Steve Nash’s retirement, AP Tests and the Air Max Zero: While We’re Waiting…

Happy Monday, you guys. How are those brackets looking? My one—yes, I only did one this year—is pretty much shot after Virginia and Northern Iowa went down this past weekend. Some day, I’ll learn to not doubt Tom Izzo and Rick Pitino come tournament time. This, unfortunately, was not the year.

Need some morning coffee-drinking/While We’re Waiting…-reading music? Head over to Pitchfork where they’re streaming the new Sufjan Stevens album in its entirety. Open this bad boy up in a new window and let it roll in the background. Thank me later. As always, we’ll have plenty of Cavs, Tribe and (sigh…) Browns talk this week. But While We’re Waiting…

Steve Nash announced his retirement over the weekend, not just signaling the end of a career that may have been over for some time, but doing it on his own terms. Nash is one of those professional athletes whom I wish I had the chance to cover more often. Given that he’s largely played on the West Coast his entire career, he’s only ventured to Cleveland a few times over the last several years. Factor in his injury history and you have a player who simply had a career arc that tailed away from that of my in-person coverage. I’ve spoken to Nash all of one time, and it was after the Suns had just finished destroying the Byron Scott-led Cavaliers. If my memory serves, it was even one of those games where the Cavs amassed an early lead only to watch the entire thing evaporate before they could even say the word “timeout.”

The basis of my inquiry was to get his thoughts on the up-and-coming Kyrie Irving, a point guard who shared his lack of defensive prowess, but one who took more of the scoring liability on his shoulders than Nash had been forced to do any point in his career. He had some glowing things to say, but it was more in the vein of not kicking a young kid while he was down.

Anyone who took the time to read Nash’s retirement or the bevy of pieces which followed (we have you covered) will see just how universally adored the two-time MVP was. What will always register as mind-blowing for me is the fact that he didn’t win his first of two MVP awards until he was in his 30s, an age where we typically force most athletes into their twilight. They’re no longer the upstart rookies; they’re no longer living in the peak of their athleticism. It’s easy to cast Nash into the light of surprise, a career that should never have happened based on his origin, size, draft position. Then it’s easy to see just how wrong we often are to write individuals off at any stage, let alone those that are entirely too premature.

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Anyone who has long since graduated high school can related to this piece: What Happens When a 38-Year-Old Man Takes an AP History Test?

During what was a two-day seminar in Huron, Ohio for my 9-to-5, we were shown a video that effectively illustrated how ephemeral the majority of information is, even at the education level. According to this video, half of what college freshmen learn during their first year will be outdated by the time they are juniors. Naturally, this multiplier only serves to make high school information that much worse.

But what about history? That can’t change, right?

Two key passages worth blockquoting:

At one point, I had too many A’s in a row on my answer sheet and got very nervous. Was the AP History test trying to psych me out by making the answer “A” lots of times in a row, so that I’d notice and worry that I got some answer wrong along the way? I put nothing past testmakers.

And…

How will I get a job at Buzzfeed if I can’t condense American history down to an easily digestible list for the masses?

The entire piece is worth your time, especially if you have kids and fear the day they come home from school with a project that is beyond your scope of knowledge.

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See any really good takes lately? How disappointing was it when you woke up? Here’s this week’s edition of #ActualSportswriting

“Steve Nash calls time on transcendent NBA career” by Bruce Arthur (Toronto Star): “Even when he was an NBA player, an All-Star, a two-time MVP — how was it possible to win two MVPs? — Steve Nash would drive around or take a cab and find an empty park, ideally with nets on the rims, and shoot, alone. He lived for the competition of basketball, for the pressure, for the fight. God, he loved the fight. He needed it more than anything.”¹

