LITTLE ROCK — Gasol wants to make nice in Memphis
Pau Gasol wants to repair his image with Memphis Grizzlies fans.
The 7-foot All-Star forward witha thick beard and floppy, brown hair demanded a trade last season, trying to escape the NBA's worst team.
"Last year was really, really hard in many ways," Gasol said. "From my injury [a broken left foot that sidelinednearly two months] to the [trade] situation, the losses, the criticism, a lot of negative things. A lot of things happened that did not help me or the team."
Gasol went to new General Manager Chris Wallace this summer for suggestions on how he couldconnect with fans.
Wallace told him about a charity event for season-ticket holders. The catch? The event started in two hours. So Gasol canceled his plans, jumping at the chance. Gasol even has hired a community-relations specialist.
"I want to be more involved with different things out there," Gasol said. "I want the community to know I'm putting effort out there.
I don't want to be seen as a greedy player, or as a guy who doesn't want to be here." The Hill family
Phoenix Suns forward Grant Hill's father is former Dallas Cowboys running back Calvin Hill and his mother, Janet, is a corporate consultant.
"Mom was the bad cop, dad was the good cop," Hill, 35, told Sports Illustrated. "My friends called my mom the General. She didn't play.
"It was like World War III if I lost the key to the house. If I came home from school and something happened with a teacher, my mom knew it: She was PTA president.
"My parents were involved. They knew my friends, and I had to tellthem where I went and give them a phone number.
"Now that I have perspective on it, I appreciate it. I'm going to bethat sort of parent."
Hill also has perspective on how he has changed since he entered the NBA in 1994.
"When I was young, it was all one pace: attacking," he said. "I wanted to dunk on everybody - that SportsCenterculture we've been brought up in.
Now, I understand it's about playing the angles. I'm more efficient." NBA tidbits
Ron Thomas, director of Morehouse College's Journalism and Sports Program, gave The Atlanta Journal-Constitution five surprising facts revealed in his book "They Cleared the Lane: the NBA's Black Pioneers:"
1. NBA owners secretly banned black players from the league for its first four seasons, 1946-1950.
2. Chuck Cooper, the first black player drafted by an NBA team,and Hall of Famers Bob Cousy and Red Auerbach all debuted with the Celtics on Nov. 1, 1950, vs. the Pistons.
3. Oscar Robertson averaged a triple-double during the first six years of his NBA career: 30.3 points, 10.6 assists, 10.4 rebounds.
4. Earl Lloyd, the first black player to play in an NBA game, was nicknamed "Moon Fixer" at West Virginia State because of his 6-6 height.
5. Tarzan Cooper, star of the barnstorming NewYork Rens, sat in the front seat of the team bus to get the extra leg room and first dibs on any food that came onboard.
He said it
Boston Celtics rookie Glen Davis, after seeing the Sistine Chapel in Rome: "There's no way I would take six years painting a ceiling.
But I guess you do what you've got to do, and I just want to commend Michelangelo."Quote of the day "I told them if they didn't
get a celebration penalty
after our first score, all
of them would be doing early morning runs." Georgia Coach Mark Richt on why about 70 of his players ran from the sideline to the end zone to celebrate the team's first touchdown against Florida
Sports, Pages 30 on 10/28/2007