2007-05-04
Steve Nash的《花花公子》专访
太阳这个赛季没有上演上个赛季的翻盘大戏，看起来有些轻松的进入第二轮，不过马刺是个强悍的对手，特别是今天Finely竟然九投八中的三分，真够吓人的。
刚刚重看了一下nash 23次助攻的第四场比赛，很遗憾没有出现24次，虽然有很多的机会，Magic Johnson也在看球，他说nash比起他来多了外线的进攻能力，而他喜欢在底线进攻，magic是个强壮的家伙，还能客串中锋，steve一直说自己比较瘦弱的，只好在外线投投篮了。刚刚看到一篇nash的采访也证实了这个问题。看起来，nash是个坦诚的人，他甚至承认自己就如Bill Walton说的在跑跳方面是身体素质最差的控卫。很多球迷说nash的防守如同空气，这个他自己也认识到了。
全文：http://bbs.hoopchina.com/htm_data/71/0705/191668.html
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[翻译]Nash的《花花公子》专访
这篇文章是我和nashile合翻的 （翻的不好请多指教）特别在太阳晋级第二轮之日发，希望我们下一轮能淘汰马刺，13第二轮表现更好（今天很orz－－），还要祝福小花jj早日康复
另外要bs以下playboy的名不副实=_=b
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
Steve Nash——这位NBA的连续两届MVP，也许将成为连续3届MVP得主的球员，是继Barney后最不华丽花哨的明星，他不能扣篮，疼痛的背部迫使他在暂停时必须躺在地上休息，他的国家把篮球视为和滑冰，冰上钓鱼一样的小众运动。然而，这位凤凰城太阳队瘦小的加拿大控卫却跟上了Kobe, Shaq, Lebron等球员位列联盟统治者之列。
Nash出生于南非的约翰内斯堡，他的父亲是一个职业足球运动员，Nash在一个充满社会责任感的家庭长大。由于Nash一家反感南非的种族隔离政策，他们移居到了加拿大的British Columbia，Nash在那里成为一名脚下功夫不错的足球爱好者。但鉴于足球和冰球是加拿大的体育大项，不喜欢墨守成规的Nash继而将兴趣转向了篮球。凭借着他那如教科书般完美的挑投和超人般的球场视野，他成为了加拿大最好的高中生球员，但这也只不过是短中取长罢了。他仅仅只得到了一所美国大学—— Santa Clara的奖学金，当然没有人会把Santa Clara视为篮球名校。
经过数不胜数的小时、流淌下不计其数的汗水后，这个技术出色的运动小子两次成为西海岸年度最佳球员，在大学4年级时场均得到17分6助攻。然而，当太阳队在1996年首轮选中他后（他的顺位在Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury和高中生球员Kobe Bryant之后，但在Jermaine O’neal之前），凤凰城的球迷对这个选秀报以嘘声。不久，他们又当面嘘了Nash，并在1998年太阳把他交易去了达拉斯。他在小牛队成为一名全明星球员，但由于2003年的全明星比赛引发争议，当时反对美军入侵伊拉克的Nash穿了一件印有“不要战争，为和平而投篮”字样的T-shirt。那些体育记者当时就吼道：“闭上嘴去打你的球！”
当小牛队的老板Mark Cuban希望围绕前锋Dirk Nowitzki打造球队，Nash在第二年与凤凰城太阳队签了一笔6年6600万美元的合同，在Cuban看来，这根本是一个荒谬的数目。但是这位控卫自从离开达拉斯之后却成为了联盟的MVP，在Nash到来之前的那个赛季，太阳队的战绩为29胜53负，而在2004-2005赛季，当Nash引领起爆炸性的快攻后，球队的场均得分比10年来任何一支球队都要多。Nash场均贡献15.5分和联盟最佳的11.5次助攻，太阳在那一年获得了联盟最佳战绩。去年，他的表现又继续更上一层楼，交出了18.8分和10.5助攻的成绩单，将太阳带到了西部决赛，并且拿到了他的第二个MVP奖杯。
凭借飘飘长发和女性杀手般的长相，Nash也成为跨领域的明星，他的名字出现在热门歌曲的歌词中被传唱，他成了音乐电视中的MVP。我们派了自由作家Kevin Cook去采访他。
Cook 说，“Steve无论是在场上打球还是在场下开车速度都很快，我们在凤凰城的美国空中走廊中心球场边聊了一会天，然后坐他黑色的奔驰C32 AMG去了市区一家狭小的餐厅。我被告知过他会拒绝10个访问中的9个，但他同意接受我这个访问，因为他知道我们谈的不仅仅是关于太阳如何和联盟其他球队对阵的话题，事实的确如此。我曾让采访过Bryan, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’neal和其他一些NBA球星，但我们从来没谈过关于Nelly Furtado（加拿大创作型才女歌手），比赛日做爱，和Owen Wilson（美国电影男星）踢网式足球这些话题，我们从最基本的内容开始聊起，一切进展得很快。”
我们就这样开始吧：
（以下Playboy简写为P，Nash简写为N）
P：你们球队连续两年止步与西部决赛。今年你们会做得更好吗？
N：当然。但是你不要在我们身上下赌注，因为我们必须保持健康，还要打出自己的节奏——加快进攻的速度，得很多的分数。
P：如果让你自掏腰包去看球，你看哪支球队呢？选一支除了太阳以外的球队。
N：嘿，你这是在刁难我。好吧，我喜欢有团队精神、作风无私的球队，像活塞，热，马刺，小牛这样的。看他们的比赛很刺激，和他们交手也非常的有意思。
P：你现在33岁了，是一个10年的老兵了。在退役之前拿到总冠军对你来说有多重要？
N：并没有那么重要，至少我不会因为没有拿到总冠军而自杀的。
P：那么说，是不是美国人更有这种非赢不可的想法？
N：没错。我是加拿大人，所以我不会因为没得到总冠军而自杀。但是我肯定会尽自己最大的努力去赢得它的。
P：你还能变得更好吗？
N：我想成为一个更好的防守队员。但是那很困难，因为我在进攻中消耗了大量的体力，而且我个头也不够高大.
N：官方指南说你有6尺3寸，这里面有多大的水分？
P：我有6尺2寸（189cm）高，我已经不可能再长高了。到了我这个年纪，不可能花整个夏天的时间来练习防守，虽然这是提高防守最好的方式。去年夏天，我试图让自己变得更快更强壮些。但一天的时间是不够用的，如果我用那种方式耗尽自己体力的话，我就没有足够的时间来恢复体力了。对于球队来说，我的健康比防守更重要
P：在暂停的时候，我们看见你一直躺在球场边上。你有脊椎前移的病，那是？
N：脊椎骨会从正常的位置前滑动1毫米。这种病是先天性的，但是不再会恶化。如果我的脊椎再前移几毫米的话，我就没法打球了。很多人都有这种病。我并不觉得它会威胁到我的职业生涯。
P：库班也这么想吗？他说过他很爱你，但他却在三年前放弃了你，让你去了太阳。
N：他认为我老了，身体不行了。
P：那对你来说是一种激励吗？
N：不是，我打球是因为我热爱这项运动并渴望胜利。我压根不知道“身体会垮掉”的想法是从哪来的。说到底，那还是钱的问题罢了。
P：你和库班是朋友吗？
N：是啊。我们以前会互通邮件，而且常常见面。他为球队和联盟做了很多，总的来说，我尊敬他。
P：让我们来看看幕后的故事。在2004年，你收到了太阳的报价。你保证过，在最终报价之前会给cuban一个机会来报价，你是怎么做的呢？
N：通过电话，我当时和我的经纪人Bill Duffy一起在太阳的一个合伙人家里，太阳方面的人告诉我，我们希望你保证，不要告诉他具体的数额，只告诉他是笔大数目。
P：6年6600万美元的确是笔大数目。
N：所以我给库班打了电话。
P：从一个太阳队合伙人的家里？
N：没错。我说“太阳给了我一个很大的合同。”我甚至骗他说这个数字很接近另一个人的薪水，他知道那人是谁。
P：然后，库班说？
N：“哦，”他很震惊，“让我和Duffy通电话。”所以我就把电话给经济人了。
P：库班出的价码和太阳相差甚远。他是一个亿万富翁，而且每年会因为乐于指责裁判而付上几百万的罚款。当他决绝付给你1000万一年的时候，你感到惊讶吗？
N：我的确很惊讶。他付很多钱给那些根本配不上他们合同的人。（那个赛季Alan Henderson年薪830万，场均3.5分。后一个赛季，Van Horn年薪1560万，场均8.9分）我在球场上总是兢兢业业，不怎么缺阵，而且还是球队成功的重要功臣，但是他对我却划出这样一条界限，这让人感觉很受伤害。
P：库班后来说，你的经纪人为了从达拉斯那里那大更高的价码，而谎报了太阳队的报价。
N：这根本是胡说八道。
P：因为在你走了之后，他想要保全自己的面子？
N：没错，他会受到一些压力。所以他才捏造出那些话。
