Who the San Antonio Spurs Are To Me
The Spurs are the model team in my eyes. That could be a biased observation that comes with being a fan since as long as I can remember, but they
are a team that plays for each other.
The team is made up of individual guys who care more about the name on
the front of their jersey, instead of the name on the back. I believe this
concept is what truly makes this team great.
Manu Ginobili is my favorite player. I enjoyed watching him
play for Argentina and loved what he added to the Spurs team. He’s flashy, has a high basketball IQ, and
can make difficult plays look easy. Not only is he a fantastic player, he is
very humble and always gives credit where credit is due. I’ve never heard Manu discredit the
opposition and I love that he respects the game so much to give the other teams credit. I love how
competitive Manu is as well; it doesn’t matter if he has a bad game or not he
will always go out there and compete for the team.
Many people call the Spurs “boring” and if that’s what it
means to play fundamental basketball then I don’t care if they are “boring.” I
love that the Spurs stick to the basics of the game and can still dominate, but
that doesn’t mean that they can’t have their flashy moments as well. Tim Duncan sticks to fundamental basketball and is able to dominate the paint but then you can also catch a glimpse of flash when Manu is slicing into the lane making you think he's going to his right but ends up making a difficult left hand shot look easy.
I love the Spurs for many reasons. I love how the guys conduct themselves on and
off the court. They’re humble, the care
for their teammates, and they love to give back to the community in various
different ways. The values the Spurs
organization teaches can be used in all aspects of life.
No matter where I go in life, I will always have the Spurs
to remind me of home and I will always carry a piece of the Spurs with me.
Comments
Janette
a lot more to say but the special meaning that Spurs are not just a single team of basketball in NBA . they represent more virtues and values that it is not easy to have all in one ! GoSpursGo!
El paso a paso que da junto con sus compañeros ese gran equipo Los San Antonio, vale mucho mas que cualquier campeonato ganado. sino que son un equipo capaz de demostrar que a pesar del tiempo sigue allí peleando con junto a los mejores equipos de esa prestigiosa liga. y se podría decir equipos que son relativamente mas jóvenes…solo en edad. Y dan cátedra de todo lo que han aprendido a través de todos estos años que han compartido, poniendo todo y dejando todo en la cancha como los mejores. Y es un enorme placer ver jugar a Manu junto a Tim Duncan y Tony Parker, que creo que forman el tridente mas eficiente y eficaz de toda la NBA.
Se pueden decir muchas cosas y criticar tantas otras de este plantel, pero lo que no se puede negar es el talento que siguen demostrando a través del tiempo y a pesar de todo. Ojala que ganen este campeonato tan merecido lo tienen. Y solo me resta decir GO SPURS GO.
El paso a paso que da junto con sus compañeros ese gran equipo Los San Antonio, vale mucho mas que cualquier campeonato ganado. sino que son un equipo capaz de demostrar que a pesar del tiempo sigue allí peleando con junto a los mejores equipos de esa prestigiosa liga. y se podría decir equipos que son relativamente mas jóvenes…solo en edad. Y dan cátedra de todo lo que han aprendido a través de todos estos años que han compartido, poniendo todo y dejando todo en la cancha como los mejores. Y es un enorme placer ver jugar a Manu junto a Tim Duncan y Tony Parker, que creo que forman el tridente mas eficiente y eficaz de toda la NBA.
Se pueden decir muchas cosas y criticar tantas otras de este plantel, pero lo que no se puede negar es el talento que siguen demostrando a través del tiempo y a pesar de todo. Ojala que ganen este campeonato tan merecido lo tienen. Y solo me resta decir GO SPURS GO. =)
Poco me queda por agregar, pero... puedo darme la oportunidad de preguntar que ¿Si en vez de decir "SPURS" diría la gran "generación dorada de la selección de basquet de Argentina" podría ser el mismo concepto?
Me parece que eso que hacen dentro y fuera de la cancha es tener en claro el concepto de EQUIPO.
Manu es uno de ellos,lo respetamos dentro de la cancha y fuera de ella,lo admiramos de la misma forma,queremos que los jóvenes lo tomen como ejemplo.
Si le agregamos a ello que forma parte de un equipo con semejantes compañeros,no hay casi posibilidad de que de allí no surja un básquet exquisito.Los Spurs quizás no salgan campeones esta vez,pero a nosotros nos siguen llenando de básquet y de orgullo q allí juegue un Argentino.
