I should've known better.
In the past week I have experienced some highs and lows.In the blink of an eye, quicker than a new york minute, or any other cliche that would drive Paul Shirley mad. He was gone.
Last week, http://www.sportal.com.au/ reported an interview with Al Westover, that caused a minor stir I’m sure with Tigers fans, but the impact on Shirley fans (of which there are many in Australia) was far greater. His Myspace site, was flooded with well wishes for the try out with the Tigers and pleads to join various NBL teams and how much he would be loved in Melbourne. I resisted commenting personally, but obviously was excited about a potentially marriage between my favourite ball club and favourite ball writer/player!
I had learned that Paul Shirley, a man who I had followed on ESPN.com since he first began writing for them, a man whom (thanks to the amazing service of Amazon.com) I had not seven days earlier began reading his first Book entitled, "Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond" in which he chronicles his experiences as a basketball player.
Said Westover:
"He's an American guy who played with Chris in Russia. He's a well travelled guy who's had a few years in the NBA, Russia and Spain,"
Westover told Sportal on Tuesday afternoon.
"Paul's a bit of a media personality over there. He writes for ESPN and has written a book. We're bringing him out next week. If things work out we'll have our squad in place."
I wanted to see the man I’d read so much about from, well, himself. I wanted to hear him speak, see how he played, see how he sweats (that’s not a sexual comment, apparently he sweats as much as my alter ego ‘Patch Adams’!) And generally just pick his brains, about basketball and life, and the outrageous events of his time in Kazan with Chris Anstey (someone who he seems to really like. Trust me that’s a big deal, he's not exactly an endearing teammate.)
On http://www.anstey.com/, which firstly I was annoyed I haven't been looking at lately, because as Chris himself told us last time i checked the site, that the "Ask Chris" section specifically, of which I was a huge fan, was to become defunct. I guess as Seinfeld and Kramer can attest, it's not that easy when people keep up with the requests, such as questions to be answered. (Jerry: "You kept making all the stops?" Kramer: "Well. People kept ringing the bell!") Anstey's continues to answer the bell on his site, and I've been missing it!
Anyway (stop me if I keep going off like that!), after a week in which my hopes had risen to "OJ Simpsons head" sized proportions, Anstey flatly shot a hole in my big headed hopes, and my short lived dream of actually having this person become my mate. But the question was asked straight, is he a chance of coming? To which Chris replied and my heartbroken self, glazed eyes read "He's not coming, he'll be playing in Spain."
I should have known. I've been reading his blog for as long as it's been around, and I just sped through the entirity, 300+ pages of his book. I should have known I was crazy to get my hopes up.
If I learned anything from his stories and life, he doesn't know where he will be from season to season, and things never really pan out the way they seem they might!
The problem is far worse than my selfish dreams of being Paul Shirley’s Protégé, who now will be the Tigers second import? He would have been a great fit for the team, a Neil Mottram type player who can hit jump shots!
We definitely need a better 4 man, Stiffy and Axel were admirable, but certainly didn’t equate to Mottram of the season before….
The search continues, for the Tigers new import and a new Protege!
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