P：那对你们的友谊有何影响？
N：他是一个朋友。当然他有些让人不太喜欢的地方，比如对着裁判大喊大叫，在更衣室里板脸。看到他那副样子真让人恼火。但是话说回来，谁又是十全十美的呢？
P：他向着裁判吼叫，你对此有意见吗？这是不是让你在场上的工作更为艰难。
N：嗯……裁判不喜欢他那样。
P：他们会拿小牛队来出气吗？
N：（点头）他们也只是普通人而已。
P：你最先告诉谁要去太阳的这个消息？
N：我的两个队友，Nowitzki和Finley。
P：在家人之前先告诉队友？
N：我可以稍后再告诉我的家人。但我希望Nowitzki和Finley在从新闻中得知前，从我的口先中得到消息，告诉他们这不是我的本意，“我不希望走，但是库班不希望我留下。”他们都很支持我，说“你应该去那里”。
P：芬利称你为“我们的摇滚歌星”。而现在你不断在热门歌曲里出现。你是MTV里的MVP呀~
N：不断出现？
P：在Nelly Furtado 的单曲"promiscuous"里，她唱道，“那是真的，还是你在扯淡？你们比赛的MVP真的是像steve nash那样的？”
N：好吧，除了歌名之外，我喜欢这首歌。Nelly很棒，我是她的粉丝。我们都是从维多利亚的一个街区里来的。她真是太好了，在歌里提到我。但是我没把这歌存在ipod里面。我怕让我朋友看见之后，他们会笑话我“哎呀呀，谁那么自恋啊？”但是如果广播里正好有放这首歌的话，我是不会转台的。
P：你们加拿大人总是团结在一起。那是一个阴谋吗？
N：我们相互支持。你知道全加拿大的人加起来还没有加利福尼亚州的人多。
P：你还出现在rap歌手Camron的歌里。歌词是这样滴，“I got weed hash, when I breeze past/Breathe fast, eat ass, on point like Steve Nash.”（我翻不来呀翻不来TT）你的名字（nash）正好和pp（ass）押韵，感觉如何呀？
N：我感到很荣幸。虽然我从没见过Cam’ron，但我喜欢他的歌，太酷了。
P：芬利夸你是全联盟里最酷的人。他还给你起了个外号——狼獾。因为你能以摧枯拉朽之势撕裂对方的防守，而且女性看见你就像看见了Hugh Jackman（X-man中狼人的扮演者）的反应一样。
N：别瞎说，他是在开我玩笑呢。
P：女性球迷举起“nash，和我结婚吧”这样的牌子。你是NBA中最具吸引力的单身汉，从中你得到了多少乐趣呢？
N：任何有钱的年轻人都有机会过上美好的单身汉生活。NBA也一样。你有很多机会去接触大城市里面的女人：纽约，洛杉矶，芝加哥，迈阿密，那都是非常迷人的地方。但是我知道的是什么呢？我已经是两个小孩的爸爸啦。
P：这是近两年的事了。你有什么甩掉那些想和nba球员发生XXOO关系的女人的诀窍吗？
N：一般来说，那些女的会在宾馆的大厅里闲逛，但我从来没见过。她们知道球员们会去哪——哪个餐馆，酒吧，并且会去那里找他们。
P：你有没有见过这样的女性球迷：她才识渊博，在政治上又很有觉悟，让你觉得可以和她发展一下……
N：没有，我不记得有那种事。没那回事。
P：媒体曾经把你和女演员Elizabeth Hurley还有辣妹成员Geri Halliwell联系在一起。你和她们真的有过一段吗？
N：我们通过彼此共同的朋友相识。她们很不错，但我和她们并不熟。
P：在2005年你和你的女友，双胞胎女儿的妈妈，Alejandra Amarilla结婚了，你有没有打出“嫁给我吧”的标语来求婚？
N：不，没有标语，我们在一起生活了3年，一切是水到渠成。她来自巴拉圭，我们在纽约相遇、约会、相爱然后在一起，我们结婚时，宝宝已经8个月大了。
P：有些运动员认为性爱会消耗他们的精力。你怎么看在比赛日做爱呢？
N：并没有哪条规矩说一定不能这么干，我认为这是自发性的。99%的情况下比赛日是不会发生性行为的，因为在那天要进行比赛，必须保持全神贯注。但我不会在床头贴一张“比赛日不准做爱”的标语来制定规矩，这样太死板了。
P：让我们快速穿越回你的性格形成时期。你出生在南非，后随你的家人移居至加拿大的British Columbia，你在那里踢足球长大。
N：我开口说的第一个词就是进球，但8年级的时候，我所有的朋友都热爱篮球，所以我的兴趣也转变了。那时的NBA是一个非常令人激动的梦幻年代，我完全被征服了。Showtime时期的湖人，Magic Johnson，Larry Bird，还有我最喜欢的球员Isiah Thomas。
P：恩，坏小子底特律活塞队的控球后卫。
N：还有Michael Jordan，他当时还是个新人，乔丹鞋的广告完全影响了我的生活。
P：你的足球背景对你在篮球领域是否有帮助？
N：在足球比赛中，你需要在一瞬间看到所有人的位置。在篮球中，这被称为球场视野，作为控球后卫这是非常必须的，对于我来说这种意识源自于足球。当然，还有一些其他的，由于在足球比赛中不能使用双手，你需要找到创造性的方法把球弄到正确的位置，切换到篮球模式即让控球更为简单。我能用我的双手了，这感觉就好像在是作弊一样。
P：你是加拿大最好的高中生球员，你希望到美国的篮球名校。但是并没有得到奖学金，Indianan和Duke拒绝了你，还有哪些其大学？
N：你说中了，我的高中教练写信给了全美25个顶级大学，但他们都不想要我。我本想希望去华盛顿大学，但他们压根对我没兴趣。
P：你最后去了Santa Clara大学，Dick Davey教练是如何决定录取你的？
N：他说：“你是我见过的最差的防守者。”他说的的确不错。和那些竞争激烈的美国孩子相比，我还需要学习很多。他还明确地告诉了我他的执教风格，在他手下效力的话，他不会表扬奉承你，而是狠狠鞭策你。
P：在你的第三个赛季之后，你获得了西海岸赛区年度最佳球员，你考虑过离校去参加NBA选秀？
N：我研究过这个问题，看上去我似乎会得到一个首轮末端的顺位，但我并不能肯定，所以留校更加安全的选择。
P：但这有点冒险，如果你在四年级受伤了怎么办呢？
N：我办理了一份一百万美元的保险，为了这份保险，我必须去作一次体检来证明给保险公司看，我并没有什么随时会导致职业生涯终结的伤病。
P：你是怎么付保险的？你当时还只是个大学生。
N：我得到了不少贷款，银行评估了我的收入潜力，觉得100万是没问题的。
P：你现在一个月就能挣到那么多了，那你在Santa Clara哪种类型的学生呢？
N：就是普普通通的那种，我的主业当然是篮球，我不可能在赛场和教室都拥有优于常人的充沛精力，至少对我来说是这样。
P：为什么大学球员不能主修体育呢？NCAA不允许这样的运动员拿到运动员奖学金有点虚伪。
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N：我同意这个看法，大学体育是一个巨大的产业，运动员是这创造亿万美元财富产业的一部分，你可以对他们在教学上有不同的要求，专门为他们设计方案。
P：在你大学时期，就已经和NBA球星Jason Kidd和Gary Payton一起训练过了。那是怎么一回事？
N：我不知道这件事是否会牵连到我，因为我的经纪人也曾经在Santa Clara打球，而他也代理Jason和Gary的事务。这好像是不正当的，但他对我说，“你可以去和这些家伙一起练球学习一下。”于是，我去了Gary 家的后院和他一起练球，又去了某家健身俱乐部和Jason练习。
P：Payton因为他严密的防守而有手套这一外号，其他的球员会怎么叫他吗？
N：这只是球迷对他的昵称，他的朋友大多都叫他G.P.或者Gary。
P：那你呢，你有什么昵称？你似乎并不喜欢狼罐这个绰号。
N：人们都叫我Nasty或者Steve-o。
P：还有什么球员的绰号是人们经常叫的吗？
N： Kevin Garnett被叫做Big Ticket，Allen Iverson的昵称是the Answer，但我从来没有，也永远不会这么叫他，我一直叫他Allen。如果我看到了Stephon Marbury，我也不会说，“我那天遇到了Starbury”，因为那样说实在是太傻了。
P：1996年太阳队在首轮选中了你，第15顺位是加拿大人在NBA选秀中的最高顺位。当选秀结果宣布时，太阳球迷对这个决定报以嘘声。
N：我当然不可能毫不介意，但是，嘿，我终于进入了NBA!
P：你用刚从NBA挣来的钱买了什么？
N：为我父母买了车和大屏幕的家庭影院，因为小时候，我们家的电视很让人讨厌，遥控器经常坏掉，让我们不得不用钳子来换台。
P：在凤凰城，你当时是全明星控卫Kevin Johnson的替补。
N：我们在练习时经常交手，有一天他对我说，“你知道吗？你和与我交手过的任何球员一样优秀，你只是还不知道罢了。”
P：他说的对吗？
.
N：（点头）我认为我会做的很好，但他的话给了我更多的信心。
P：你是不是像别人一样叫他K.J.？
N：我们叫他K.
