The Wizard of another kind of Dribble
Prompted by what, I don't know, but I've been enjoying myself immensely these last couple of days watching Pete Maravich videos. He was before my time, and I don't know much more about him than his basic life story, but I adore watching these clips. The above is my favourite, and comes from an instructional video (from which there are many more clips available). Below are a couple more: the first comprises every field goal from his 68-point display for the New Orleans Jazz against the New York Knicks in 1977; the second is a tribute to his stellar college career, in which he averaged 44.2 points per game in the pre-three-point-line era. Enjoy.
Pete Maravich was UNBELIEVABLE. The Basketball Hall of Fame (which is basically the Basketball Hall of Lots of Video Monitors Showing Permanent Highlight Reels) is full of people staring at his LSU clips with the single specific configuration of facial muscles that says "OH MY GOD I DIDN'T KNOW THEY COULD DO THAT IN THE '60s."
I suppose that's somewhat similar to what one feels watching the young Cruyff -- or better still, the young, black and white, '58 or Santos Pele. Or how I felt when I found The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock in my school poetry book.
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