FanPost

Ode to Canis Hoopus.


There is a scene in the movie Tin Cup, with Kevin Costner where he attempts to hit a ball across a water hazard rather than around it. He makes this choice despite his being in position to win, or something close to it. The safe play is to hit the ball around the water hazard, preserve his "lead" and coast to his long celebrated victory of sorts. But that is not in his character. It is not who he is. He attempts to hit the ball over the water hazard and fails. Then he tries again, and again, and again until there is no hope of "victory", but eventually the ball clears the water hazard.

There is a point to this. I have been a wolves fan since inception. I watched the first game on television. I went to the first game against the Celtics and watched Larry Bird and Kevin McHale play. I had seen McHale play in college. I saw the bulls with Jordan before they were the bulls.

So why cheer for a team for almost three decades only to bow out on the precipice of victory? For a Spanish kid, I have never and most likely will never meet. I am not a teenage girl fawning over Rubio’s looks. No, Ricky Rubio is that guy in Tin Cup.

I like that guy in Tin Cup, I relate to him. He is an artist like me. He is why I like Ricky Rubio. Rubio did not give fancy passes because it was the right basketball move. He is like the kid in his drive way trying to do tricks on his skateboard. There is no reason, other than it is fun.

Coaches don’t like fun, they like winning, they like, "my way" they like simple. This is the greatest crime of the Timberwolves manhandling of the career of Ricky Rubio, they destroyed the fun. Over the course of his six years in Minnesota the fancy passes got less fancy. The exuberant joy on his face at the mere act of playing basketball was replaced with a look of slight distain. For some reason, they hired Picasso, to paint a paint by numbers water color portrait. They got upset when they didn’t get the portrait they wanted. They neutered the artist and made him a basketball player.

The Ricky Rubio I fell in love with in the Spanish national game against the US in the 2008 Olympics, was not a basketball player, he was a painter who painted with basketballs. It was not good enough to win, it was to be enjoyable, and fun.

Today, Ricky Rubio is free. I only hope the Jazz can set him free. Stop trying to make Rubio into what the other guy is doing, and let him be Ricky.

I came to this site shortly after the 2009 draft, to get information on Rubio. A google search led me here. I asked questions, got answers I didn’t like and kept coming back. We shared a love of our Spanish Unicorn. We discussed things that were not discussed on other forums, but on Canis there was no fear of argument. I liked that.

Some of them I stay away from. I am a lawyer and should avoid some subjects lest I might say something against a client’s interest. I liked it here, it was fun. It was only the second forum I had ever participated in.

I tried to write for the forum, submitted an application a couple of times, but was not good enough. The story of my life. I am not bitter. I would not apply again. I get it. I am not Tim, I cannot make you laugh. I am not that guy. I am not the guy you get drunk with. I am the guy who you call at two in the morning with a loaded pistol to your head, and your hand on the trigger, tears crawling down your face.

I hitch my wagon to the Spaniard not because he was a great basketball player, but I knew, he was Picasso and I could never cheer for someone who murdered Picasso. To my close friends I am famous for my, "lines in the sand." The strange morality that only I seem to understand.

We become sports fans by force almost. The wolves were the hometown team. However now for the first time in my life as a sports fan. I feel free. I can choose who I want to cheer for. I owe no one anything. When I am more emotionally stable I hope to come back. Perhaps a Jazz fan, but I don’t know. Rubio is free, and I am free to, to pursue mea Somniabunt. Sorry for the choppy Latin, it’s been a while.

Thanks for the memories, I will cherish them always.