P：昵称的昵称？
N：是的，如果可以的话，还是叫单音节最省事了。Shawn Marion因为他的全能风格得到了Matrix的绰号，而我们只叫他Trix。
P：在凤凰城待了两年后，你通过一笔涉及3名球员和后来选到Marion的那个首轮选秀权的交易去了达拉斯。那时候你受背伤困扰，而达拉斯的球迷都在嘘你。
N：那对我而言是种帮助，我认为没有多少人能有这样的经历。
P：那种被成千上万人嘘的恐怖经历？
N：不，是需要要去证明自己的感觉。虽然嘘声让我感到很受伤，但这也不正是个和压力作斗争并且战胜它的好机会吗！
P：作为一个加拿大人而言，你非常强悍。
N：我们是一个非常悠闲的国家。
P：有个笑话，是说加拿大人被人踩了脚，他会说什么？
N：恩，什么？
P：他说，不好意思……
N：这不是一个笑话，这是真的。但你可以在生活上保持闲散的风格而在工作中作风强硬。
P：当你加入Cuban的小牛队时，你和刚刚离开家乡的德国球员Nowitzki建立起了友情。
N：我们同一天到达训练营，住在同一个套间，我们都热爱比赛，我们一起训练。当时球队的训练设施在一周大多数日子都是对公众开放的，当球场被群众球员占据时，我和Dirk就会转到边上的篮架去。
P：一群律师和大学生那样的人把你们赶到了场边？
N：球场并不属于我们，所以我们就到场边玩horse。
P：按学校里的规矩？你会不会投中空心球？
N：当然，我有时会投个空心擦板球，也会用跑投、三分打败他，当然他也能在我面前投进中投。
P：在达拉斯的时候，你和Nowitzki的档拆几乎是致命的，这是源于无数次的练习还是精准的时机选择呢
N：两者皆有吧，这要求你具体分析对手的特点：他们的身材，步法。你要让让大个子球员一动不动作墙，给你作掩护。当控球后卫运球前进，大个子球员朝你上前一步挡住防守球员时，就是档拆的时机了，和Dirk配合的感觉就好像是心电感应那样默契。
P：你们两个现在的身份是西部的对手了，当你突入禁区时，他对你的防守会不会放松点？
N：不，我会受到很强硬的推挤，我估计Shaq是联盟肘子威力最强的球员，他非常强壮，我避开过他的肘子，但Karl Malone曾经狠狠给过我一肘子，把我的门牙给打折了，我花了6,7年的时间去牙医那儿矫正牙齿。
P：你欺负过菜鸟吗？现在还会这么干吗？
N：我们会让菜鸟唱歌或者搬行李。我当年在凤凰城还是菜鸟那会，A.C. Green会在练习时把球踢得到处都是，然后说，“嘿，新人们，把它们全都拣起来~”
P：Green是个教徒，他可是联盟最有名的禁欲主义者啊，他没有让你们都禁欲啊？
N：呃，你不可能违逆欲望的……
P：你可以去读法学院，法学院的学生说，如果你要学那么多东西，根本不可能有性生活，你会自然而然习惯禁欲。
N：那我很幸运，没有去上法学院。
P：你会研究多少比赛录像？
N：我会看10分钟录像，但这种办法已经过时了，我的意思是，谁想做个篮球机器？我在赛场上会全身心地投入比赛，但比赛结束后，我就会去考虑其他的事，这样对我更好。职业体育的某些方面是非常无趣的，比如舟车劳顿和应付媒体，这就是我回绝那么多媒体采访的原因。但当你在赛场上和你的队友并肩作战，比赛本身是非常美妙的，我仍然像儿时那样热爱篮球。
P：你更愿意送出一次助攻还是投一个三分？
N：助攻，因为这能让不止一个人参与进攻。
P：你很讨厌这样：运球过多，然后只能停止，于是不得不传球或者投篮，这是为什么？
N：过多运球对防守者有利，你不能晃过他们，他们会让你感到窒息，但是如果你能带球移动，观察局势，那他们只能不断调整。这就和足球里，你想不断带球推进，给防守者施压一样。
P：比赛的节奏是否比平时打球感觉要快呢？
N：当你还是个新人的时候，也许是这样。但当你有了充分经验后，你就会越来越冷静，把比赛节奏慢下来。
P：成为一个优秀控卫需要拥有哪些要素？
N：他需要很聪明，并且把队友的偏好牢记于心，他要使队变得更好，能在一瞬间看清场上局势统揽全局，John Stockton就是个伟大的控卫，还有Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Jason Kidd和去年的最佳新秀，Chris Paul他是一个优秀的年轻控卫，快船的Shaun Livingston也大有前途。
P：在你经历的这10个赛季，联盟变得怎么样了？
N：规则在向好的方向变化。
P：NBA限制了用手接触对方的身体，引入了防守3秒，把防守队员赶出了禁区。这两个规则都对突破的持球者有利。
N：这对比赛也有帮助。在这些规则引入之前，球队只是把最好的两个球员孤立开，进行一对一单打，其他球员则拉到一边。5对5才是更精彩的比赛，这些规则促进了这种5人对5人的较量。
P：如果没有这些新规则，你还会不会拿到两次MVP？
N：当然会，这并没有什么妨碍。
P：以前Jordan会去挑衅其他球员，当他投进一个挑投后会说，“你想再看一次吗？”现在谁说这种话最多？
N：现在没有球员会说这样的话了。他们会向队友大声嚷嚷，但不会去挑衅对手，因为这样也许会引发斗殴，每个人的容忍限度是不同的，在文化方面也是一样，人们太过敏感，很容易感到自己被冒犯了。
P：一些体育说你之记者所以能战胜Shaq，Kobe和James赢得MVP是因为你是白种人，你是否会因此而感到被冒犯？
N：他们谈论种族主义，但我说联盟也许存在着相反的种族主义。
P：你的意思是白人在NBA生存更为艰难？
N：我并没有这么说，我是说这种情况也许存在。
P：hip hop歌手Eminem说过，由于自己是白人，所以要付出双倍多的努力来证明自己，你认为自己是联盟中的少数派吗？
N：这是黑人的联盟，至少数据支持这个观点。但问题是，这对我而言有意义么？没有，因为篮球是橙色的。
P：那联盟呢？NBA是否为自己的形象而感到担忧？
N：联盟当然关心，所有涉及公众形象的问题都被高度重视。
P：你在2003年的全明星比赛上，穿了一件印有“不要战争——为和平而投篮”（NO WAR-SHOOT FOR PEACE）的T-shirt以反对美军侵入伊拉克，现在看来是明智的。你觉得自己被证明了吗？
N：我不觉得自己在伊拉克的问题上需要被证明。你看，这并不是“我告诉你别这样。”我只是不赞成侵略战争，入侵应该是解决问题的最终手段。我认为我们在发动入侵之前并没有动用了所有可行的手段来找寻大规模杀伤性武器，如此而已。我并不是反美派或者反布什派，我也没有说你们必须相信我所相信的观点。我只是希望每个人都能看得更全面，更深入些。
P：你不是一个反布什派？
N：我不会把时间花在反对任何人身上。但我确实和他政见不同。
P：那现在呢？我们现在仍然驻军伊拉克是不是仅仅因为没有保全颜面撤退的方法？
N：这很清楚，我认为每个人，甚至是曾经希望参战的人，都认为撤兵更好。
P：美国人是不是比加拿大人更加好战？
N：我是这么认为的，但我们无法干预别人的事情，我们只是加拿大人而已。
P：去年当Santa Clara将你的球衣退役时，你回校为学生做演讲时说“你们需要更深入地融入这个世界”。
N：我记得在这个年纪时，你有可能会和社会分离。我希望他们知道他们是社会这个大机器的一部分。他们需要对此更有意识，彼此更紧密地联系在一起，因为他们是这个“机器”在地方，国家，甚至整个地球运转的一部分。
P：体育有没有分散了人们这方面的注意力？
N：是的，但不仅仅是体育。自我童年起，娱乐业十倍地发展。我们当年没有因特网，电子游戏机，DVD，收费电视，卫星电视。新闻业也不仅仅是关乎重大议题了，这也成了娱乐。
P：好吧，我们来谈谈这个问题，如果一本杂志里都是严肃的议题讨论没有其他会怎么样呢？
N：我们已经完全置身于娱乐业这柄巨伞下。
P：给我们举个例子吧。
N：我们不能再骂脏话了，今年这样做的话，这会是个技术犯规。联盟希望我们尽可能表现得体面。这会影响到比赛，当你拿到一次技术犯规后，你会被罚款1000美元。
P：你可以表现的库班式一点，说“我才不管什么罚款，去他的，我有言论自由！”
N：你需要自己做个选择，我宁愿把1000美元给慈善机构而非联盟。
P：这听上去很有60年代的感觉，有没有一张禁语列表？你们能说废话吗？
N：我不知道。但究竟是从何划出底线呢？究竟在什么时候才要把比赛变成像小孩子过家家一样，把个性与激情统统过滤掉？我们马上就能找到这个底线的答案了。
P：你并不是个一本正经的西装领带男，当你重归太阳队时，你穿了双高尔夫球鞋去新闻发布会。你是怎么看NBA的着装规则的？
N：这很不幸，我们都是成年人了，但还有更重要的事值得我们去关心
P：Bill Walton曾经说你是联盟中身体素质最烂的控球后卫。你想反驳他吗？
N：在跑跳方面，他或许是对的，我认为他指的是这些。
P：你真是个宽厚的人，许多伟大的运动员都会被忌恨所刺激——他们会把一些轻微的批评引发为一场战争。Joradan就是那种人，Tiger Woods也是。
N：这并没意思，我更愿意去享受比赛而非负面的东西。
P：这个命题是对是错：Cuban放你离开这个决定激励了你？
N：（露齿一笑）他也可能会让其他人离开，当然，我并没有怨恨。来到凤凰城对我和我的家人来说都是最好的选择，我们热爱这座城市。
P：你和你的妻子有一对双胞胎女儿，Isabellla和Lourdes，Nowitzki是她们的教父，你的孩子们知道你靠什么养家糊口吗？
N：她们知道我打篮球，但她们才2岁大，她们对工作并没有明确的概念。当他们在电视上看到篮球时，她们会说“爸爸！”
P：去年夏天你剪去了长发，这在加拿大成了一条新闻，你的女儿有没有被你的发型震惊？
N：我就是在她们面前剪的，她们笑着说“还是爸爸！”
P：和我们说说关于球的话题，赛季初，联盟引入了人造革制的新球，抛弃了旧球。联盟有没有就此询问过球员的意见？
N：完全没有。
P：NBA咨询了一些退役球员，但却在你们身上实施了这一变化。
N：新球改变了比赛，它影响了时间的选择，虽然并不至于很厉害但足以让你发生更多的失误，尤其是在赛季初的时候。旧球更有触感，当它打到你的手或是篮板时，会有一个反作用力。但当新球击中篮板后，它就直接砰地落下去了。当你的传球偏斜时，新球不会粘住你的手，它直接就掉下去了。
P：联盟声称新球更加耐用，球在比赛中会不会存在破损这种问题？
N：不会，但如果采用新球是为了更好的环保的话，我能够接受。
P：好吧，新球会在球员的手上少留下些伤口。联盟最终放弃了新球重新用回旧球，你告诉我们，你觉得用人造革的新球感觉还行？
N：不仅仅是还行，如果这是为了动物和环境的话，我会支持这个决定。
P：你真的从来没扣过篮？
N：不，我在高中时曾经扣过好几次，但在NBA从来没有扣过。
P：灌篮这种方式对你而言是不是太过侵略性了？
N：这不是我的比赛方式，而且我已经不如高中时跳得高了。
P：你在球场上遇到过最有意思的事是什么？
N：来到太阳后的第一个赛季和小牛的季后赛中我的第一个投篮。我本想来个3分，但我的拇指被裤带给缠住了，我试图把手指拉出来，但他完全卡住了，最后我只能单手投出了一个面包球。
P：你以投篮姿势而闻名，除了在出手前让手掌正对天花板，一个完美的挑投还有什么秘诀？
N：这和你的腿有关，除非你能运用你的腿力推进投篮，否则再完美规范的上肢动作都是没用的。
P：来说说个人卫生吧，你长发的时候，体育记者都说你的长发看起来像是从来没洗过。
N：不，我每天都有洗头，你难道不是吗？
P：我们已经谈了几个小时，很显然你已经不大舒坦了，你是不是很想回去训练？
N：我的背有些问题，坐在椅子上太久很难受。
P：这是我们的错，我们应该让你躺着接受采访。
N：不不，还行，没有这个必要。
P：我们很快就会结束这个访问。说说你的终极目标是什么?
