I am mildly surprised. KG gave a short but (ooooooh ) exclusive Interview to Germany's (IMO) best and probably most respected and frequented (504 million hits in January 2008) news-websites, SPIEGEL online (website of one of GER's oldest weekly news magazines DER SPIEGEL = the mirror).

If you have the time and care to take a different look on things happening in Germany and around the globe (that's why I like to also see news from other countries) give this website a try, they have a fine English section / site with lot's of actual content as well, like today, an interview with Henry Kissinger.

But anyways, I will come back to you tomorrow (I hope )with a translation of the interview...

...oh oh...translated English to German by professionals and back by an amateur. Speaking of \"lost in translation\"...

EDIT: If any of you knows some German, of course you can check out on your own... direct link to the interview

Sanyarin wrote:

Hahahaha I think that makes it much funnier! I look forward to it!

We'll see about the \"funny\" part. I'd expect it to become boring to you, because of the following facts which are in one way or the other relatec to the sort of media, this interview was published in: A very serious, respectable \"newspaper\" (or it's web offspring) with a rather leftwinged, intellectual audience that usually does not follow US sports or is even informed about it, while B-Ball is only slowly infiltrating the German society.

1. It appears to me as if they took much of the fire out of KG's responses. Of course without altering the meaing, like I said, a highly serious newspaper, but still for an rather intellektual audience. And since there are always multiple ways to translate what someon says in his personal, every-day speak, I gues they chose the mild and educated one. You'll see what I mean...

Sadly, I have not seen eonugh orignial footage of KG to have developed a feeling for how he talks so I could try to \"reinterpret\" the German translation back into something \"more KG like\".

2.Since only near to 5% max of the readers of this newspaper will have even more than more vague idea what basketball is, not mentioning following the event in NBA closely, you can't expeect them to ask very special questions that would really deserve the term \"exclusive\". The just asked him mostly common stuff you probably have heard a thousand times before...but the German reader has not.

Anyways...we'll see .

If I don't get the translation done by today, then by tomorrow...

NBA star Garnett

„Finals against the Lakers would be nice”.

Since Kevin Garnett plays for the Boston Celtics, the record winning championship team of old is a serious contender again. With SPIEGEL ONLINE, the forward speaks about the best team in the league, the rearming in the Western Conference and the reasons why he defers to his teammate Paul Pierce.

SPIEGEL ONLINE : You are now injured for more than a month. You were unable to play in the All Star Game as well. How is your mood?

Kevin Garnett : I am feeling good mentally. I can’t change anything about my injury. It’s sad that I had to forgo the experience of participating in the All Star Game. Nonetheless, I have tried to enjoy the days.

SO : During your break, the league changed a lot. The Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns have reinforced themselves heavily, a big trade between the Dallas Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets it about to be completed.

KG : It’s just crazy in the West, but it has always been that way. One thing is for sure: It will be fun watching the games there. I will be switching on the TV, like all of you. Things are going to get hot. We will have to face some of the western teams a few times as well.

SO : Which team would you prefer to meet in the Finals?

KG : Next Question.

SO : Too early, to answer such a question? The fans, in any case, are already dreaming about a duel with the LA Lakers, Boston’s old rival.

KG : If that would be what’s happing, it would be nice. The addition of Memphis’ Pau Gasol, in any case, makes them a true contender

SO : Did all those teams make all these changes to be better prepared for Boston?

KG : They made all these changes to be better prepared for San Antonio! The Spurs are the best team in the NBA. I don’t care about the record in that regard. They are the reigning champion and they are the reason why Phoenix fortified itself with Shaquille O’Neal.

SO : But if you take a look at the standings, the Celtics are the best team in the league. And that, albeit many experts criticized your supposedly weak supporting cast (literally: criticized your team as too thin. German expression, but aims at the bench, not the whole team). But even in your absence your team won seven of nine games.

KG : A deep bench is important (again, changed from “team” to focus “bench” what is meant by the expression used; literally: a balanced team is important). Of course people can say about us whatever they like, but in my opinion, our team is very deep. We have forward James Posey, guard Eddie House and some of the young guys, too, who have played really well in recent games and proved that we are a deep team after all. Because of my injury, our young players had the opportunity to get some experience in close games. That can’t be emulated in training - a very, very important thing.

SO : As the team's star, how do you try to lead your young teammates?

KG : I am leading by example. I show them that you don’t go anywhere without hard work. And at the same time I let them know that it’s not the end of the world, if they make a small mistake. I make them relaxed. Not too relaxed, but in away they can get onto the field with a clear mind. What’s great about my situation here is, that can share the responsibility with two other stars.

SO : As you arrived in Boston you made it clear from the very beginning that you are not the only star. For example, Paul Pierce is still announced as the last starter at home games. What is it you want to achieve by that?

