Kris Shannon’s World of Sport Adams and the Cubs show what’s possible
Talented Kiwi kids should extend their horizons to US 1 2 3
Two appealing aspects of American sport would this week have hopefully helped open the eyes of some Kiwi kids.
On Tuesday, as reward for hard work that began as a troubled teen, Steven Adams signed a contract that will see him receive in four years more money than the total three- year salary pool for every rugby player in New Zealand.
And on Thursday, we were treated to one of the best baseball games ever played.
Both of those qualities — the remuneration and the entertainment — are of course found on these shores: the reason rugby players can afford to own houses in Auckland is about the quality of the product they produce. So this isn’t about eschewing our games.
It’s instead about broadening our horizons, about budding athletes dreaming not only of pulling on the black jersey but one day winning the World Series, one day making more money than imaginable. This week has offered further evidence of what can be achieved if we look outside our national sports.
To begin with Adams, and all that money. Some were aggrieved by the media’s focus on the dollar figure, apparently ignoring what Adams had accomplished to earn all those zeroes. But a rejoinder: One- hundred- andforty- million dollars.
Such figures are common in the United States, but here? As Herald business journalist Matt Nippert tweeted, Adams will in one season make more in playing salary than Richie McCaw accumulated across his 17- year rugby career. How can we not focus on the money?
More importantly, how can our kids not focus on the money? Because there should be dollar signs in their eyes when they watch Adams, and sport should be viewed as an avenue to a wonderful life. Sure, there are plenty of other attractive qualities in being a professional athlete, but the pay is more than a mere bonus.
And if children in New Zealand shoot for nine- figure contracts but fall short, maybe they receive a free education as consolation. That was one perk Adams stressed while home during the off- season — Kiwi kids must be made aware of that pathway to a full scholarship.
Thanks to Adams, that awareness is increasing. Basketball New Zealand chief executive Iain Potter told the Herald this week that Adams’ success had “highlighted the opportunities the US college system has”, with more than 100 young New Zealanders currently receiving a free education while aiming to emulate their hirsute compatriot.
It’s a similar story, though a little further behind, in baseball. This country, to be blunt, set back generations of potential athletes by focusing on softball when the sport boasted no professional prospects, but Baseball New Zealand boss Ryan Flynn was hoping that would soon change.
“The kids are starting to believe,” Flynn told Newstalk ZB. “We have a lot of college players, we’ve had five kids signed by Major League teams. Fields are being built around the country and I think our kids and families believe now — like Steven Adams’ family.”
On the trail- blazing Adams, Flynn said that had New Zealand been earlier adopters of baseball, the Thunder centre would have only been following the footsteps of fellow Kiwis.
“I believe that the Mark Sorensons and Marty Grants would have been the same story had they played baseball,” he said. “So that’s what we think is coming and we think it’s going Elsewhere in the aftermath to that incredible game, a common theme developed in the media, one in which even heartbroken Indians must have found some solace.
Because a funny thing happens when a beloved team goes more than a century without finding glory: fans grow up, fans grow old and fans die without seeing their favourite franchise find success.
And the stories of those fans provided a powerful emotional undercurrent to the Cubs’ victory. There was the video one supporter filmed of her grandfather celebrating the final out in his rest home, having waited 81 years to see it happen. There was another video of another grandpa, who put a Coors beer in his fridge 32 years ago and was waiting for the Cubs to triumph before cracking it open.
And then there was the story of Wayne Williams, a North Carolina man who, decades ago, made a promise to his father. to be one of the great Kiwi sports stories.”
A Kiwi playing in a game like the Cubs’ incredible win over Cleveland? That, like Adams’ mammoth payday, would truly sit alongside our greatest sporting achievements.
In the meantime, hopefully events of the past week will lead to a few more free degrees, at least.
“We had a pact,” Williams told WTHR- TV. “When the Cubs — not if, when — got into the World Series, we would make sure we listened to the games together.”
So, with the Cubs closing in on victory, Williams drove all day back to Indianapolis, arriving at his father’s gravesite moments before the first pitch and settling in for what became a promise fulfilled.
Williams’ father died of cancer in 1980, aged 53, a Navy veteran who was a lifelong Cubs fan. He lived through a number of failures —“' 69 broke his heart,” Williams said, “and if he hadn't been dead in 1984, that would've done it for him” — but he remained optimistic that every year would be the Cubs’ year.
In 2016, that finally proved true. Williams brought along his ‘ W’ flag, a Cubs tradition that predates both men, and, after setting up a chair at Greenwood Forest Lawn Cemetery, listened to the game on his smart phone.
Then, when the Cubs recorded the final out, he stood, said quietly, ‘ We did it’, and placed the flag next to his father’s grave stone before heading home.
Words will do no justice to Abbott’s extraordinary career. Having been born without a right hand, Abbott eventually pitched nine seasons in the Major Leagues, won an Olympic gold medal and tossed a no- hitter for the New York Yankees. Merely fielding his position was remarkable enough, given gloves generally require hands to be effective. Check out YouTube for that particular magic trick.
Hamilton is probably unique in having her arm bitten off by a shark as a promising 13- year- old surfer in 2003, losing 60 per cent of her blood in the sea, returning to the water a month later, teaching herself how to surf with one arm, and soon reaching the top level of her sport. Probably.
Another YouTube and sporting star, Robles in 2011 won the national collegiate wrestling championship in the 125- pound weight class, despite having been born with only one leg. To repeat: Robles completed a perfect 36- 0 year and defeated the defending American champion, while possessing half as many legs as his opponents.