What Does Wayne Gretzky Have In Common With Steph Curry?

After I finished working on my story about the basketball game last week, I realized that I still had some images left of the spectators watching the game, that I thought you might be interested in seeing. I decided to check the Sporting Green section in the February 10^th edition of the San Francisco Chronicle for story ideas and to read about the game I attended on Thursday night. Instead I found an article titled “Gretzky’s been on road Curry’s Taking” written by Scott Ostler. The article points out that “the king of ice hockey”, Gretzky, “was always the slowest and weakest player on his team”. The article compares the two great athletes. “Gretzky broke in as a 6-foot, 160-pound shrimp; Curry as a 6-2, 170-pound string bean. The big, mean guys would’ve killed ’em if they could’ve caught ’em.” Gretzky has been to a couple of Warriors games and he acknowledged, “Listen, I don’t know a lot about basketball, but I know one thing – he is fun to watch. I’ve had an opportunity to watch him warm up, and the stuff he does in warm-ups is sensational”.

As I pointed out last week, Curry is the highest paid player on the team, but during the game he looked like a midget next to the 6.9-7 ft tall guys. But how does one find high performing players? “We always look for the perfect athlete”, Gretzky said. “How big he is or how fast he is or how strong he is. But we can never measure the mentality of an athlete. You can test and say, ‘How does this guy play under pressure? How will he do when his back’s against the wall?’ Either you have that or you don’t.” Perhaps it was a coincidence (in which I do not believe in) on the same date in the Bay Area Section of San Francisco Chronicle there was another article written by Peter Hartlaub titled, “S.F. Warriors get off to low-key start – in Daly City”. It turned out the event, which attracted about twenty thousand fans to a game between the Warriors and Mavericks on Thursday had a humble start on October 23, 1962. “The first San Francisco Warriors game was at the Cow Palace in Daly City on Oct. 23, 1962, was pushed back to 9 p.m. in hopes that in the boxing match there would be an early knockout at the Gene Fullmer vs. Dick Tiger fight at Candlestick Park – and fans would trickle over to watch basketball.”

This Is Just A Game

There are those who are into sports, and those who are not. I belong to the latter group. While growing up in Riga, Latvia, I played soccer and basketball. I also practiced Roman wrestling, fencing, and then in the college (I attended the Riga Polytechnical Institute), I became a mountain-climber. I never succeeded in any of these activities. From time to time, my father would take me to soccer games, but these opportunities did not implant any sports bugs in me.

Nevertheless, when a friend offered me a free ticket to a basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and the Dallas Mavericks (or Dubs vs Mavs), I said, “Yes”. Prior to this, I visited the Oakland Coliseum a few years ago, when Chase Bank invited me to a basketball game at the VIP lodge. Other than watching the game, we were surrounded by free food and the cheerleaders would visit us in the breaks for photo ops.

This time, my experience was different. My friend has had great season tickets in the middle of the arena in the 6^th row by the aisle, for the last twenty years. Thus, I was watching the game from the best spot.

If someone were to watch a basketball game for the first time, they would observe ten tall men in two different uniforms running from one side of the court to another, and from time to time throwing a ball into a basket, while 19,596 spectators yell and scream when the ball goes through the net.

There are huge screens high up in the middle of the arena, where one can see the action much better. During the game, loud music blasted and names of different companies would up on the light panels surrounding the space. From time to time vendors would peddle different snacks, beer, water and popcorn. Meanwhile, cheerleaders would jump and shake their bodies, or other performers would entertain the public.

It’s All In The Heart

You might have heard the expression that “The Heart is Where the Soul Resides.” This belief originated in ancient Egypt. This was the reason why during the mummification process, other parts of the body were removed while the heart was the only organ preserved. The Egyptians also believed that the heart was the source of memory, emotions and personality. Later on, ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle believed that the heart was the source of intelligence, motion and sensitivity? Only during the Renaissance did it become clear to Europeans that the heart functioned solely to pump blood. But does the heart have anything to do with love? Isn’t love “located” in the heart as well? Years ago, when I would disapprove of my daughter’s choice of boyfriends, my wife Elfa told me, instead of brooding, I should connect to my heart. This worked like a charm. Since in my heart I only had love for my daughter, the anger was departed.

The idea that in addition to fulfilling its vital role in our bodies, our heart has enough room for love as well as the soul; is going to be manifested over Valentine’s Day, next week. On Wednesday the 14^th, chocolates, flowers and other gifts are exchanged, many in the familiar symbol of the heart, which interestingly does not resemble what human heart really looks like. Recently in “The Wall Street Journal”, the Review section published an essay from Marilyn Yalom’s new book, “The Amorous Heart: An Unconventional History of Love” titled “The Mysterious Origins of our Most Enduring Symbol of Love.” According to the author, “The earliest illustrations of the amorous heart, created around 1250 in a French allegory called “The Romance of the Pear”, pictured a heart that looks like pinecone, eggplant or a pear.

How To Celebrate A 100th Birthday

Last week I wrote about reaching my seventy-first birthday mark. That might not be a big deal, since in the U.S. there are about 77 million baby boomers; those who were born between 1946 to 1964, and the number of those who are over 65 is growing. How about those who are living to the age of 100? Online I found out that “Nationwide, the centurial population has grown 65.8 percent over the past three decades and according to 2010 Census Bureau data there were 53,364 centenarians.” That means that they were born at the time when San Francisco’s East and West parts were connected after the completion of the West Portal Tunnel. It opened in 1918. I found out about it by chance after visiting my favorite branch of the San Francisco Public Library, on West Portal. There I learned that on Saturday, February 3^rd there will be an Open House with different performances from 1-5 pm to mark the tunnel’s 100^th event.

The tunnel not only connected two parts of the city, but also created a shopping district along West Portal Avenue, which serves a number of the neighborhoods, which seemed to sprout as a result of the tunnel’s proximity. One of them is called Monterey Heights. This is where we bought our house in 1984. It was built in 1928 and has the charm of old homes, like other buildings in the adjacent neighborhoods, like St. Francis Wood and Forest Hill. During the centennial celebration in the library, there will be a display of historical photographs of the area, courtesy of MUNI.