KG : I just did not want to play all those little games that can make teams collapse (literally: teams can perish). I wanted to let Paul know that this is still his team because he has been here longer than any of us. He should know that we are here to make him better. We, meaning the three high performers (very special German expression, meaning those who carry the most load but also deliver in the clutch), have set this tone from the first day on: Everybody leaves is ego on the doorstep and we all focus on our goal.

SO : Your coach Doc Rivers was criticized last season. This year, he coached the Eastern All Stars. What makes him special?

KG : I have had many coaches in my career already. And Doc Rivers is better than everybody else when it gets to motivating his players. He’s very direct, but in the same time relaxed and understanding – a very rare combination. He knows how to reach us.

SO : Some in the Celtics organization are already calling you the biggest gym rat in the history of the franchise and the best defender since the legendary Bill Russell.

KG : You hear such stuff, and naturally you are happy about it. But I have always been known for being a hard worker. I came from the very bottom and have toiled my way up since I came to the NBA. This is a thing I define myself by.

Hey I enjoyed the comment and the link and that was also a good and quite accurate translation. However, being the German stud that I am, I feel obligated to defend my culture of any accused ignorance. I guarantee you that with very few exceptions every single German knows very well what basketball is.

PMAC:
First of all, thanks for the kind words. I do what I can.

I guess in the very detail it could be argued how high the German understanding of basketball is. I will agree with you in an instant that near to every German knows what Baskteball is. But so does every German know what American Football is or what Baseball is or what Rugby is or what Cricket is. The point is, that still and albeit the fact that it is part of sports courses in many High Schools, the general understanding of Basektball is pretty low, except among those who actually care about the sport, which is an ever increasing number, but still - as I have often said - far below the masses interested in Soccer or even Formula 1 driving.

You can ask near to any sports fan (or even most \"normal\" pedestrians) on a German street how the offside rule in soccer works and what exceptions are in place (like passive offsides) or what ever changing and highly complicated qualifying rules apply in the Formula 1 and he will give you an extensive and mostly correct answer. But try to ask what is meant by goaltending or backcourt violation and you will mostly earn just a shrug. And with the older generation - i'd say 45 years up - you can be happy if they even know what a 3-point-shot is. The level of expected education can IMO also be judged by how the games of the German national basketball team are commented on. Near to every time something more complicated than a simple two pointer occurs, the man behind the mic feels urged to explain what's going on, because he knows that most people watching won't have a clue of their own. I am usually very annoyed by that, but I admit that there's a reason for those explanations.

I know, I am making broad generalizations here, and I have tried to always make clear in my earlier posts that I know what I am doing and that I am doing so because of better general understanding. That individual knowledge differs vastly and is improving, I have never denied.

But after all, Basketball is still a niche sport...

EDIT: OK, I saw what the problem was. I meant to say \"knows what basketball is LIKE\" instead of \"knows what basketball is\". But I have now talked so much about Basketball in Germany on this board, that I thought I could opt for a little dramatization. I guess everyone who bothers to read my posts knows what I mean, anyways...at least I hope so .

Awesome. Thanks for the translation Sanyarin. I also appreciated the comments you inserted about definitions of the words/changes that were made.

You are right that it was a pretty \"run of the mill\" interview, but I always enjoy reading stuff about KG, so it was appreciated.


One thing:

- I enjoy watching soccer when I get a chance (mostly the EPL.) I also play FIFA08 on Playstation 2. It's a freakin awesome game. (Favorite team is the Reds... ha!)

Anyhow, in regards to the off-side rule, I think it's totally bogus. What a stupid rule. Can you please clarify WHY it exists??? I mean, if a team wants to run their players waaaaay down the pitch, why can't they? I mean, it makes their defense suffer (from not having guys back to defend), so aren't they doing it at their own peril? Wouldn't NOT having the rule open up the sport to more excitement/scoring chances? Or, am I completely missing something here and it's actually a great and much needed rule? Let me know, I always appreciate your knowledge. Actually, I will make this it's own thread, so feel free to respond in the new thread.

@ College Wolf
Well, you are right on case with your analysis. Just with most rules in sports (or society) that seems to exist since eternity, there are some voice in soccer who demand the abolishment of the offsides rule with pretty much the same arguments you brought to the table. But for a few reasons this probably will never happen. Please decide yourself if you would consider them convincing...not everything in sports must make sense .

1. As I explained to all of you, European sports is pretty much about tradition. Hell, Europe is pretty much about tradition. And since soccer ist still a European sport - meaning the FIFA is ruled by Europeans - this won't be changed just because \"it has always been that way\".

