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2018-2019 San Antonio Spurs: Fuck Kawhi Leonard


Michael Knight

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Kerr is right about Manu instantly connecting with the fans because of language. I remember being at a game in the early days of Manu and his English wasn't very good. He was talking into the mic and switched to Spanish and the crowd went fucking nuts. The dude was an instant fan favorite and then you add in his greatness and shit goes up to 11.

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Kerr is right about Manu instantly connecting with the fans because of language. I remember being at a game in the early days of Manu and his English wasn't very good. He was talking into the mic and switched to Spanish and the crowd went fucking nuts. The dude was an instant fan favorite and then you add in his greatness and shit goes up to 11.


My favorite Spur ever — and I’m a white guy who grew up on the mean streets of Northside SA, ese!
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10 hours ago, miguelito said:

We'll celebrate when he retires, too.

And just like when Manu kept saying that "he shouldn't be here," we continue saying the same thing about Tony Brothers as well.

One final thing about Manu though... I remember talking to Bud at summer league years ago before anybody really knew who Bud was, and we were talking about whether Manu was going to play international ball that year. I can't remember if it was the Olympics or the world championship or whatever, but it was one of those seasons where Manu had problems staying healthy and it may have also been a contract year for him. Back then, Manu would take a lot heat about that stuff and playing was definitely not the smartest thing to do for him financially and certainly not in the best interest of the Spurs. Bud turned to me and said, in a very matter of fact way, "Manu has his heart set on playing." And the word heart stuck out to me. There was not any doubt he would play (or at least do everything he could to play) because that was the way Manu was wired. He didn't care about anything but playing with his teammates and winning. It wasn't about the money. It wasn't about the stats. It wasn't about his brand or fame. He played the way he did, giving everything he had regardless of the consequences to his body or bottom line, because of his heart. It was in his blood. He couldn't possibly do it any other way and in addition to his oftentimes spectacular play, I think that is what really connected people to him. He was real as fuck and played with more heart than any player I can ever remember. And all of that bled into every corner of the organization.

So I was thinking about that conversation with Bud last night watching the retirement ceremony and after getting a little emotional I started to reflect on how lucky we have been witness to such a special run for this franchise. And I started to post all this and saw the "fuck kawhi" part of the thread title. Seeing Manu and everything he represents put it into such a stark contrast that for the first time, I actually felt good that Kawhi wasn't a part of this franchise any more. Oddly there was a little bit of closure and I think it made me appreciate Manu even more. What a badass. We will never see the likes of him come around again.

Gracias Manu.

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I used to love Kobe vs Manu.

On one end you've got Kobe the self proclaimed best player to ever play the game and on the other you have egoless Manu who's the ultimate team player.  Manu used to go toe to toe, much to Kobe's frustration.  It was like who is this guy who thinks he can cover me or score on me?  Manu didn't care, he was just there to play ball.  

I got the same feeling when watching Kawhi vs Lebron for the first time, but those memories are now dead to me. 

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23 minutes ago, Kermit said:

I wish I could understand Spanish just to know what Manu said to his wife. Just her facial expressions as he was talking killed me. 

He was thanking her for tolerating all of the requirements that came with his basketball career like specific food, time to sleep, silence at certain times and sacrificing summers. He also said it would take several hours to thank her for everything but he wanted to address several things. I assume he mentioned these because they were so intrusive on their lives.

The thing that stood out to me the most was his reassurance to his kids that he has no regrets about retiring. I'm sure they were aware of the "uno mas" request from the fans and the fact that Manu loves playing but he really emphasized that he doesn't regret his choice to be with his family now.

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47 minutes ago, F250 said:

He was thanking her for tolerating all of the requirements that came with his basketball career like specific food, time to sleep, silence at certain times and sacrificing summers. He also said it would take several hours to thank her for everything but he wanted to address several things. I assume he mentioned these because they were so intrusive on their lives.

The thing that stood out to me the most was his reassurance to his kids that he has no regrets about retiring. I'm sure they were aware of the "uno mas" request from the fans and the fact that Manu loves playing but he really emphasized that he doesn't regret his choice to be with his family now.

Yeah. I can only understand a little Spanish, but I picked that up when he expressed no regrets to his boys. As a father of two young boys it was touching. 