N：我还不知道，打到不能打为止吧
P：作教练这个主意怎么样呢？
N：这并不吸引我，至少现在不，也许我会从事慈善事业。
P：你在凤凰城度过的这两个MVP赛季中让你感觉最好的是什么？
N：我的队友们，我们相处得非常愉快。这个球队有真正美妙的化学反应：我们彼此开玩笑，我们之间的友谊。对我来说，这些才是经久不衰的的。你也许不一定会记住比赛，记住那些投篮。但你会记住和队友在球队大巴、包机、更衣室里的时光，这些和球场上的并肩作战的时光才是让我觉得真正其乐无穷的。
P：凤凰城有你，Marion和Stoudermire这三个超级太阳。来预测一下那支球队会拿到总冠军吧。
N：我并没有什么超能力，总冠军包括有许多因素。我们需要保持健康，Amare在缺席了一年后这个赛季重新归来，我们所面临的挑战是让他重新融入这个集体，而现在我们的挑战是同联盟中最好的球队交手。赢得总冠军并不是一个简单的方程式，所以我不会去预测。但即使我们不能赢取总冠军，我们仍然是一支极富观赏性的队伍。
P：像你这样你个运动小子会不会连睡觉时都梦到篮球？
N：我梦见过，不是每个晚上但经常会梦到。我会梦到球场上球在我的掌控之中。
P：当Shaq接受Playboy采访时，他告诉我们他梦到他能飞翔。
N：那不是我。我只是梦到和平时一样的情形。
P：连做梦都很现实？你穿着太阳队的队服，寻找Stoudermire来个飞扣？
N：恩，但我被困住了。你知道有时候你明白该怎么做但却不能做到的感觉是怎样的吗？
P：你会感到很气馁。
N：是的，我知道应该怎么打，但我不能把球传出去。
P：这里有弗洛伊德《释梦》的缩略版，可以给你看看。
N：我觉得那可能不牢靠。
P：但你现在是位名人了
N：噢，饶过我吧～
P：时代杂志把你评选为世界100大有影响力的人物。这份名单中的部分人物有：Oprah, Bono, Hillary Clinton, the Pope, George Clooney, the Dixie Chicks和Steve Nash。
N：能位列前一百我感到非常荣幸，但我从来没有收到过这种派对的邀请函，也许我并非那么有影响力。
P：Charles Barkley帮时代杂志为你写了一篇小短文，他说你是多么的伟大。
N：我感到非常惊讶，Charles很伟大，他是一个令人难以置信的球员和娱乐界人士，他从不畏惧做自己。
P：那你怎么看他的右翼政见呢？
N：我对人们强烈的党派性感到厌烦。他是右翼的，你是左翼的，那只是问题的一部分。我们应该按照是非曲直来讨论议题，而停止左翼右翼间的斗争。
P：你和Sacha Baron Cohen一起为TNT的Barkley电视网做了个有趣的广告，你是不是Ali G的粉丝？
N：我可是他的超级粉丝啊，在他为HBO做节目、拍Borat前我就从英国视台看他的节目了，The TNT是个好节目，当然他对TNT来说有点过于尖锐了，他最好的一些特质并没有展现出来。比如他有次转过头来问我：“你有没有试过让葡萄干从你的球裤掉落来分散对位者的注意力？”这些并没有被拍进广告。
P：Owen Wilson是你的另一位名人好友。
N：Owen是一个很好的家伙，一个达拉斯小伙子，我在小牛队时认识了他，我们一起去喝过一两次小酒，还玩了网式足球。
P：这足球还是网球？
N：不，那是网式足球，Owen喜欢的比赛，在网球场里以网球的规则里踢足球，你要用脚来发球，这真的很难。
P：但你擅长足球，你是不是冲向球网做一个倒挂金勾式的截击？
N：不，没有。我只是尝试头球式的击，但我并不很擅长这个。Owen很棒，我们上次玩的时候他打败了我，我希望来次复赛。我们需要来个一决雌雄来做次永远的了结。
P：你的手机铃声曾经一度是加拿大国歌，你有没有把它换成“Promiscuous”？
N：我把它换成震动了。
P：差不多，现在你是个名人了，你手机的快速拨号里肯定有一些名人朋友，Wilson, Furtado, Norwitzki……
N：当然，我的手机里有我朋友的号码，但我不想把他们在这里列出来。
P：你不能给我们弗洛伊德的号码吗？
N：哎呀～这次采访怎么让我遇到了一个大傻瓜呀>\\\\<
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原文：
The NBA’s two time MVP- soon to make it three?- is the least likely purple star since Barney. He doesn’t dunk, his bum back forces him to lie down during time-outs, and he’s from a country where basketball is a minor sport somewhere between skiing and ice fishing. Still, the Phoenix Suns’ scrawny Canadian point guard manages to keep up with Kobe, Shaq, LeBron and the rest of the league’s dominators.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his dad was a pro soccer player, Nash grew up in a family with a social conscience. The Nashes so hated apartheid they moved to British Columbia, where Steve became a soccer virtuoso and did footie tricks with the ball. But since soccer and hockey were the big sports, nonconformist Nash switched to hoops. With his picture-perfect jump shot and superhuman court sense, he became the best high school player in Canada- which is like being the tallest munchkin. He got exactly one scholarship offer from a U.S. college: Santa Clara University, nobody’s idea of a basketball power.
After a million hours of practice and 10 zillion gallons of sweat, the consummate gym rat twice became West Coast Conference Player of the Year, averaging 17 points and 6 assists as a senior. Still, when the Suns drafted him in the first round in 1996 (behind Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and high schooler Kobe Bryant but ahead of Jermaine O’Neal), Phoenix fans booed the pick. Soon they booed Nash in person, and in 1998 the Suns traded him to Dallas. He became an All-Star for the Mavericks but courted controversy at the All Star Game in 2003; Nash, who opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, wore a t-shirt reading NO WAR-SHOOT FOR PEACE. Sports columnists howled, “shut up and play!”
When Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who wanted to build a team around forward Dirk Nowitzki, let Nash go the following year, Nash signed a six-year, $66 million deal with Phoenix. Ridiculous money, according to Cuban. But the point guard who got away has been the NBA’s MVP ever since. The year before Nash arrived, the Suns went 29-53. In the 2004-2005 season, with Nash leading an explosive, fast-breaking attack, they scord more points than any other team in a decade. With Nash averaging 15.5 points and a league-best 11.5 assists, Phoenix had the NBA’s best record. Last year he stepped it up again: 18.8 points and 10.5 assists a game, leading the Suns to the Western Conference Finals and grabbing his second Maurice Podoloff trophy as league MVP.
With his long hair (shorn last summer-national news in Canada) and lady-killing looks, Nash has become a crossover star, an MTV sort of MVP who gets shout-outs in hit songs. We sent freelance writer Kevin Cook to meet him.
“Steve drives fast on and off the court,” says Cook. “We chatted courtside at the U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, then zipped in his black Mercedes C32 AMG to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant downtown. I’d been told he turns down 9 out of 10 interviews. he said yes to this one because he knew we’d talk about more than how the Suns match up against the rest of the league. And we did. I have interiewed Bryan, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and other NBA stars but never about Nelly Furtado, game-day sex and kicking soccer balls at Owen Wilson. We started with the basics and kept the pace quick.”
AND IT BEGINS:
Playboy: Your Suns lost the past two Western Conference Finals. Can you do better this year?
Nash: For sure. Don’t bet against us. We have to stay healthy and establish our rhythm: Push the ball up and score a lot of points.
Playboy: If you were buying a ticket, who would you go see? Pick a team other than the Suns.
Nash: You’re putting me on the spot. Okay, I like teams that share the ball. Detroit, Miami, San Antonio, Dallas. They’re exciting to watch and to play against.
Playboy: You’re 33 now, a 10-year veteran. How crucial is it for you to win a title before you’re through?
Nash: Not crucial. I won’t kill myself if it never happens.
Playboy: Is it more American to think you have to win or else?
Nash: Yes, and I’m a Canadian who will not commit suicide if I don’t win an NBA championship. But I’m sure gonna give it a go.
Playboy: Can you keep getting better?
Nash: I’d like to be a better defender. But it’s tough. I expend a lot of energy on offense, and I’m not big.
Playboy: The media guide says that you’re six-foot-three. How big a lie is that?
Nash: I’m six-two. I’m not growing any taller, and at my age I can’t just play defense all summer, which is the best way to improve-to guard guys. I tried to get a little stronger and quicker last summer, but there aren’t enough hours in the day, not enough recovery hours, for me to use up my body that way. My being healthy is a bigger priority for our team than my defense.
Playboy: We’ve all seen you lying on the baseline during time-outs. You’ve got spondylolisthesis, which is…?
Nash: A vertebra tha tslips a millimeter out of place. It’s congenital but not degenerative. If it moves more millimeters out of place, I won’t be able to play anymore, but lots of people have it. I don’t see it as a career-threatening.
Playboy: Did Mark Cuban? He said he loved you, then let you go from his Mavs to the Suns three years ago.
Nash: He thought I was old and would physically break down.
Playboy: Was that more incentive for you?
Nash: Nah, I play because I love to play and want to win. I don’t know where “breaking down” came from In the end, it was about money.
