[外電] Rip Hamilton never walks alone (二)

[kerrys (台北不是我的家)]

    原文出處：
              http://0rz.net/121rP

--

Detroit, Jan. 17
    一月十七日，底特律

The Mayback glides to a halt in the parking lot outside the Palace of Auburn
Hills and the doors fly open, dispensing Richard Hamilton's boys into the light
. Hamilton himself steps from the passenger seat. His mink coat is unzipped,
revealing one of his signature Rip City jerseys, a tribute to his hometown of
Coatesville.
    Mayback悄悄地開進了奧本山宮殿外的停車場後停了下來，門飛快地打開了來，RIP的
哥兒們走進了燈光底下。RIP自己則從乘客座下車，他的貂皮大衣拉鍊沒拉上，露出了他獻
給家鄉賓州柯特斯維爾的禮物 - 印有RIP之城的基金會運動衫。

Few passions in sports come close to Hamilton's devotion to his blue-collar
birthplace 44 miles west of Philly. "No one ever wants to gives us respect," he
says. "There used to be a sign on the highway that let you know when you got to
Coatesville, but they took it down. Then I looked on a map and we weren't even
there. Where's the respect?"
    很少有運動員和RIP一樣，對家鄉，位於費城西方44哩遠藍領城市柯特斯維爾貢獻良多
。他說"沒有人曾關心我們，過去你還可以在高速公路上看到往柯特斯維爾的路標，不過他
們把它拿掉了，現在我連看地圖都找不到任何標示，有誰考慮過我們的感受？"

Because the downtrodden steel town gave him life, because it kept him out of
trouble, taught him values, and introduced him to basketball, he's made it a
lifelong goal to put it back on the map.
    因為這個落後的鋼鐵小鎮給了他生命，因為它幫助他度過難關，讓他懂得生命的價值
所在並指引他走到籃球這條路上，他訂下了一個終生的目標，要讓柯特斯維爾的名字重現
在地圖上。

"Everything I have I owe to Coatesville," he says. "That's where my heart beats
."
    他說"我所擁有的一切都要感謝柯特斯維爾，那是我心所繫之處。"

With the exception of the 15-minute drive to and from practice, Hamilton rarely
goes anywhere by himself. Make that never. Not to the grocery store. Not to the
West Indies. There are very few moments in his life that his childhood buddies
have not witnessed.
    除了前往和離開練習場的15分鐘路程，RIP鮮少獨自去任何地方。從來沒有，他不會獨
自去雜貨店購物，不會獨自去看西印度板球的比賽，在他的生活中，鮮少有他童年玩伴沒
陪在身邊的時刻。

"If I looked around and [my friends] weren't there, I wouldn't feel right," he
says. "Once I drove to a game by myself and the parking attendant looked at me
like something was wrong."
    他說"如果我環顧四週而我的朋友不在身邊，我就會覺得渾身不對勁。有一次我獨自開
車去球場，停車場管理員還一臉狐疑地看著我。"

The guys followed him from Coatesville Area High to the University of
Connecticut, where he led the Huskies to a 34-2 record and a national
championship in 1999. They moved west with him to Detroit, where he won an NBA
championship in 2004. With each lifestyle change, each new demand on his time,
the guys were there to keep him grounded. Says cousin Jontue Long, "We'd be
walking down the street and people would be pulling him in all different
directions asking for pictures and autographs and we'd just be left standing
there. At first it was awkward because we didn't really know how to act." But
when the crowds dispersed, Rip's boys saw that he was just as puzzled as they
were. "He was rich and famous but he was still Rip," says Long. "He was still
Coatesville."
    那群傢伙從RIP在科特斯維爾就讀高中時就跟著他，他們跟RIP到'99年籃球校隊在他帶
領下獲得34勝2敗出色戰績並一舉拿下NCAA冠軍的康乃迪克大學就讀，之後又跟著RIP一起
西進到'04年奪得NBA總冠軍盃的底特律。RIP每一個人生階段，都有不一樣的時間表，但這
群傢伙始終陪在他身邊。表弟J.Long說"我們一起走在街上時會有來自各個方向的人們拉住
RIP，要求要跟他合照或請他簽名，而我們就站在旁邊等著。一開始會覺得很困窘，因為我
們真的不曉得要如何反應。"不過當人們散去後，RIP的哥兒們看到他和他們一樣不安地站
在那兒。Long說"他雖然變得富有且出名，但他仍是RIP，他仍屬於科特斯維爾。"

