If I could, I'd throw a whole slew of upside down exclamation points throughout this post. Looking for video of semnial Spanish b-baller Fernando Martin has felt kind of like scouting overseas for a draft. Not that I know what that's like. See, watching the Lakers-Jazz game and Pau Gasol's top five international players (courtesy of abc's t-mobilese), I was struck by the absence of footage on Martin. You'd think a major media player could scrounge up something. So I dug up what I could find. Everything, understandably, is in Spanish, so it's hard to tell what's what. (Me llamo el Harry sucio is the extent of my Spanish)
The first segment of the footage above is the significant part. The entire thing compares Martin to Mississippi born Audie Norris. Apparently they had multiple battles in Spain after both were done trying the NBA thing. But if you watch the first segment, you'll see Martin going up against the vaunted 1980s Celtic frontcourt, and it's evident that #10 for Real Madrid had some serious moves. He reminds of Luis Scola (and no, I'm not conflating Spanish with Latin American, it's just a similar kind of up and under move you see in the two) with a better jumper and a little more tenacity. Some of the stuff he was pulling even reminded of the Dream Shake. Martin went 6'9" and played "pivot".
He's been brought into relevance because of the surge of Spanish players in the league right now. You saw the homage by Rudy Fernandez during the Slam Dunk competition, and it's a shame the commentators were caught off guard by the reference. It seems Pau and Rudy are trying to get Martin a little recognition. (sidenotes: 1. Van Gundy and Mark Jackson totally ripped on the Spaniards sense of fraternity, guessing Pau would go all current Spanish national team members. He didn't fall for it though, going with Sabonis, Petrovic, Kukoc, Dirk, and finally Martin. 2. Another homage being paid this playoffs is that of the entire coaching fraternity to Chuck Daly, who's fighting severe pancreatic cancer. Hat's off to the coaches, who'll wear the CD pin on their lapels throughout, and sincerest wishes of health and peace to a true luminary.) Fernando played only one season in the NBA, and didn't get off the bench much, but he was a Trail Blazer in doing so. And yes, he played for Portland. I'm clever like that. Martin spent the '86-'86 season with the Blazers before making his way back to play for Real Madrid. What's funny about the clip above is that it pits Martin against Audie Norris, who played for the Blazers for the three seasons directly preceding Martin's brief tenure.Martin was indeed a special player. Proof that he was one of the most important players in international ball? Spain didn't win the Euroleague championship the two years Martin spent trying out the NBA game. They won it in '84, went to the finals in '85, and won it twice again when Martin came back. He died tragically in a car accident in 1989. He was inducted to the FIBA hall of fame on its inaugural ballot in 2007.
Remembering Martin got me thinking about international ball. See, it's not such a new thing. Real Madrid has been around since the '30s. And those exhibition games Stern has been pushing in pre-season? That's been around at least 20 years, as you see footage of one of the Comish's first attempts at it above.
We in America like to think the sports world revolves around us. Of course we're wrong, and we're woefully incompetent in some of the biggest international sports: soccer and cricket. I like to think of 2008 as Spain's year for international competition. They won the (real) football Eurocup; Carlos Sastre won the Tour de France; Nadal had a great year, won Olympic gold, and helped Spain capture the Davis Cup; and they took silver in Olypmic basketball, a feat Martin helped them achieve in 1984 as well.Oh, and brega pura? That means "sheer hard work." I gotta think something's lost in the translation though, since Martin's game? It roared with commitment to hard work and persistence, but it lacked nothing in flare.