2. Another, and more reasonable argument, but somehow also coming from the same area as the \"tradition argument\" is that soccer is basically the game it is because of the offside rule. Systems, strategies, players have been developed over decades with this rule being the dominant factor. Because of the huge field and the higher number of players, offsides affects soccer far more than it does Ice Hockey for example. By abolishing the rule, you would change the look and pace of the game essentially. And here the old rule applies: If it's not broken, why fix it? This sport is loved by billions around the globe, why changing it so drastically?

3. The game would change that much because of the huge goal, scoring is so much easier than in Ice Hockey (a comparable sport with a defended target opposed to basketball). One on one situations in soccer are resulting in goals on a far higher percentage than in hockey. Therefore positioning just one player behind the enemy defence gives you almost a sure goal once he gets the ball. So on first sight a point could be made that this would lead to more goals and therefore would be welcome. I will come to that question in a second.

Now I will just add some real personal speculation. Because the defensive team will of course try to prevent such a one on one situation, they will also leave one defender behind to cover the opposing striker. To make up for that, the first team will send a second striker downfield which will again be covered by a defender and so on...not only that this will get us back to soccer stoneage and man-to-man coverage thereby destroying the beatuy of modern soccer which are moving and clicking defensive chain systems, it will again make soccer either more statical, because players would only be running around in the other ones half court trying to break free from their defender waiting for a pass by one playmaker (thereby turning soccer into football) or either just plain silly when complete groups of players would shift form one side to another in one huge chunck as can been seen at every toddler's game which are played...without offsides. But of course, the first speculation is the more reasonable…

But the most realistic expectation is based on trends that can be observed today already. Today, with the offsides rule applied, things look mostly that way that during one team’s possession, the other one would leave at least one speedy striker as far in the opposing half as possible (mostly some yards beyond midfield) for the chance of a long pass and the hope he might outrun the opposing defender who of course watches him closely. By abolishing the offsides rule, this situation would be moved a few yards down the field and closer to the goal, taking those players out of the current possession completely, meaning less players would be actively participating in the game and it again would loose dynamic.

4. Just assumed this would work out in principle…that leads to the question \"Do you want more goals at all?\" and re-connects with the question \"Why change a game that is loved by billions?\". I guess what many people love about soccer is that really every possession and every situation counts (one argument I would make to disagree with stopnpop that B-Ball and Soccer are similar). Every mistake by one team can lead to a goal and because those are scored not easily, one goal can be the decisive one. That makes every minute meaningful and exiting and if you dare to look away one second, you might miss it. In other sports it seems that if only the last minutes of a game really did count and everything before was just a warm up. Soccer is different because only so few goals are scored. If you want to change that, and abolishing the offside rule would change that dramatically, it would also decrease the meaning of every single goal and therefore make the whole experience of the game not more exciting, but less.

5. Maybe another thought to the “tradition idea”. Offsides in Soccer, as strange as it seems, was invented as a “gentlemen’s agreement rule” with which the teams showed each other respect as it was considered to be cheap and disrespectful to place a player behind the enemy defence only looking for the easy goal.

6. To some degree the offside rule has already been softened over the last years (leading to the exception rule of passive offsides, which is still highly disputed) and in indoor soccer it simply won’t be applied at all, making the feeling of the game much more similar to Ice Hockey and Handball than normal soccer. This might indeed suit some people more who look for a more dynamic game who just love higher scores. But like I said before, I expect that thii would not be to the benefit of the game as it is right now and would rob soccer of its specialty.


I do hope that some of this, rather unspecified thoughts might at least show you that it is not ONLY stubborn traditionalism that keeps soccer authorities clinging on a seemingly senseless rule that only restrains the players.

Wow. Much, much more than I could have ever asked for. As usual, thanks so much!

Yeah, a lot of that stuff makes COMPLETE sense. I guess I understand why it's needed now. This will definitely help my understanding while watching, wow... tons of info. So yeah, I guess they probably are better off with the rule.

Wow, thanks again Sanyarin, much appreciated!

Good thing: NBA basketball gets more and more attention in common German sports papers...meaning: more coverage than just a one line announcing the winner of the NBA finals. Now it's like...10 lines and a picture.

Bad thing: Quality of the coverage is whack. No analysis, no multiple perspektives, no nothing that you could expect from a decent sports writer...you have problems assuming the author of the article understands at least as much about basketball than any member of this board. Maybe it's just - as I said - that they don't want to overburden the reader, who's average understanding of Basketball isn't the highest to begin with and who probably want's to read more about soccer anyways...but nonetheless...it's just sad.

To be honest: It might also be connected to the fact that there is a very different culture of (good) sportswriting in Europe than in the U.S., putting more emphasis on emotions than on facts and more on feelings than on analysis. Maybe you can say, if you want to be bitchy, European sports writers are more of bad bloggers than anything else. But I guess it's not that they could not do better...it's just the way it's done over here and the reason why I prefer to stay with U.S. sports media...no matter how imperfect of their own they are. It's a question of style...