Gracias Manu por todo lo que nos das y les enseñas a los jóvenes y una vez más Vamos los Spurs !!
}Miguel Ángel Nuré
Manu is the heart of that team, Manu is proving daily that not only American can play the game. As a basketaball fan of Blazers , I feel great excitment to see this Team play and the strategic mind how Manu leads on . It i a honour to have such talent here .
Great article Silvia
My best from Oregon Ron
Abrazo,
Andres Perez.
Abrazo.
Andres Perez.
But my love for the Argentine National Team started when I was curiously following their journey at the 2002 FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis. Don’t ask me why as it just happen to be so. Of course, I’ve already been an Albiceleste futbol fan for more than a decade before that thanks to non other than Diego Maradona.
Much to my surprise, I read that they inflicted the first ever defeat against the US team with NBA players! From curiosity my interest in them became very contagious, as I following their journey all the way to the Final only to loose unjustly to Yugoslavia. But from that moment, my love for them has already been sealed and can never be broken.
As I was beginning to follow the NBA in that same year, I realized just how globalize the league has became with players from Canada (Steve Nash), Germany (Dirk Nowitzki), China (Yao Ming), Serbia (Vlade Divac and Peja Stojakovic) and many more. So my next question was, is there any Argentine player in the NBA? An there he was, Manu GINOBILI playing for the San Antonio Spurs. It was an instant click for me, there onwards.
Did you know during the 2003 Championship run, I actually skip a couple of days from work just to see them play? Hope my boss is not reading this J
Now people do ask, what is with you when it comes the Spurs in the NBA? Why not the Lakers, the Celtics, the Bulls? (These are the most recognizable NBA teams in Malaysia!)
Well the answer is simple, they’re just different.
So how different are they? Because they’re successful? Aren’t the Lakers successful?
Here what I have to response.
In era where success in the NBA also comes with being flashy, showmanship, individualism, full pompous and arrogance superstar hype; the Spurs brought all whole different value to the league. And those values are well said by Silvia in this article.
The value of being fundamental, the value playing for one another, the value of discipline, the value of being a team player. These are the things that made me appreciate the Spurs even more than any other team and that’s why I choose to stick with them.
It has always given me great pleasure just to see how Manu links up with the other Big 3; Timmy and Tony. It seems like they’re born from the same womb and telepathically they understood each other so well.
I often wonder if Timmy, Tony and Manu played for the Spurs during the David Robinson era; is it possible the Admiral would have won more title than Michael Jordan?
As many people have predicted that after our failure to defend the title in 2008 may have signal the end of the great era for the Big 3 and that the Spurs will never win another title. Well maybe? But in the end, you can’t take away my love for them and as I’ve mentioned earlier in this article about the Argentina basketball team; my love for them has already been sealed and can never be broken.
P/S Silvia - Thanks for writing this wonderful article and allowing me the chance to express my feeling about Manu and the Spurs.
Muy bueno el artículo. Y la clave está en el concepto de equipo que los Spurs han demostrado en estas últimas temporadas. Manu Ginóbili, que es un grande entre las sombras, ni siquiera integra el quinteto titular, pero ha logrado con Duncan y Parker ser un trío tan competitvo como fundamental. Los Spurs son, en esencia, lo que puedan hacer ellos, sin importar el nombre de la camiseta.
Considerar Los Spurs como el equipo que esta haciendo historia en la NBA con un perfil personal de acuerdo a una gran mente maestra Popovich que deposita en sus lideres sabe leer cada jugador e impone el juego en equipo permanentemente manteniendo la sobriedad y no exitismo .Ver a Manu como referente de ese liderazgo como motiva, asiste y se carga toda responsabilidad peleando con todos sus recursos ,su temple y pasion. Es destacable como ejemplo del deporte no solo del basquetbol . Que esta noche se de lo que realmente se merecen . Gracias Silvia como siempre transmitis esta pasion tan bien y Felicitaciones a Rita que refleja el espiritu de los Spurs
i think you wrote it very well,very complementary, very people origin likem
it was a touching article, a position from a true fan, not only the sport but the players, and that you understood its more then just egos, but a team effort
Of course we know the figure of Manu Ginobili even we play other sports like in my case football, but his presence in the court is notorious, by being respectful , passionate and specially intelligent and wise . Experience is the value more than any skills when someone can achieve, it becomes wisdom and the real meaning of virtue
Good luck and always enjoy this great Gift