Deeper_Background
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2004
- Messages
- 4,234
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/magazine/specials/sportsman/2008/11/10/posnanski.curry/
Here's what I remember most about watching Stephen Curry play basketball in the NCAA tournament. The smiles. No, not his smiles. I remember the way everyone around him smiled -- the adoring fans, the on-deadline sportswriters, the big-time announcers, the opposing cheerleaders, LeBron James, everyone.
I smiled too. You couldn't help yourself.
These weren't the normal smiles you see during March Madness, no, these were big, wide ones, the smiles of children at Disney World. Sure, every NCAA tournament has a hero, a player who emerges and scores a bunch of points or blocks a bunch of shots or makes one as the buzzer sounds. This guy was different, though. There was something about watching Steph Curry play basketball that just made everybody happy.
Maybe it was because he looked so young, like a 12-year-old kid who had been called from out of the stands. Maybe it was because he played ball for Davidson, the little school in North Carolina with the game-show host name. Davidson had a history. Back in '64, the year the Beatles hit America, a young coach named Lefty Driesell stormed the Davidson sidelines, and Sports Illustrated picked the school No. 1. Something about Davidson sparked Beatles nostalgia from the days when little schools had a chance.
Maybe it was Curry's story. College basketball, more and more, seems like a one-year layover for high school stars on their way to the NBA. None of the big schools wanted Stephen Curry. Even Virginia Tech, the place where his mother and father had both been athletic stars, only offered him a chance to walk on. He was considered too slight, too small, too delicate to play in the big time. He went to Davidson instead and, as a freshman, set the NCAA record for most three-pointers in a season. As a sophomore he led Davidson to 22 consecutive victories to end the year.
Then, for two wonderful weeks in the tournament, he showed the big schools and America what too many had forgotten: Basketball is not a science; basketball is art.
CHRIS BALLARD: Tiger Woods' Open performance transcended sport.
IAN THOMSEN: Celtics embraced team-first philosophy en route to winning their title.
MICHAEL FARBER: Central Washington softball players restored faith in sport, human nature.
RICHARD HOFFER: At the age of 43, Bernard Hopkins proves he still has what it takes.
JIM TROTTER: Soft-spoken Nnamdi Asomugha making impact on the field, and off.
AlEXANDER WOLFF: Abhinav Bindra gave citizens of India a reason to smile.
LEE JENKINS: Fresno State's baseball squad shocked the world by winning the CWS.
LUKE WINN: Milwaukee was down on its baseball luck ... until CC Sabathia came along.
GEORGE DOHRMANN: Hope Solo overcame adversity in helping the U.S. women's soccer team win gold.
JON HEYMAN: Joe Maddon turned a laughingstock franchise into one of baseball's top teams.
JACK McCALLUM: Gold-medal winner Joey Cheek is raising awareness about the crisis in Darfur.
SETH DAVIS: Barack Obama took lessons from the hardwood to become the next president.
JONAH FREEDMAN: Brian McBride had plenty of reason to complain, but kept his mouth shut and played hard.
LARS ANDERSON: Jimmie Johnson is a true gentleman, as well as the nation's top driver.
JOSH GROSS: Anderson Silva is the most explosive talent in the world's most explosive sport.
DAMON HACK: Padraig Harrington picked up the slack for a Tiger-less PGA Tour.
JOE POSNANSKI: Stephen Curry brought the fun back to college basketball.
Here's what I remember most about watching Stephen Curry play basketball in the NCAA tournament. The smiles. No, not his smiles. I remember the way everyone around him smiled -- the adoring fans, the on-deadline sportswriters, the big-time announcers, the opposing cheerleaders, LeBron James, everyone.
I smiled too. You couldn't help yourself.
These weren't the normal smiles you see during March Madness, no, these were big, wide ones, the smiles of children at Disney World. Sure, every NCAA tournament has a hero, a player who emerges and scores a bunch of points or blocks a bunch of shots or makes one as the buzzer sounds. This guy was different, though. There was something about watching Steph Curry play basketball that just made everybody happy.
Maybe it was because he looked so young, like a 12-year-old kid who had been called from out of the stands. Maybe it was because he played ball for Davidson, the little school in North Carolina with the game-show host name. Davidson had a history. Back in '64, the year the Beatles hit America, a young coach named Lefty Driesell stormed the Davidson sidelines, and Sports Illustrated picked the school No. 1. Something about Davidson sparked Beatles nostalgia from the days when little schools had a chance.
Maybe it was Curry's story. College basketball, more and more, seems like a one-year layover for high school stars on their way to the NBA. None of the big schools wanted Stephen Curry. Even Virginia Tech, the place where his mother and father had both been athletic stars, only offered him a chance to walk on. He was considered too slight, too small, too delicate to play in the big time. He went to Davidson instead and, as a freshman, set the NCAA record for most three-pointers in a season. As a sophomore he led Davidson to 22 consecutive victories to end the year.
Then, for two wonderful weeks in the tournament, he showed the big schools and America what too many had forgotten: Basketball is not a science; basketball is art.
CHRIS BALLARD: Tiger Woods' Open performance transcended sport.
IAN THOMSEN: Celtics embraced team-first philosophy en route to winning their title.
MICHAEL FARBER: Central Washington softball players restored faith in sport, human nature.
RICHARD HOFFER: At the age of 43, Bernard Hopkins proves he still has what it takes.
JIM TROTTER: Soft-spoken Nnamdi Asomugha making impact on the field, and off.
AlEXANDER WOLFF: Abhinav Bindra gave citizens of India a reason to smile.
LEE JENKINS: Fresno State's baseball squad shocked the world by winning the CWS.
LUKE WINN: Milwaukee was down on its baseball luck ... until CC Sabathia came along.
GEORGE DOHRMANN: Hope Solo overcame adversity in helping the U.S. women's soccer team win gold.
JON HEYMAN: Joe Maddon turned a laughingstock franchise into one of baseball's top teams.
JACK McCALLUM: Gold-medal winner Joey Cheek is raising awareness about the crisis in Darfur.
SETH DAVIS: Barack Obama took lessons from the hardwood to become the next president.
JONAH FREEDMAN: Brian McBride had plenty of reason to complain, but kept his mouth shut and played hard.
LARS ANDERSON: Jimmie Johnson is a true gentleman, as well as the nation's top driver.
JOSH GROSS: Anderson Silva is the most explosive talent in the world's most explosive sport.
DAMON HACK: Padraig Harrington picked up the slack for a Tiger-less PGA Tour.
JOE POSNANSKI: Stephen Curry brought the fun back to college basketball.
![Pampers Sensitive Baby Wipes, Clinically Proven, Fragrance Free, Unscented, Water Based, Hypoallergenic, Multi-Use, Hand Wipes 336 Wipes Total (6X Flip-Top Packs) [Packaging May Vary]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41KLBHu9CAL._SL500_.jpg)