Playboy: Were you and Cuban friends?
Nash: Yes. We would email eachother and saw each other all the time. He’s done a lot for his franchise and the league. In the grand scheme I respect him.
Playboy: Take us behind the scenes. It’s 2004, you just got an offer from the Suns, you just got an offer from the Suns, and you’d promised to give Cuban a chance to make a final offer. How did you do that?
Nash: By phone. I was in Dallas with my agent, Bill Duffy, at the home of a Suns part owner. The Suns said, “We want you to promise not to tell him what the offer is. Just say it’s a substantial one.”
Playboy: Six years and $66 million is pretty substantial.
Nash: So I called Mark.
Playboy: From the Suns’ co-owner’s house?
Nash: Yeah. “The Suns have made me a substantial offer,” I said. I even cheated a bit and told him it was close to another guy’s salary, one he knew.
Playboy: And Cuban said…
Nash: He said, “Oh !” He was surprised. “Let me talk to Duff,” he said. So I gave the phone to my agent.
Playboy: Cuban never came close to matching the Suns’ offer. here’s a billionaire who has happily spent millions to pay fines for ripping the league officials. Were you surprised he made a stand about playing you $10 million a year?
Nash: I was. He paid a lot of guys who never came close to living up to their contract. (The Mavs paid Alan Henderson $8.3 million for his 3.5 points per game that year and the following season paid Keith Van Horn $15.6 million for his 8.9). To draw the line on me, a guy who always showed up and worked hard and was a big part of the team’s success- it hurt.
Playboy: Cuban later said your agent misrepresented the Suns’ offer, inflating it to try to get more from Dallas.
Nash: That was spin.
Playboy: Because he had to save face after letting you go?
Nash: Yeah, he was going to take some heat. It’s all spin.
Playboy: How did that affect your friendship?
Nash: He was a friend. There were other sides of him that weren’t fun to play for: yelling at referees, pouting in the locker room. That was irritating. But then, who’s perfect?
Playboy: Did you roll your eyes when he hollered at the refs? Did it make your job harder?
Nash: Well, refs don’t appreciate it.
Playboy: Do they take it out on the Mavs?
Nash: (nodding) They’re human.
Playboy: Who did you first tell about going to the Suns?
Nash: Two teammates: Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley.
Playboy: Teammates before family?
Nash: I could tell my family later. I wanted those guys to hear it from me before they heard it on the news, to tell them it wasn’t my wish. “I don’t want to go, but Cuban doesn’t want me back,” I said. And they were both with me. They said, “You gotta go.”
Playboy: Finley called you “our rock star.” And now you keep turning up in hit songs. You’re the MTV MVP.
Nash: Keep turning up?
Playboy: In “Promiscuous,” Nelly Furtado sings, “Is that the truth, or are you talking trash?/Is your game MVP like Steve Nash?”
Nash: Well, aside from the title, I love it. Nelly’s great; I’m a fan. We’re from the same neighborhood in Victoria, British Columbia. it was sweet of her to put me in the song. It’s not on my iPod, though. I’m worried one of my friends will see it there and say, “Oh, who loves himself?” But if “Promiscuous” comes on the radio, I don’t change the station.
Playboy: You canadians stick together. Is that a conspiracy?
Nash: We root for each other. Did you know there are fewer people in Canada than in California?
Playboy: You’re also in the song “Get ‘Em Daddy,” by the rapper Cam’ron. It goes like this: “I got weed hash, when I breeze past,/Breathe fast, eat ass, on point like Steve Nash.” How does it feel to be rhymed with ass?
Nash: I’m flattered. I’ve never met Cam’ron, but I love his songs. That’s cool.
Playboy: Your Mavs teammate Finley said you were the coolest guy in the league. He called you Wolverine for the way you slice and dice defenses and for your Hugh Jackman-like effect on the ladies.
Nash: I think he was joking.
Playboy: Female fans held up signs that said MARRY ME, NASH. How much fun was it to be the NBA’s most eligible bachelor?
Nash: Any young guy with money has a shot at a nice bachelor lifestyle. The NBA’s no different. You’ve got the most opportunities to meet women in the big cities: New York, L.A., Chicago and Miami- that’s a fascinating town. But what do I know? I’m a father of two.
Playboy: Not until two years ago. Any tips on fending off NBA groupies?
Nash: the usual image of groupies lounging in hotel lobbies- I never saw that. The groupie knows where players go in a particular town, which restaurant or bar, and goes there looking for them.
Playboy: Ever meet one you could relate to- a well-read, politically aware groupie?
Nash: Nah. I’d remember that. Those don’t grow on trees.
Playboy: You were linked in the press with actress Elizabeth Hurley and Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell of the Spice Girls. Did you link with them physically?
Nash: I met them both through mutual friends. They seemed nice, but I didn’t know them.
Playboy: In 2005 you married your girlfriend, Alejandra Amarilla, the mother of your twin daughters. Did you propose with a big sign that said MARRY ME?
Nash: No, no sign. We’d been living together for three years. It was time. She’s from Paraguay. We met in New York, started dating and boom- together ever since. Our babies were eight months old when we married.
Playboy: Some athletes think sex saps their energy. What’s your view of sex on game day?
Nash: I don’t have a rule against it. I think you want to be spontaneous. Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s not happening on a game day because you’re in a routine that day; you’re totally focused. But I don’t make a law of it. “No sex on game day” is definitely not written on my bed. That would be too limiting.
Playboy: Let’s fast-break through your formative years. Born in South Africa, moved with your family to British Columbia, where you grew up playing soccer.
Nash: The first word that I ever said was goal!! But all my friends in eighth grade loved basketball, so I switched. It was an exciting, romantic time for the game, and I was swept up in it. The Showtime Lakers, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and my favorite player, Isiah Thomas.
Playboy: Point guard for Detroit’s “Bad Boy” Pistons.
Nash: And Michael Jordan, who was new then. Air Jordan commercials definitely influenced my life.
Playboy: Did your soccer background help you in hoops?
Nash: In soccer you have to see where everybody is all at once. In basketball it’s called court sense. You really need it as a point guard, and for me it started in soccer. And there’s something else: Since you can’t use your hands in soccer, you find creative ways to get the ball to the right spot. Switching to basketball made ballhandling a lot easier. I could use my hands! it was almost like cheating.
Playboy: You were the best high school basketball player in Canada. You wanted to play for a big-time program in the U.S. but couldn’t get a scholarship. Indiana and Duke rejected you. Who else?
Nash: You name ‘em. My high school coach sent letters to 25 top schools. Nobody wanted me. I would have loved to go to the University of Washington, but there was zero interest.
Playboy: You wound up at Santa Clara University. How did coach Dick Davey recruit you?
Nash: He said, “You’re the worst defender I’ve ever seen.” There was some truth to that. Compared with a lot of kids in the States, where the competition is better, I had a lot to learn. And he set the tone. He made it clear that if you played for him at Santa Clara, he wasn’t going to kiss your ass. He was going to push you.
Playboy: After your junior season there, you were the West Coast Conference Player of the Year. You considered leaving school for the NBA draft.
Nash: I explored it. It looked as if I might be a late first-round pick, but you can’t be sure. It was safer to stay.
Playboy: Risky, though. What if you’d been hurt during your senior year?
Nash: I took out an insurance policy- for a million dollars. To get it I had to take a physical exam to show the insurance company I wasn’t a career-ending injury just waiting to happen.
Playboy: How did you pay for the policy? You were a college kid.
Nash: I got a line of credit. The bank evaluated my earning potential; a million dollars seemed about right.
Playboy: You make that in a month now. What kind of student were you at Santa Clara?
Nash: Average. I definitely majored in basketball. There wasn’t enough time or energy to excel on the court and in the classroom, at least for me.
Playboy: Why shouldn’t college players major in sports? It’s hypocritical of the NCAA to pretend it’s turning out scholar-athletes.
Nash: I agree. College sports is a huge industry. You could make different educational demands on athletes who are part of that billion-dollar money making scheme.
Playboy: While you were still in college you practiced with NBA stars Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. How did that come about?
Nash: I don’t know if this incriminates me, but my agent had played at Santa Clara, and he represented Jason and Gary. It isn’t legal, but he said, “You can work out with these guys.” I went to Gary’s backyard, and we worked out. I went to a health club and worked out with Jason.
Playboy: Payton was called the Glove, for his tight defense. Do other players call him that?
Nash: That’s fan vernacular. Most of his friends call him G.P. or Gary.
Playboy: How about you? You don’t like the nickname Wolerine.
Nash: Most guys call me Nashy or Steve-o.
Playboy: Are there any nicknames guys actually use?
Nash: Kein Garnett is Big Ticket. Allen Iverson’s the Answer, but I would never, ever call him that. I call him Allen. And if I saw Stephon Marbury, I wouldn’t say, “I ran into Starbury the other day,” because I’d sound like a total cheeseball.
Playboy: In 1996 the Suns made you their first-round pick, 15th overall- the highest any Canadian had eer gone in the NBA draft. When the pick was announced, Suns fans booed.
Nash: And I couldn’t have cared less. Hey, I’d made the NBA!
Playboy: What did you buy with your NBA money?
Nash: Cars for my parents. And a big screen home-entertainment center, also for my parents, because we had this lousy TV when I was growing up. The channel dial fell off, so we changed channels with a pair of tweezers.
Playboy: In Phoenix you backed up All-Star point guard Kevin Johnson.
Nash: We went against each other in practice. One day he said, “You know what? You’re as good as anybody I play against. You just don’t know it yet.”
Playboy: Was he right?
Nash: (nodding) I thought I could be good, but that gave me more belief.
Playboy: Did you call him K.J., like everyone else?
Nash: We called him K.
Playboy: A nickname for a nickname.
Nash: Yeah, you want to get it down to one syllable if possible. Shawn Marion is Matrix because his game has special effects, so we call him Trix.
Playboy: After two years Phoenix traded you to Dallas for three players and a first-round draft pick the Suns used to get Marion. You hurt your back, and Mavericks fans booed you.
