Nash...

Check out the story by Ian Whittell of The Times (the real, The Times)... No PR on this, just worldwide word of mouth. And, as I mentioned in prior post, this blog can quickly hit five, maybe six continents...




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November 19, 2007
Steve Nash thinks on his feet to earn spurs with internet generation
From Ian Whittell in Phoenix, Arizona

TL note: Watch Steve Nash's Training Day video. (by clicking on headline Nash above)..

When one of the world’s leading basketball players decided to become involved in an underground “viral” advertising campaign last month, his choice of subject matter was as predictable as it is now fascinating to view.

Steve Nash, the Phoenix Suns point guard and the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in two of the past three seasons, has well-documented British family ties and a fanatical support for Tottenham Hotspur, to the extent that he has even been erroneously linked with a potential bid for the Barclays Premier League club recently.

But what was not widely known was the Canadian’s impressive football talent, a glimpse of which he gives on “Training Day”, a commercial that follows Nash on a typical day during his summer close season in New York.

In a departure far from the norm, and one that is being observed with interest by the sports business industry, the Nike ad is viewable only on the YouTube internet platform and has become a cult success in the United States, purely via word of mouth.

In it, Nash is seen skateboarding around Manhattan – “Honestly, that’s how I get around, it’s the quickest way to travel there,” he said – as well as showcasing his skills at football, the sport that remains his first love. Predictably, after scoring an impressive goal, Nash is also shown kissing the badge on his retro Tottenham replica shirt. “I saw the ad as an opportunity for me to show my love of sport and, in particular, football and Spurs,” Nash said. “My dad was a good nonLeague player in England so I grew up playing the game.

“I don’t know how good I could have been, a lot of people said footie was my best sport growing up. When I was 16, the Canadian national team asked me to go on a tour with their under17s even though I hadn’t played football for two or three years because I had been concentrating on basketball. They needed a left-sided player and I can use both feet.

“The only thing I’ll say is if I worked as hard and spent the years on football that I did on basketball then it would have been interesting to see what I could have done.

“Put it this way, all the way through my teens, if you had asked me which sport I had the best chance to turn pro in, I, and everyone else, would have said football. Looking at it logically, small white guys don’t make it in one of those sports, but they do the other.”

The higher the 6ft 3in Nash rose through the basketball ranks, the more he found himself relying on attributes honed on a football field. “Playing football, I was always trying to find ways to chip balls, bend them, slip balls into gaps, so when I started playing basketball and was allowed to use my hands to do the same sort of things, it felt like cheating,” he said.

“Instead of using my feet to find different angles and trajectories to get teammates the ball, I could use my hands. It seemed easy. Now, I play football at least twice a week during the summer, more sometimes, and find it the perfect way to stay physically and mentally sharp.” The Suns have made a strong start to an NBA season in which they are among the favourites to win their first title. For their 33-year-old playmaker, his rise to prominence has not only enabled him to become heavily involved in numerous charitable causes, which all his endorsement money is put towards, but also to indulge his first sporting love.

Among regular texting friends are Steve McManaman, Owen Hargreaves, Thierry Henry, Alessandro Del Piero and Massimo Ambrosini, football players who are NBA fans.

Nash has also become friends with Damien Comolli, the Tottenham sporting director, whom he met while supporting his beloved England team at the 2006 World Cup finals, and spent time with Daniel Levy, the chairman of the North London club, a relationship that sparked wild rumours that Nash was about to buy the club.

“I said something about it being every fan’s dream to own their club and those comments got taken completely out of context,” Nash said. “In any case, I don’t have a spare 300 million quid for such luxuries.

“But I am proud to be a supporter and I do have a relationship now with the club, and I’m enthusiastic about the direction we’re heading. Like every lifelong fan, I want to see the club do well and if I can ever do anything for them commercially, I’d be delighted.”

After viewing Nash’s YouTube offering, Juande Ramos, the Tottenham head coach, could do worse than to start by giving him a trial.

In this article, Mr Whittell wrote: Is there anything you would you like to ask Steve Nash? Send your questions to sport@timesonline.co.uk and he will answer the 20 best online. (That is an offer long over-booked, as of today).