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https://www.poundingtherock.com/2019/3/29/18286634/a-translation-of-the-spanish-portion-of-manu-ginobilis-retirement-ceremony

Spoiler

Manu Ginobili’s Jersey Retirement Ceremony was a heartfelt, touching tribute to him from the Spurs, but humble as always he spent his entire speaking time thanking everyone else who made this dream possible for him. When directly addressing his family and friends from Argentina, many of whom were in attendance, he spoke in Spanish. Below is a translation of everything he said:

To friends and family from Argentina

“Most of you might believe you didn’t have a big influence in my career, since I spent most of my career away from home. But despite being so far away, I always knew about the sacrifices you made to watch my games, how you went to bed at three, four in the morning despite knowing that at seven the alarm clock would go off and you had to go to work. I knew about how you yelled and hurled insults at the TV, I knew about your celebrations, jumping on your couches. All of that got back to me and pushed me to give a little more. So, thank you to those of you who are here — which are a lot — and the ones who are back home.“

To Argentina National Team teammates

“What a joy it was to play with you! What a pleasure! To know that on every court we played we were going to be a group, tight as a fist; that we had each other’s backs everywhere we went; that we were going to celebrate together if we won — and we would have a great time — but if we lost, we were going to have an even better time, because we’d have priceless conversations with each other, and they would only make our friendship and our group stronger. So for all those times, for all those friendships and those experiences, thank you!”

To Mom and Dad

“Where are they? They must be out there somewhere. Actually, I think it’s better that I can’t look them in the eyes. Thank you, for providing us all we needed, for allowing us to pursue our dreams, giving us the freedom to choose out path, even though, Mom, I know you weren’t happy with it at first. You wanted your kids to be doctors, lawyers, accountants or whatever, but you always gave us the freedom to make our choices. Dad, despite being a gigantic fan of basketball — I hope you are hearing this somewhere — you never meddled when it came to my teammates, my coaches, my clubs, with anyone. But I always felt that you were next to me, right there next to me, supporting me. So thank you, because that’s worth more than any advice.”

To the kids

“You three — yeah, you three. I don’t know if you actually understand what’s going on. You, Dante, are more asleep than awake. The truth is I don’t know if you’ll understand this. All I want you to know is that I’m not sad. I’m actually very happy. This is a very special thing, what is going on today, and if at times I cry a little, it’s from happiness. And know that all we do with Mom is for your well-being. I tell you that every day and I’ll keep telling you that until you are 28, 29 years old. I love you more than anything in the world.”

To Many (his wife)

“And now? To you — this event would have to last three hours for me to be able to thank you enough. But I’ll just pick a couple of things. Thank you for putting up with my obsessions for the past 20 something years. ‘My nap has to be at this time.’

‘There has to be complete silence.’

‘The food has to be this.’

‘Today I can’t go out because I’m tired and tomorrow I’m playing, but I also played yesterday.’

“Thank you for putting up with all that and for helping make all of this easier so I could only focus on playing. And thanks for supporting me through all those summers, which should have been our family time on a beach somewhere, while I went and played with the guys in London, Japan, China, Mar del Plata — wherever. And you were just proud that I was doing what I loved and hanging out with them. Thank you so much, because I know I stole a lot of time from you. Thank you for your companionship, for your friendship, for your unconditional love. Thanks for making me who I am and thanks for putting your needs aside to make me and your kids your priority. I will be in your debt forever, but I guess I have 40 or 50 years left to try to make it up to you. And I will do my best to actually do it.”

 

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22 minutes ago, Hate said:

I was at the Rockets-Kings game tonight. Maybe I should go more often if good things happen for the Spurs?? A friend of mine got court-side seats. It was a pretty good time, but fuck the Rockets!

 

Dude, tell me you had a shirt with the image of manu blocking harded printed up.

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On 3/29/2019 at 9:51 AM, EvilCaseMcCoy said:

I used to love Kobe vs Manu.

On one end you've got Kobe the self proclaimed best player to ever play the game and on the other you have egoless Manu who's the ultimate team player.  Manu used to go toe to toe, much to Kobe's frustration.  It was like who is this guy who thinks he can cover me or score on me?  Manu didn't care, he was just there to play ball.  

I got the same feeling when watching Kawhi vs Lebron for the first time, but those memories are now dead to me. Loop

Don't let those memories be dead. Kawhi, for as big of a shit he turned out to be, brought us number 5, and closure for Timmy/Manu/Tony. Without him, our big 3 and Pop would not have been able to have that moment. 

 

I will always have a special place in my heart for Kawhi, fuckhead that he is. 

Edited by Pam Cummings
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2 hours ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

Dude, tell me you had a shirt with the image of manu blocking harded printed up.

Lol...I wish.  I did think about yelling Manu a few times while Harden was really close, but I didn't.

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