Nash: That helped me. I thought, Not many people get to have this experience.
Playboy: The thrill of being booed by thousands?
Nash: No, of having something to prove. It hurt, but what a great opportunity to fight through it and win them over.
Playboy: You’re fierce for a Canadian.
Nash: We’re a pretty laid-back country.
Playboy: Here’s a joke: What does a Canadian say when you step on his foot?
Nash: Okay, what?
Playboy: He says, “Excuse me.”
Nash: That’s not a joke. That’s true. But you can be laid-back in life and fierce in your profession.
Playboy: When you joined Mark Cuban’s Mavs, you struck up a friendship with Nowitzki, who had just arrived from Germany.
Nash: We got to camp the same day. We lived in the same apartment complex and both loved to work at our game, so we practiced together. The team’s practice facility was open to the public most of the week. When the public players had the court, Dirk and I would use one of the side baskets.
Playboy: A bunch of lawyers and college kids kept you off the court?
Nash: We didn’t own the court, so we played horse on the side.
Playboy: School-yard rules? Would you call a swish?
Nash: Sure. Call a swish, call a bank shot. I’d shoot runners to get a letter on Dirk, or I’d wear him down with threes. He might get me with mid-range jumpers.
Playboy: In your years at Dallas you and Nowitzki were deadly on the pick-and-roll. Was that from endless practice or just good timing?
Nash: Both. It’s about reading the other team- the bodies, the footwork. You get your man stuck on the pick, so the big man has to cover you; just when he steps toward you while the guard’s trying to get back, that’s your moment. With Dirk it was like telepathy.
Playboy: You two are Western Conference rivals now. Does he take it easy on you if you come through the lane?
Nash: No. There are some hard elbows out there. I expect Shaq would be at the top of the list for elbow power. He’s a strong man. I’ve avoided his elbows, but Karl Malone got me good. One of his elbows bent back my front teeth. It took six or seven sessions in the dentist’s chair to fix that.
Playboy: Did you haze rookies? Does that still go on?
Nash: We make the rookies sing a song or carry our luggage. When I was a rookie in Phoenix, A.C. Green would kick the balls around at practice and say, “Rookie, go pick ‘em up.”
Playboy: Green was religious- the league’s most famous virgin. He didn’t make you all become virgins?
Nash: Well, you can’t reverse virginity.
Playboy: You can in law school. Law students say if you study so much you never have sex, you become a common-law virgin.
Nash: Fortunately, I never went to law school.
Playboy: How much game tape do you study?
Nash: I’ll watach 10 minutes of tape, but it gets old. I mean, who wants to be some kind of basketball machine? I put a lot into the game when we’re playing- mentally and physically. When the game’s over, I want to think about something else. I operate better that way. Some aspects of the pro game are no fun- the travel and the media demands- which is why I turn down the vast majority of media requests. But the game itself, when you’re out there playing with your teammates, that as good as it gets. I still love to play as much as when I was a kid.
Playboy: Which would you rather have, an assist or a three-pointer?
Nash: An assist. It involves more than one person.
Playboy: You hate to pick up your dribble-to stop dribbling- and have to pass or shoot. Why?
Nash: Picking up your dribble does the defense a favor. You can’t go by them anymore; they can smother you. But if you keep your dribble alive, they have to constantly adjust. It’s like in soccer- you want to keep moving forward, keep the pressure on.
Playboy: Does game action seem to go faster than real life?
Nash: It might when you’re a rookie. With experience you get calmer and the game slows down.
Playboy: What makes for a great point guard?
Nash: He needs to be intelligent and have his teammates’ best interest at heart. He makes his team better. He can see the whole court at once. John Stockton was a great point guard. Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Jason Kidd. Chris Paul, last year’s Rookie of the Year, is a terrific young point guard. The Clipper’s Shaun Livingston could be a great one.
Playboy: how has the league changed in your 10 seasons?
Nash: The rules have changed for the better.
Playboy: The NBA has curtailed the hand check and introduced the defensive three-second rule, which keeps defenders out of the lane. Both changes helped ball handlers who could penetrate.
Nash: They helped the game. Before that, teams would just isolate the two best players while everybody else stood around. Five-on-five’s a better game, and these rules promote five-on-five.
Playboy: could you have won two MVP awards without the new rules?
Nash: They sure didn’t hurt.
Playboy: Michael Jordan used to taunt other players- he’d hit a jumper and then say, “You want to see it again?” Who talks the most now?
Nash: Guys don’t talk now. They yell to teammates but won’t taunt an opponent, probably because there would be fights. Everybody takes things so personally. That’s true in the culture, too. People are too sensitive, too easily offended.
Playboy: Were you offended when a few sportswriters said you had won your MVP awards over Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryand and LeBron James because you’re white?
Nash: They talked about racism. I said there might be reverse racism going on.
Playboy: You meant it may be harder for a while guy in the NBA.
Nash: I didn’t say it was the case. I said it was possible.
Playboy: Eminem said that about hip hop. He felt he had to prove himself twice over because he was white. Do you feel like a minority in your game?
Nash: it’s a black man’s game. The numbers support that view. The question is, what does it mean to me? Nothing. The ball is orange.
Playboy: What about the league? Is the NBA worried about its image?
Nash: The league is concerned. All businesses are concerned about their public image.
Playboy: You took a political stand at the 2003 All-Star Game, wearing a t-shirt that read NO WAR- SHOOT FOR PEACE. Opposing the invasion of Iraq seems awfully smart now. Do you feel vindicated?
Nash: I don’t need to feel vindicated about Iraq. Look, it’s not about “I told you so.” I just don’t believe in agressive war. Aggression should be a last resort. I didn’t think we had done all we could to find weapons of mass destruction before launching an invasion. That’s all. I wasn’t being anti-American or anti-Bush. And I didn’t say you have to believe what I believe. I just wanted everyone to try to be a little more informed, to dig a little deeper.
Playboy: You’re not anti-Bush?
Nash: I don’t want to spend time being anti-anyone. But I don’t necessarily agree with his politics.
Playboy: What now? Are we still in Iraq only because there’s no face-saving way out?
Nash: That seems clear. I think everyone, even people who wanted to go to war, wishes there were a good way out.
Playboy: Are Americans more warlike than Canadians?
Nash: I suppose. But then we don’t have the means to go sticking our nose in everybody’s business. We’re just Canada.
Playboy: You stayed on message when you spoke to Santa Clara students last year on the day the school retired your number. “Dig deeper,” you said. “Get involved in the world.”
Nash: I remember being that age. You can get detached from the world. I wanted them to know they’re part of this machine, this mechanism we call society. They’ve got to be more aware, more connected, because they’ve got a part to play locally, nationally and even globally.
Playboy: Doesn’t sports distract people from all taht?
Nash: Yeah, and not just sports. Entertainment has grown tenfold since my childhood. I didn’t have the internet, video games, DVDs, pay TV, satellite TV. Journalism isn’t about issues anymore- it’s entertainment too.
Playboy: Come on, we’re talking issues in a magazine that’s all about sober discussion of the issues and nothing else.
Nash: We’re all under that big entertainment umbrella.
Playboy: Give us an example.
Nash: We can’t swear anymore. As of this year, it’s a technical foul. The league wnts us to be as presentable as possible. And this can affect games- you get a technical and a $1,000 fine.
Playboy: You could Cubanize: You could say, “I don’t care what it costs. it- I’m for free speech!”
Nash: You have to pick your spots. I’d rather take that $1,000 and give it to charity than give it to the Man.
Playboy: That sounds very 1960s. Is there a list of verboten words? Can you say crap?
Nash: I don’t know. But where do you draw the line? At what point does the game get so Leave It to Beaver that all the passion and personality go out of it? We’re coming awfully close to finding out.
Playboy: You’re not a suit-and-tie guy. When you rejoined the Suns, you wore golf shoes to the press conference. What do you think of the NBA dress code?
Nash: It’s unfortunate. We’re grown men. But there are more important things to worry about.
Playboy: Bill Walton once called you the least athletic point guard in the NBA. Did you want to pop him one?
Nash: As far as running and jumping, he’s probably right. I think that’s what he meant.
Playboy: That’s charitable of you. A lot of great athletes are motivated by grudges- they’ll turn some mild criticism into war. Jordan was like that. So is Tiger Woods.
Nash: That’s not fun. I’d rather enjoy my career than go negative.
Playboy: True or fals: Cuban screwed up by letting you go.
Nash: (grinning) He could have let someone else go, for sure, but I don’t have a grudge. Coming to Phoenix was best for me and my family. We love it here.
Playboy: You and your wife have twins, Isabella and Lourdes. Nowitzki is their godfather. Do your kids know what you do for a living?
Nash: They know I play basketball, but they’re only two years old. They’re not so clear on the idea of a job. When they see basketball on TV they say, “Papa!”
Playboy: You shaved your head last year, and it made the news in Canada. Were your daughters shocked?
Nash: I shaved it right infront of them. They laughed. “Still Papa!”
Playboy: Tell us about the ball. At the beginning of the season, the NBA introduced a new synthetic basketball, ditching the old leather one. Did the league consult the players?
Nash: We had zero input.
Playboy: The NBA consulted some ex-players but sprang the change on you.
