It could be worse. I mean, at least he’s not recording demos that sound like this or anything. From Sports Illustrated.com (link courtesy True Hoop).
After helping Dallas win two straight playoff games by sinking clutch free throws, Dirk Nowitzki (right) divulged Tuesday the secret to his success.
“You just try to relax,” he said. “There are a lot of things going through your mind. I try to sing sometimes to kind of take the pressure off.”
It must be one impressive tune considering Nowitzki made two foul shots with 7.9 seconds left for the tying and winning points in Game 3 against San Antonio, then forced overtime by making two free throws with 8.5 seconds left in regulation of Game 4.
Smiling wide and laughing loud, he said the song was David Hasselhoff’s “Looking For Freedom,” a big hit when he was a kid in Germany.
Persons who’ve had the misfortune of watching any of Ch.4’s insufferable “I (Heart) The ’80’s” programs, a formula carefully mimmicked by VH1, are no doubt aware that Hasselhoff credits said tune for the fall of the Berlin Wall.
My Wednesday is off to a late start, thanks mostly to last night’s Clippers/Suns double OT classic, Phoenix taking Game 5, 125-118. I’m still having trouble believing Shawn Marion finished the game after an ugly landing during a slamdunk put-back with a few minutes left in the 2nd extended session, just as I’d think Sam Cassell would be taking just a little heat for turning the ball over with 8 seconds left in regulation and the score tied.
Cassell, however, is hung up on Raja Bell’s game tying 3 at the end of the first overtime. From the LA Times’ J.J. Andande :
“We’ve got a foul to give, we’ve got to put Raja Bell in the fifth row, with the popcorn man,” said Cassell, who was replaced by Daniel Ewing for that critical play.
I’m not going to hammer Mike Dunleavy and Ewing for their thoughts and actions on the play. Ewing defended the play perfectly. Bell collected and shot in one motion, while standing in three-point range. Any reach-in would have resulted in three free throws – and I’d rather have Bell taking that shot from the Clipper bench with a hand in his face, than taking three at the line without a defender.
That’s the ugly side of Cassell: with the charming mania and the I’m-running-downcourt-holding-my-giant-balls dance he does after hitting big shots is a totally less charming mania. I saw him get a technical (and then get un-technicalled) for running onto the court in a game against the Knicks at MSG. The refs thought he was screaming profanities at them — when he explained that he was in fact running off his bench to yell them at teammate Chris Wilcox, they rescinded it. He will throw teammates under the bus. He will blame rookies. He also will make big shots. All the more reason to buy a t-shirt.
VH-1 licensed that concept from Channel 4. It’s not mimicked, it’s franchised.