Dear Brandon...

by diffident on Dec 20, 2010 2:00 PM PST

Dear Brandon,

Whether you play for another 15 years or another 15 days, you should always feel good about this: You mark the end of the Jailblazer era and the return of the Walton tradition - a team that works hard, plays together, and plays clean on AND OFF the court. While basketball is your profession, it's not your life. As long as you can do it at an NBA level that meets your standards, wonderful. Whenever the day comes when you can't, well, that's just the way it is. I was a gym rat and when my body gave up, it took me two years really of grieving before I was able to move on. After years of just working out, and feeling like I was a bull let out to pasture, I started playing ping pong - my major in college if you base it on what I spent the most time doing - and am now, at 68, playing competitively at the Blitz Ladd's Addition tavern and loving it...It is my last sport:( Basketball is an incredibly beautiful sport to play and watch. I think the NBA athletes are the most highly skilled of any athletes in any sport. Go for it as long and as hard as you can, and then, give it up and move on...I hope long in the future, but whatever it is, it is.

My best to you,

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Beautiful sentiment.

If Brandon Roy had this much perspective, he would begin the process of putting the team’s interests before his own, both in his public and private comments and actions.

by Corvallis, OR on Dec 20, 2010 2:12 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

Well put

by Tupac on Dec 20, 2010 2:32 PM PST reply actions

But can broy earn 83mil in ping pong? :)

http://media.filmschoolrejects.com/images/dvd-ballsoffury.jpg

OSU '06
Trade for Gerald Wallace!!

by TyboOSU on Dec 20, 2010 2:41 PM PST via mobile reply actions

(_______: I don't know, maybe in China

by diffident on Dec 20, 2010 3:05 PM PST up reply actions

It takes time

You said it took you 2 years, it will take Brandon a long long time to get over it if his body gives up on him.

I can’t imagine what it must be like going from one of the top guards in the league to barely being able to play.

by Leif Jensen on Dec 20, 2010 3:22 PM PST reply actions

If I could Rec this twice I would

Cheers to you, Brandon, and the Blazers!

"We are building a fighting force of extraordinary magnitude. We forge our tradition in the spirit of our ancestors. You have our gratitude." - Rich Cho

by Sexual Tyrannosaurus on Dec 20, 2010 4:24 PM PST reply actions

I've had a similar experience

with physical decline and not being able to play the sport I love the most, basketball. Even though I can’t jump like I used to, I’m actually a better, smarter player than I was back then.

The other hard part about getting older (for us non-NBA guys) is finding enough people who are of similar physical ability and have enough interest to show up and play. City league just got too damn expensive, and I don’t belong to a club. It used to be renting out an elementary school gym one night a week for full-court 4-on-4 or 5-on-5, depending on how many people showed up, and hitting the parks in the summer.

by superfly05 on Dec 20, 2010 4:38 PM PST reply actions

I think Basketball is the most fun to watch for sure.

And it needs a high level of skill.
I think MLB may be an even more difficult sport to play well. Just guessing here, based on Michael Jordon’s experience.
Seems like it would be really difficult to hit the ball that is going 100mph.

I think basketball is the most difficult of TEAM sports to play. The teams who play best together usually have been together on the court for years…

by Natsthecat on Dec 20, 2010 5:18 PM PST reply actions

Jordon was a great basketball player...

but not much of a baseball player. In basketball;
you have to be both quick and fast
strong and agile
have excellent footwork
be able to shoot, pass, dribble, jump, pivot
play with teammates.
run, run, run, run (ie., have great endurance)

I just don’t think there is another sport that has the same level and variety of physical requirements for all the players.

In baseball, if you’re an infielder or a pitcher, you don’t have to hit that well…a slugger, you don’t have to do much of anything else in an outstanding way – there are specializations. Even though basketball has specialization, bottom line is every player has to be able to do everything at least adequately, if not well.

That’s why I think b-ball is the numero uno primo sport:)

by diffident on Dec 20, 2010 9:35 PM PST up reply actions