Nash: And it changed the game. It affected your timing. Not a lot but enough to make more turnov
刚刚重看了一下nash 23次助攻的第四场比赛，很遗憾没有出现24次，虽然有很多的机会，Magic Johnson也在看球，他说nash比起他来多了外线的进攻能力，而他喜欢在底线进攻，magic是个强壮的家伙，还能客串中锋，steve一直说自己比较瘦弱的，只好在外线投投篮了。刚刚看到一篇nash的采访也证实了这个问题。看起来，nash是个坦诚的人，他甚至承认自己就如Bill Walton说的在跑跳方面是身体素质最差的控卫。很多球迷说nash的防守如同空气，这个他自己也认识到了。
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[翻译]Nash的《花花公子》专访
这篇文章是我和nashile合翻的 （翻的不好请多指教）特别在太阳晋级第二轮之日发，希望我们下一轮能淘汰马刺，13第二轮表现更好（今天很orz－－），还要祝福小花jj早日康复
另外要bs以下playboy的名不副实=_=b
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Steve Nash——这位NBA的连续两届MVP，也许将成为连续3届MVP得主的球员，是继Barney后最不华丽花哨的明星，他不能扣篮，疼痛的背部迫使他在暂停时必须躺在地上休息，他的国家把篮球视为和滑冰，冰上钓鱼一样的小众运动。然而，这位凤凰城太阳队瘦小的加拿大控卫却跟上了Kobe, Shaq, Lebron等球员位列联盟统治者之列。
Nash出生于南非的约翰内斯堡，他的父亲是一个职业足球运动员，Nash在一个充满社会责任感的家庭长大。由于Nash一家反感南非的种族隔离政策，他们移居到了加拿大的British Columbia，Nash在那里成为一名脚下功夫不错的足球爱好者。但鉴于足球和冰球是加拿大的体育大项，不喜欢墨守成规的Nash继而将兴趣转向了篮球。凭借着他那如教科书般完美的挑投和超人般的球场视野，他成为了加拿大最好的高中生球员，但这也只不过是短中取长罢了。他仅仅只得到了一所美国大学—— Santa Clara的奖学金，当然没有人会把Santa Clara视为篮球名校。
经过数不胜数的小时、流淌下不计其数的汗水后，这个技术出色的运动小子两次成为西海岸年度最佳球员，在大学4年级时场均得到17分6助攻。然而，当太阳队在1996年首轮选中他后（他的顺位在Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury和高中生球员Kobe Bryant之后，但在Jermaine O’neal之前），凤凰城的球迷对这个选秀报以嘘声。不久，他们又当面嘘了Nash，并在1998年太阳把他交易去了达拉斯。他在小牛队成为一名全明星球员，但由于2003年的全明星比赛引发争议，当时反对美军入侵伊拉克的Nash穿了一件印有“不要战争，为和平而投篮”字样的T-shirt。那些体育记者当时就吼道：“闭上嘴去打你的球！”
当小牛队的老板Mark Cuban希望围绕前锋Dirk Nowitzki打造球队，Nash在第二年与凤凰城太阳队签了一笔6年6600万美元的合同，在Cuban看来，这根本是一个荒谬的数目。但是这位控卫自从离开达拉斯之后却成为了联盟的MVP，在Nash到来之前的那个赛季，太阳队的战绩为29胜53负，而在2004-2005赛季，当Nash引领起爆炸性的快攻后，球队的场均得分比10年来任何一支球队都要多。Nash场均贡献15.5分和联盟最佳的11.5次助攻，太阳在那一年获得了联盟最佳战绩。去年，他的表现又继续更上一层楼，交出了18.8分和10.5助攻的成绩单，将太阳带到了西部决赛，并且拿到了他的第二个MVP奖杯。
凭借飘飘长发和女性杀手般的长相，Nash也成为跨领域的明星，他的名字出现在热门歌曲的歌词中被传唱，他成了音乐电视中的MVP。我们派了自由作家Kevin Cook去采访他。
Cook 说，“Steve无论是在场上打球还是在场下开车速度都很快，我们在凤凰城的美国空中走廊中心球场边聊了一会天，然后坐他黑色的奔驰C32 AMG去了市区一家狭小的餐厅。我被告知过他会拒绝10个访问中的9个，但他同意接受我这个访问，因为他知道我们谈的不仅仅是关于太阳如何和联盟其他球队对阵的话题，事实的确如此。我曾让采访过Bryan, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’neal和其他一些NBA球星，但我们从来没谈过关于Nelly Furtado（加拿大创作型才女歌手），比赛日做爱，和Owen Wilson（美国电影男星）踢网式足球这些话题，我们从最基本的内容开始聊起，一切进展得很快。”
我们就这样开始吧：
（以下Playboy简写为P，Nash简写为N）
P：你们球队连续两年止步与西部决赛。今年你们会做得更好吗？
N：当然。但是你不要在我们身上下赌注，因为我们必须保持健康，还要打出自己的节奏——加快进攻的速度，得很多的分数。
P：如果让你自掏腰包去看球，你看哪支球队呢？选一支除了太阳以外的球队。
N：嘿，你这是在刁难我。好吧，我喜欢有团队精神、作风无私的球队，像活塞，热，马刺，小牛这样的。看他们的比赛很刺激，和他们交手也非常的有意思。
P：你现在33岁了，是一个10年的老兵了。在退役之前拿到总冠军对你来说有多重要？
N：并没有那么重要，至少我不会因为没有拿到总冠军而自杀的。
P：那么说，是不是美国人更有这种非赢不可的想法？
N：没错。我是加拿大人，所以我不会因为没得到总冠军而自杀。但是我肯定会尽自己最大的努力去赢得它的。
P：你还能变得更好吗？
N：我想成为一个更好的防守队员。但是那很困难，因为我在进攻中消耗了大量的体力，而且我个头也不够高大.
N：官方指南说你有6尺3寸，这里面有多大的水分？
P：我有6尺2寸（189cm）高，我已经不可能再长高了。到了我这个年纪，不可能花整个夏天的时间来练习防守，虽然这是提高防守最好的方式。去年夏天，我试图让自己变得更快更强壮些。但一天的时间是不够用的，如果我用那种方式耗尽自己体力的话，我就没有足够的时间来恢复体力了。对于球队来说，我的健康比防守更重要
P：在暂停的时候，我们看见你一直躺在球场边上。你有脊椎前移的病，那是？
N：脊椎骨会从正常的位置前滑动1毫米。这种病是先天性的，但是不再会恶化。如果我的脊椎再前移几毫米的话，我就没法打球了。很多人都有这种病。我并不觉得它会威胁到我的职业生涯。
P：库班也这么想吗？他说过他很爱你，但他却在三年前放弃了你，让你去了太阳。
N：他认为我老了，身体不行了。
P：那对你来说是一种激励吗？
N：不是，我打球是因为我热爱这项运动并渴望胜利。我压根不知道“身体会垮掉”的想法是从哪来的。说到底，那还是钱的问题罢了。
P：你和库班是朋友吗？
N：是啊。我们以前会互通邮件，而且常常见面。他为球队和联盟做了很多，总的来说，我尊敬他。
P：让我们来看看幕后的故事。在2004年，你收到了太阳的报价。你保证过，在最终报价之前会给cuban一个机会来报价，你是怎么做的呢？
N：通过电话，我当时和我的经纪人Bill Duffy一起在太阳的一个合伙人家里，太阳方面的人告诉我，我们希望你保证，不要告诉他具体的数额，只告诉他是笔大数目。
P：6年6600万美元的确是笔大数目。
N：所以我给库班打了电话。
P：从一个太阳队合伙人的家里？
N：没错。我说“太阳给了我一个很大的合同。”我甚至骗他说这个数字很接近另一个人的薪水，他知道那人是谁。
P：然后，库班说？
N：“哦，”他很震惊，“让我和Duffy通电话。”所以我就把电话给经济人了。
P：库班出的价码和太阳相差甚远。他是一个亿万富翁，而且每年会因为乐于指责裁判而付上几百万的罚款。当他决绝付给你1000万一年的时候，你感到惊讶吗？
N：我的确很惊讶。他付很多钱给那些根本配不上他们合同的人。（那个赛季Alan Henderson年薪830万，场均3.5分。后一个赛季，Van Horn年薪1560万，场均8.9分）我在球场上总是兢兢业业，不怎么缺阵，而且还是球队成功的重要功臣，但是他对我却划出这样一条界限，这让人感觉很受伤害。
P：库班后来说，你的经纪人为了从达拉斯那里那大更高的价码，而谎报了太阳队的报价。
N：这根本是胡说八道。
P：因为在你走了之后，他想要保全自己的面子？
N：没错，他会受到一些压力。所以他才捏造出那些话。
P：那对你们的友谊有何影响？
N：他是一个朋友。当然他有些让人不太喜欢的地方，比如对着裁判大喊大叫，在更衣室里板脸。看到他那副样子真让人恼火。但是话说回来，谁又是十全十美的呢？
P：他向着裁判吼叫，你对此有意见吗？这是不是让你在场上的工作更为艰难。
N：嗯……裁判不喜欢他那样。
P：他们会拿小牛队来出气吗？
N：（点头）他们也只是普通人而已。
P：你最先告诉谁要去太阳的这个消息？
N：我的两个队友，Nowitzki和Finley。
P：在家人之前先告诉队友？
N：我可以稍后再告诉我的家人。但我希望Nowitzki和Finley在从新闻中得知前，从我的口先中得到消息，告诉他们这不是我的本意，“我不希望走，但是库班不希望我留下。”他们都很支持我，说“你应该去那里”。
P：芬利称你为“我们的摇滚歌星”。而现在你不断在热门歌曲里出现。你是MTV里的MVP呀~
N：不断出现？
P：在Nelly Furtado 的单曲"promiscuous"里，她唱道，“那是真的，还是你在扯淡？你们比赛的MVP真的是像steve nash那样的？”
N：好吧，除了歌名之外，我喜欢这首歌。Nelly很棒，我是她的粉丝。我们都是从维多利亚的一个街区里来的。她真是太好了，在歌里提到我。但是我没把这歌存在ipod里面。我怕让我朋友看见之后，他们会笑话我“哎呀呀，谁那么自恋啊？”但是如果广播里正好有放这首歌的话，我是不会转台的。
