛紛擾擾似有告一段落之勢。而Simmons也在幾週之前宣布，他將不再使用「殭屍超音速」這樣的名字來稱呼雷霆隊。幾乎沒有花費多少時間，奧克拉荷馬市雷霆就已經成功迅速脫離這一切麻煩。 Much of the credit for this turnaround goes to Sam Presti, the Thunder’s general manager. Presti took over the team the year before they left Seattle. He was 29, the youngest G.M. in league history. His first move was to draft Kevin Durant, which anyone would have done. His second, less obvious decision was to strip the roster of all the veterans and big contracts that would have prevented him from rebuilding from scratch. When the team moved from Seattle to Oklahoma City, Presti found himself in charge of not only the worst team in the league but also one of the worst in the history of professional basketball. The Oklahoma City Thunder won 3 games out of their first 32. This record, 3-29, is now a kind of touchstone in the organization — almost everyone I talked to invoked it at some point, and many of them even exaggerated it to 3-30. 而雷霆隊能夠成功地在人們心目中變身，最重要的功臣就是雷霆隊的總管Sam Presti。 Presti在球隊離開西雅圖的前一年接手管理當時的超音速隊。他當時只有29歲，是聯盟歷史上最年輕的球隊總管。他接手超音速隊後，第一個動作便是做了一件當年誰都會做的事 ──在選秀中選了Kevin Durant。他的第二個動作──明顯沒有第一個動作那般為人所知 ──則是清理球隊中不符合其重建規劃的老將以及大約。當球隊從西雅圖遷移至奧克拉荷馬市的時候，Presti所管理的這支球隊不只是聯盟中的最爛，還是美國職業籃球史中最爛的球隊之一。在前32場比賽中，奧克拉荷馬雷霆隊僅僅贏得了3場勝利。這個紀錄──3勝 29敗──如今成為了隊中某種奇怪的標準──幾乎所有與我談話的人都會在一些特定時候提起這個紀錄，許多人甚至還會不小心說成「3勝30敗」。 Most G.M.’s would have panicked, but that isn’t Presti’s way: he moved patiently, methodically. He overhauled not only the roster of the team but also the culture of the organization. This involved rethinking everything, no matter how small, from meeting times to media policy to the decorations on the practice-facility walls. Everyone soon became familiar with the Presti buzzwords: process, system, patience, sustainability. He made a habit of promoting people within the organization so that, from top to bottom, the Thunder became very young and tightly knit. He stressed community outreach to an unusual degree. He devoted extra resources to the development of the young Thunder players and, on the marketing side, refused to call attention to any single player apart from his teammates, even Durant, who was quickly becoming an international superstar. Meanwhile, Presti used high draft picks to surround Durant with other promising young players — Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka, James Harden — all of whom overachieved, relative to the rest of their draft classes, to an almost amazing degree. 面對這種困境，大部分的球隊總管都會感到恐慌，然而這不是Presti的風格：Presti有耐心地、有方法地一步一步前進。他不只把球隊成員換了個遍，亦重新塑造了這支球隊的隊內文化──這包括重新思考與球隊相關的所有事情，不論事情有多繁瑣，因此從球隊的集合時間到媒體採訪相關事宜到練習場中牆壁的裝飾該當如何，都成了Presti重新形塑球隊文化的過程中會顧慮到的環節。所以，很快地，所有人都對Presti的慣用語變得相當熟悉了： process、system、patience、sustainability。他非常善於提拔人才，以至於雷霆這支球隊由上至下所有的人都非常年輕而團結一致。他強調社區關懷，甚至到了一種不尋常的地步。他致力於提供額外的資源給年輕的雷霆球員們，而在行銷方面，他拒絕那種強調單一球員而非球隊整體的行銷方式，甚至是對KD這位迅速成為國際籃球巨星的球員也是如此。同時，Presti用了幾支高順位選秀簽，使KD周圍環繞了其他同樣具有巨大潛力與燦爛未來的年輕球員──Russell Westbrook、Serge Ibaka、James Harden──相較於其他同梯的球員，他們全都表現得比當初預期得要好得多，甚至只能用驚奇來形容了。 The Presti rebuild, a meticulously rational plan, now looks a lot like a fairy tale. The Thunder has improved, year by year, exactly on schedule: they made the playoffs in their second season, the Western Conference finals in their third and the Finals last year. If the Thunder doesn’t win the title this year, it will seem almost unfair — a violation of the basic laws of narrative. Among basketball fans, Presti has become a mythic braniac legend, the managerial equivalent of Kevin Durant: young, focused, dominant and improbably humble. Presti這種一絲不苟的、極為理性的重建計畫，如今看起來就好像是一則童話故事一般。雷霆依循著Presti的計劃表，一年比一年進步：他們在第二季時拿到了季後賽入場券，在第三季時進到了西區冠軍賽，並且就在去年盡到了總冠軍賽的殿堂。如果雷霆今年沒有拿下總冠軍的話，那看起來就有違童話故事的常理了。在籃球迷心中，Presti早已變成了一種神奇的、布萊尼亞克式的傳奇人物[3]，是總管界的Kevin Durant：年輕、專注、具有支配力、幾乎不可能地謙遜。 [譯註3]：Braniac是《超人》系列漫畫中的一位反派角色。 *** 看到板上大家那麼熱血，讓我不小心奮不顧身地熬夜翻了一下...OTZ 這部分內容滿中規中矩，大意就是：（一）從西雅圖超音速到奧克拉荷馬市雷霆（二）讓我們來崇拜sublime的總管大人Sam Presti，他是總管界的KD（啥希望大家看得愉快～然後明天無法看球嗚嗚，希望順利拿下，THUNDER UP!! -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 140.112.25.132