“The overflowing legacy of Steve Nash” by Lee Jenkins (Sports Illustrated): “When Gabe Mannes touches his sneakers, that’s Steve Nash. When Goran Dragic deploys the up-and-under, that’s Steve Nash. When Tony Parker runs three pick-and-rolls on the same possession, when Damian Lillard lets it fly because a foolish defender sneaks under a screen, when Rajon Rondo drives inside, circles back, and patiently finds a cutter, that’s also Steve Nash.”²

“How Nash found peace with retirement” by Marc Stein (ESPN.com): “He insists he can live with every barb about these three lost seasons with the Lakers — just as he’s always said he can take those no rings cracks — because he remains convinced coming to L.A. was the best way to properly cap nearly two decades of playing NBA basketball the way he imagined his net-circling hero Wayne Gretzky would have. Nash firmly believes stepping into the cauldron of title-or-bust expectations in Hollywood, after the offensive revolution that sprouted in the desert and his time with the Phoenix Suns had come to an end, was the only way to play out his (mostly) storybook career.”³

“Happily ever after?” by Mina Kimes (ESPN The Magazine):  “A playoff run can jack up a small school’s name recognition, but economists who have analyzed the connection between athletic success and applications have found mixed results. One recent study, conducted by BYU’s Jaren Pope and his brother Devin, a University of Chicago professor, found that a trip to the Sweet 16 prompts, on average, a 3.8 percent increase. “It’s a temporary bump for two or three years,” Jaren Pope says. That might explain what happened at Butler, which saw a 41 percent increase in applications after the college made it to the NCAA championship game in 2010 but only a 2 percent jump after it returned to the final in 2011 as an even bigger underdog.”⁴

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In this week’s edition of LeBron James Is Ridiculous:

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And finally, this week’s Sneaker du Jour: Nike Air Max Zero

Thursday March 26 is Air Max Day 2015. If Hallmark has ever been labeled as having created holidays, Nike wishes to join the fray by paying homage to the technology of visible air and encouraging others to do the same. The Air Max 1 started it all off nearly 30 years ago, a shoe that is still recreated and worn today. But Nike, in their infinite ability to harness the past, went all prequel on us and made “The one before The 1” with the Air Max Zero.

Created by Tinker Hatfield, he of Jordan fame, the Air Max Zero was allegedly created through old design iterations for the Air Max 1, one of the earliest being the concept of the Air Max Zero. Unknowingly channeling designs that would not come to fruition until many years later, according to Nike, Hatfield focused on a shoe that featured only the necessities for “supreme comfort and performance.”

The basis for the Air Max Zero allegedly stems from an early design sketch that sat idle and unused in the vault for nearly 30 years. As the story goes, the Nike Sportswear design team stumbled across an interesting drawing while searching for inspirations to celebrate the impending second annual Air Max Day. What they came up with was the genesis for The Zero.

The Air Max Zero went on presale this past weekend, but will not hit shelves until Air Max Day on March 26. They’ll retail for $150. And for those looking to take part in Air Max Day where everyone is encouraged to “wear their air,” Publish Brands has created a lookbook. Consider this your guide as to how to wear running shoes without looking like a mid-90s camp counselor.

Happy Monday, you guys. Be good.

1. I led with this piece intentionally. Not only was it regarding what I just mentioned above, but it shows that a column, from a columnist, can also be so much more than naval gazing and first-person opinion-fueled takes on recent events. It also shows by Arthur has a resume full of awards. [↩]
2. I could have very well led with this one as well, with it being a piece appearing in an upcoming issue of the magazine. Timely, yet evergreen. Another column, but still, another story. [↩]
3. Stein has covered Nash as much—if not more—than any one scribe. This piece seems a bit pre-packaged as it contains quotes from a recorded piece that aired in tandem with his announcement, but still. Great work. [↩]
4. Not entirely Steve Nash-related, but it’s to the point where the first piece I read each time I receive a new edition of ESPN The Magazine is the one penned by Mina Kimes. Still new to the scene, she’s quickly becoming the go-to for timely OTL-type work. [↩]