<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">George Gervin doesn't think he and Manu Ginobili have much in common, beginning with facial features. Gervin says he has the ears, Ginobili the nose. "I was Fred Astaire, too," said Gervin, his loud laugh following his description of how he played basketball. Ginobili? When he dances, no partner can follow. But they share something besides a finger roll. Gervin arrived in South Texas not sure if horses and cattle would roam dusty streets, meaning this kid from Detroit crossed his own kind of border in the '70s. And when he made a home here, playing as few in the sport ever have? It allowed others, including those who crossed real borders, to do the same. For Gervin, these NBA Finals bring together both of his worlds. Others might have wished for larger markets or flashier teams; to Gervin, these are his personal Celtics and Lakers. San Antonio is his home, and he certainly roots now for the organization that still employs him. But he also refers to Detroit by the term "home." Gervin returns there several times a year ("Except in the winter") to visit family and his best childhood friend. Then, on those trips, it's not hard to remember the old days, when he grew up within walking distance of Cobo Arena where the Pistons played at the time. "When I was young," he said, "it was running distance." And that's why he calls his boyhood team the DETROIT Pistons. Gervin puts heavy emphasis on the name of the city. The Pistons were inner city to Gervin, not in a far-away suburb. They were close to him personally, too. Former Pistons great Dave Bing coached Gervin's high-school all-star games, and Bing used to inspire Gervin with what he'd say then. "I can see playing against you one day," Bing would tell the teenager. Against? Gervin hoped it would be with. He wanted to be a Piston. </div> Source
How many of you can say they have had the opportunity to have seen the Iceman work during his prime. I'm telling my age but the Iceman and I can be more than 2-3 years different in age. I had them oppurtunity to see him and his thin frame, slice between 2 defenders sideways and do his famous finger roll. Poetry in motion. I've been a Spur fan since ABA days. The teams since '99 don't even come close in comparison to the old days (I mean better talent and coaching now). JT
I'm with you on the Iceman endorsement JTex. I've only had the chance to see videos of him in his prime, but he was 'poetry in motion' as you described.