Still the same kid who'd sneak into darkened rooms at basketball camp with one
hand full of lotion and another full of baby powder and smear them onto some
poor kid's face. He'd wait till breakfast the next morning to see which one
walked into the mess hall tarred and feathered, all the while cracking up.
    他仍是那個會在籃球營時一手拿著乳液，另一手拿著嬰兒爽身粉，鬼鬼祟祟地走進昏
暗房間，將那些可憐的小孩子臉上抹得亂七八糟的RIP，盼望著隔天早上看看有哪個迷糊蛋
真的會滿臉豆花地直接走到食堂吃早餐。

"We're not his entourage or his posse," says Mark Brown, a financial advisor
with Smith Barney, whose dark blue business suits stick out among the legion of
Rip City jerseys. "Our friendship is from the heart, as real as anything there
is. We all have our own productive lives, but we've been together forever."
    在著名的Smith Barney財務顧問公司上班，衣櫃裡深藍色西裝在一堆RIP之城運動衫中
顯得很突出的M.Brown說"我們不是他的酒肉朋友或保鏢，我們的朋友情誼是發自內心的，
就像那兒的任何東西一樣真實。我們擁有各自有生產力的生活，但我們將會永遠在一起。"

To seal their bond and pledge their allegiance to Coatesville, 10 members of
Rip's crew have CV FOR LIFE tattooed on their abdomens. The 11th member
declined to join them with good reason: "He has a big stomach, so we let him
get it on his shoulder," says Rip. Hamilton has CV on his jewel-encrusted bling
, on his license plates and etched into the back of his game shoes, too. For
him, all things begin and end with the town where he was born.
    為了確保他們的約定並保證他們對科特斯維爾的忠誠，RIP和哥兒們一共十個人都把"
生為CV(科斯特維爾)人，死為CV鬼"的字樣刺在他們的肚皮上。而第十一個成員有一個好理
由婉拒加入他們的行列，RIP說"他有一個大肚腩，所以我們特准他將那些字刺在肩膀上。"
在RIP鑲鑽的鍊子、車牌，以及比賽用鞋後跟，你都可以找到"CV"字樣。對他而言，所有的
事情開始和結束都和他的家鄉有關。

With the season nearing the halfway point, though, Rip's Pistons have yet to
find their groove. For a team with such talent, they have a mind-boggling
propensity for overlooking the extra pass, standing around on offense, and
barely striking iron with their jumpshots. But you won't find 12 players who
know each other better. If Rasheed Wallace's corner 3 is falling, his teammates
find a way to get him the ball. If Ben Wallace suddenly streaks downcourt, they
know just where to hit him with the lob.
    雖然本季已進行了接近一半，但RIP的活塞仍未找回他們的最佳狀態。對一支這麼有天
份的球隊來說，他們有令人難以想像的良好打球風格，他們樂意尋找有更好出手機會的隊
友傳球，願意在攻擊端各司其職，因為出手時幾乎都已經跑出大空檔，所以幾乎不會被敲
鍋。你很難再找到有12名球員比活塞球員間更了解彼此。如果溪蛙角落的三分球落空了，
對有們會找到方法把球傳給他再一次嘗試。如果班蛙突然殺到籃下，他們也知道該在什麼
時機把球高吊給他。

Against the Memphis Grizzlies a week and a half ago, however, none of that was
evident. For the first time in history, an NBA player led his team in scoring
without making a single shot from the field. All 14 of Hamilton's points came
on free throws. He went 0-for-10 from the floor. "I never thought I'd have to
coach effort," said Larry Brown. "I've never had to do that in my entire life,
and this is the last group I expected to do it with."
    不過一個半星期前對上孟斐斯灰熊那場比賽，上述那幾點蕩然無存。那場比賽是NBA史
上頭一遭，球隊陣中得分最高的球員沒有任何一分是由投籃得到，RIP那場比賽得到活塞全
部球員裡面最高的14分，不過那是因為他罰球全中所得，他投籃10次全數落空。教練布朗
說"我從沒想過我得要教球員如何積極打球，在我的一生中，我從沒這麼做過，我希望這是
我的第一次同時也是最後一次。"

--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 222.250.47.10
推 pennymarcus:RIP真的不喜歡一個人獨處 XD
推 studylance:推 真的熱血 生為CV人死為CV鬼的字樣刺在他們的肚皮...
推 quiff:Poor Kid是可憐的小孩，不是指貧困。
推 kerrys:感謝樓上quiff大的指正  錯誤部份已修訖  <(_ _)>
※ 編輯: kerrys          來自: 210.241.111.125      (06/08 14:35)