Photograph: Boston Globe/Getty Images
When it came to George Gervin’s gameday routine, no one was going to mess with his soap opera viewing. Trashy shows helped the Hall of Famer relax so he could drift off into an essential pre-game nap. Without those two-to-three hours of slumber, the “Ice Man” may not have been able to lead the NBA in scoring in four different seasons. Indeed, naps, says Gervin, have been a part of NBA life for some time. Crucial in a profession that has players and coaches up at odd hours, working themselves weary.
“We’d have shootaround and then we’d come back, you eat lunch, and then I’d take a nap for a couple of hours,” Gervin tells the Guardian. “I did that most of my career. I got caught up in the soap operas back then.”
Gervin, who has a new memoir out soon and was named one of the Top 75 players in NBA history in 2021, would watch The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives and All My Children. After the regular 10am shootaround, Gervin and his teammates had free time until 6pm, when they returned to the arena for that night’s game. After the contest, which usually lasted until 10pm or later, the players were wide awake, wired from the competition. Many would look for a late night meal to wind down.
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“Restaurants had to stay open late for us in many situations,” laughs Gervin, whose NBA career lasted from 1972 until 1986. “It wasn’t like these guys today. With their private planes, eating on the plane. We flew commercial.” On the road, Gervin says, teams would often stay in the opposing team’s city after the game, leading to dawn flights and even earlier wakeup calls. Now, teams charter more comfortable planes whenever they want.
Anyone who has traveled on commercial planes knows that it can be hard to sleep on them – especially if you’re the height of the average pro basketball player. But after an NBA game, sleep on a plane is sometimes the only kind you’re going to get. Former NBA coach Bob Hill, however, could never sleep on a flight. Instead, he treated his seat…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/soap-operas-night-snacks-naps-090053263.html?src=rss
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2023-09-19 09:00:53
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