Marvel at Ironmen

Does anyone remember A.C Green? Dubbed as 'Ironman', Green still holds the NBA record for most conesecutive games played at 1192. That is a very impressive feat, because the 1192 games meant that he played nearly 15 consecutive NBA seasons without missing a game. But for most basketbball fans, that's old and mundane news. Nothing exciting about it.

So why am I writing about it? I'm not. I recently learnt about the other 'Ironman' in the sports world. I had heard about the Ironman Triathalon on various sporting articles, but only recently learnt the details from my German supplier. Now for those of you who might stumble upon this blog, without any knowledge about this event, here's some nerve wrecking details.

The Ironman Triathalon that takes place in Hawaii annually. It involves a 3-part race where the participants go through (argueably) the most gruesome endurance tests ever designed for man. Well, maybe Leonidas and his army of 300 Spartans might beg to differ. It begins with a 3.5 km swim (1 km of swim roughly equates to 5 km of running - in terms of the stamina required), followed by a 180 km (yes - one hundred eighty - not a typo) bicycle race for the second peg, which is topped off by a just-over 42 km marathon. Read it again to grasp the magnitude of the figures.

With all due respect to Green, the participants of this triathalon really have balls of steel. The participants get little to no rest in between and can actually finish off the course in slightly upwards of 8 hours to 9 hours (for most of them). The current record holder is Luc Van Lierde from Belgium who completed the Ironman in 8:04:08.

On a sidenote, there are a fair number of triathalons that take place in various countries around the world. My said supplier who enlightened me with this breathtaking event, takes part in a 'mini-triathalon' in Germany whenever he gets a chance. This little triathalon still is a 1-1.5 km swim, 40 km bicycle and a 12 km marathon. He does all this at the age of 40+ (sorry - don't know his exact age!).

Marvellous stuff isn't it? :)

More Miller Time?

Thank god. Argueably, the dryest offseason in NBA that I've seen in the last decade is inching every-so-slowly to an end. The only primetime news was Kevin Garnett to the Boston Celtics and even that was nearly 4 weeks ago. The massive 7-for-1 swap with the T-Wolves gave Danny Ainge one last chance to salvage his position.

With a trio of KG, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce the Celtics are (theoratically) in position to make a championship run. Shaq is past his prime and Wade cannot carry the team on his own. No other noteworthy contenders in the East except Le Bron and Co. down in Cleveland. The Suns, Mavericks and Spurs probably have more talent than the entire Eastern Conference combined - so it is not hard to imagine the Celts at least re-living their glory days during the season. What happens in the post-season is too early to predict at least methodically.

One last move that I hope Celtics do is to convince Reggie Miller to come out of retirement and guide most of these selfish players to win a championship. Yes, it is no secret that Miller remains my all-time favorite player. The fearless attitude and his ability to cause mental wrecks for his opponents was a joy to watch. His leaning into opponents while taking his threes, or endlessly running around screens to lift that jumper while his defender would helplessly chase him was simply fun. In a recent interview during Dirk Nowitzki's charity Bowling game Miller said he was undecided as to whether he wants to return for one more season to chase the NBA championship that eluded him for his 18 seasons in the NBA.

If you don't know much about Reggie Miller, here's a small list of his accomplishments (with quite a few of them against the Knicks):

• Ranks 13th in the NBA for All-Time Points Scored



• Ranks 1st in the NBA for All-Time 3-Pointers Made



• Scored 25 points in the 4th Quarter against Knicks in 1994. At the Garden.



• Scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds in 1995. At the Garden. Including the game-winner.



• Game-turning - and eventually series-turning 3-Pointer against the Knicks (again!) in 1998.



• Finishing off Knicks with 17 in the 4th yet again to advance to the NBA Finals.



• Reggie Miller is one of only five members of the 50-40-90 club along with Larry Bird, Mark Price, Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki. This club is for players who during the course of a season shot 50% or better from the field, 40% or better from three-point range, and 90% or better from the free throw line. [Thank you Wikipidea for this one!]

What more can I say about Reggie? If your game is on the line, I can guarantee that over 90% of coaches in the league would go to either Reggie Miller, Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson. Now that's a fair comany to be in.

Come back Reggie - one more time - show us how Basketball is meant to be played in these showbiz days of dunks, alley-oops, and crossovers. Show these little punks running around making millions what it was like to play to win.

The Departure of Griffin

Often troubled and ex-Minnesota star Eddie Griffin, 25, departed when he ran his car into a moving train. The NBA 'star' never really developed his true potential - instead he never ceased to find ways to get himself suspended or put on the inactive list on endless occasions.

Trouble always followed Griffin like a shadow - right from his days in high school in Philadelphia all the way to a roller-coaster NBA career. Drugs, alcohol and discipline issues haunted him throughout his days in the NBA.

However, having him on various of my fantasy rosters over the past 3 years - one could safely say that the talent was always present in Eddie. He showed flashes of brilliance in certain games when shooting well over 50% from the field and having 2-3 blocks quite frequently. Yet, his personal issues never allowed the NBA to climb on his priority list, ultimately dooming the star.

I don't understand why people find it so difficult to let go of their own past and move ahead in life. The kid had plenty of opportunities and a god-given talent. If only he could channel his rage into constructive play on the court, he would've finished his days a lot more peacefully.