P：你们加拿大人总是团结在一起。那是一个阴谋吗？
N：我们相互支持。你知道全加拿大的人加起来还没有加利福尼亚州的人多。
P：你还出现在rap歌手Camron的歌里。歌词是这样滴，“I got weed hash, when I breeze past/Breathe fast, eat ass, on point like Steve Nash.”（我翻不来呀翻不来TT）你的名字（nash）正好和pp（ass）押韵，感觉如何呀？
N：我感到很荣幸。虽然我从没见过Cam’ron，但我喜欢他的歌，太酷了。
P：芬利夸你是全联盟里最酷的人。他还给你起了个外号——狼獾。因为你能以摧枯拉朽之势撕裂对方的防守，而且女性看见你就像看见了Hugh Jackman（X-man中狼人的扮演者）的反应一样。
N：别瞎说，他是在开我玩笑呢。
P：女性球迷举起“nash，和我结婚吧”这样的牌子。你是NBA中最具吸引力的单身汉，从中你得到了多少乐趣呢？
N：任何有钱的年轻人都有机会过上美好的单身汉生活。NBA也一样。你有很多机会去接触大城市里面的女人：纽约，洛杉矶，芝加哥，迈阿密，那都是非常迷人的地方。但是我知道的是什么呢？我已经是两个小孩的爸爸啦。
P：这是近两年的事了。你有什么甩掉那些想和nba球员发生XXOO关系的女人的诀窍吗？
N：一般来说，那些女的会在宾馆的大厅里闲逛，但我从来没见过。她们知道球员们会去哪——哪个餐馆，酒吧，并且会去那里找他们。
P：你有没有见过这样的女性球迷：她才识渊博，在政治上又很有觉悟，让你觉得可以和她发展一下……
N：没有，我不记得有那种事。没那回事。
P：媒体曾经把你和女演员Elizabeth Hurley还有辣妹成员Geri Halliwell联系在一起。你和她们真的有过一段吗？
N：我们通过彼此共同的朋友相识。她们很不错，但我和她们并不熟。
P：在2005年你和你的女友，双胞胎女儿的妈妈，Alejandra Amarilla结婚了，你有没有打出“嫁给我吧”的标语来求婚？
N：不，没有标语，我们在一起生活了3年，一切是水到渠成。她来自巴拉圭，我们在纽约相遇、约会、相爱然后在一起，我们结婚时，宝宝已经8个月大了。
P：有些运动员认为性爱会消耗他们的精力。你怎么看在比赛日做爱呢？
N：并没有哪条规矩说一定不能这么干，我认为这是自发性的。99%的情况下比赛日是不会发生性行为的，因为在那天要进行比赛，必须保持全神贯注。但我不会在床头贴一张“比赛日不准做爱”的标语来制定规矩，这样太死板了。
P：让我们快速穿越回你的性格形成时期。你出生在南非，后随你的家人移居至加拿大的British Columbia，你在那里踢足球长大。
N：我开口说的第一个词就是进球，但8年级的时候，我所有的朋友都热爱篮球，所以我的兴趣也转变了。那时的NBA是一个非常令人激动的梦幻年代，我完全被征服了。Showtime时期的湖人，Magic Johnson，Larry Bird，还有我最喜欢的球员Isiah Thomas。
P：恩，坏小子底特律活塞队的控球后卫。
N：还有Michael Jordan，他当时还是个新人，乔丹鞋的广告完全影响了我的生活。
P：你的足球背景对你在篮球领域是否有帮助？
N：在足球比赛中，你需要在一瞬间看到所有人的位置。在篮球中，这被称为球场视野，作为控球后卫这是非常必须的，对于我来说这种意识源自于足球。当然，还有一些其他的，由于在足球比赛中不能使用双手，你需要找到创造性的方法把球弄到正确的位置，切换到篮球模式即让控球更为简单。我能用我的双手了，这感觉就好像在是作弊一样。
P：你是加拿大最好的高中生球员，你希望到美国的篮球名校。但是并没有得到奖学金，Indianan和Duke拒绝了你，还有哪些其大学？
N：你说中了，我的高中教练写信给了全美25个顶级大学，但他们都不想要我。我本想希望去华盛顿大学，但他们压根对我没兴趣。
P：你最后去了Santa Clara大学，Dick Davey教练是如何决定录取你的？
N：他说：“你是我见过的最差的防守者。”他说的的确不错。和那些竞争激烈的美国孩子相比，我还需要学习很多。他还明确地告诉了我他的执教风格，在他手下效力的话，他不会表扬奉承你，而是狠狠鞭策你。
P：在你的第三个赛季之后，你获得了西海岸赛区年度最佳球员，你考虑过离校去参加NBA选秀？
N：我研究过这个问题，看上去我似乎会得到一个首轮末端的顺位，但我并不能肯定，所以留校更加安全的选择。
P：但这有点冒险，如果你在四年级受伤了怎么办呢？
N：我办理了一份一百万美元的保险，为了这份保险，我必须去作一次体检来证明给保险公司看，我并没有什么随时会导致职业生涯终结的伤病。
P：你是怎么付保险的？你当时还只是个大学生。
N：我得到了不少贷款，银行评估了我的收入潜力，觉得100万是没问题的。
P：你现在一个月就能挣到那么多了，那你在Santa Clara哪种类型的学生呢？
N：就是普普通通的那种，我的主业当然是篮球，我不可能在赛场和教室都拥有优于常人的充沛精力，至少对我来说是这样。
P：为什么大学球员不能主修体育呢？NCAA不允许这样的运动员拿到运动员奖学金有点虚伪。
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N：我同意这个看法，大学体育是一个巨大的产业，运动员是这创造亿万美元财富产业的一部分，你可以对他们在教学上有不同的要求，专门为他们设计方案。
P：在你大学时期，就已经和NBA球星Jason Kidd和Gary Payton一起训练过了。那是怎么一回事？
N：我不知道这件事是否会牵连到我，因为我的经纪人也曾经在Santa Clara打球，而他也代理Jason和Gary的事务。这好像是不正当的，但他对我说，“你可以去和这些家伙一起练球学习一下。”于是，我去了Gary 家的后院和他一起练球，又去了某家健身俱乐部和Jason练习。
P：Payton因为他严密的防守而有手套这一外号，其他的球员会怎么叫他吗？
N：这只是球迷对他的昵称，他的朋友大多都叫他G.P.或者Gary。
P：那你呢，你有什么昵称？你似乎并不喜欢狼罐这个绰号。
N：人们都叫我Nasty或者Steve-o。
P：还有什么球员的绰号是人们经常叫的吗？
N： Kevin Garnett被叫做Big Ticket，Allen Iverson的昵称是the Answer，但我从来没有，也永远不会这么叫他，我一直叫他Allen。如果我看到了Stephon Marbury，我也不会说，“我那天遇到了Starbury”，因为那样说实在是太傻了。
P：1996年太阳队在首轮选中了你，第15顺位是加拿大人在NBA选秀中的最高顺位。当选秀结果宣布时，太阳球迷对这个决定报以嘘声。
N：我当然不可能毫不介意，但是，嘿，我终于进入了NBA!
P：你用刚从NBA挣来的钱买了什么？
N：为我父母买了车和大屏幕的家庭影院，因为小时候，我们家的电视很让人讨厌，遥控器经常坏掉，让我们不得不用钳子来换台。
P：在凤凰城，你当时是全明星控卫Kevin Johnson的替补。
N：我们在练习时经常交手，有一天他对我说，“你知道吗？你和与我交手过的任何球员一样优秀，你只是还不知道罢了。”
P：他说的对吗？
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N：（点头）我认为我会做的很好，但他的话给了我更多的信心。
P：你是不是像别人一样叫他K.J.？
N：我们叫他K.
P：昵称的昵称？
N：是的，如果可以的话，还是叫单音节最省事了。Shawn Marion因为他的全能风格得到了Matrix的绰号，而我们只叫他Trix。
P：在凤凰城待了两年后，你通过一笔涉及3名球员和后来选到Marion的那个首轮选秀权的交易去了达拉斯。那时候你受背伤困扰，而达拉斯的球迷都在嘘你。
N：那对我而言是种帮助，我认为没有多少人能有这样的经历。
P：那种被成千上万人嘘的恐怖经历？
N：不，是需要要去证明自己的感觉。虽然嘘声让我感到很受伤，但这也不正是个和压力作斗争并且战胜它的好机会吗！
P：作为一个加拿大人而言，你非常强悍。
N：我们是一个非常悠闲的国家。
P：有个笑话，是说加拿大人被人踩了脚，他会说什么？
N：恩，什么？
P：他说，不好意思……
N：这不是一个笑话，这是真的。但你可以在生活上保持闲散的风格而在工作中作风强硬。
P：当你加入Cuban的小牛队时，你和刚刚离开家乡的德国球员Nowitzki建立起了友情。
N：我们同一天到达训练营，住在同一个套间，我们都热爱比赛，我们一起训练。当时球队的训练设施在一周大多数日子都是对公众开放的，当球场被群众球员占据时，我和Dirk就会转到边上的篮架去。
P：一群律师和大学生那样的人把你们赶到了场边？
N：球场并不属于我们，所以我们就到场边玩horse。
P：按学校里的规矩？你会不会投中空心球？
N：当然，我有时会投个空心擦板球，也会用跑投、三分打败他，当然他也能在我面前投进中投。
P：在达拉斯的时候，你和Nowitzki的档拆几乎是致命的，这是源于无数次的练习还是精准的时机选择呢
N：两者皆有吧，这要求你具体分析对手的特点：他们的身材，步法。你要让让大个子球员一动不动作墙，给你作掩护。当控球后卫运球前进，大个子球员朝你上前一步挡住防守球员时，就是档拆的时机了，和Dirk配合的感觉就好像是心电感应那样默契。
P：你们两个现在的身份是西部的对手了，当你突入禁区时，他对你的防守会不会放松点？
N：不，我会受到很强硬的推挤，我估计Shaq是联盟肘子威力最强的球员，他非常强壮，我避开过他的肘子，但Karl Malone曾经狠狠给过我一肘子，把我的门牙给打折了，我花了6,7年的时间去牙医那儿矫正牙齿。
P：你欺负过菜鸟吗？现在还会这么干吗？
N：我们会让菜鸟唱歌或者搬行李。我当年在凤凰城还是菜鸟那会，A.C. Green会在练习时把球踢得到处都是，然后说，“嘿，新人们，把它们全都拣起来~”
P：Green是个教徒，他可是联盟最有名的禁欲主义者啊，他没有让你们都禁欲啊？
N：呃，你不可能违逆欲望的……
P：你可以去读法学院，法学院的学生说，如果你要学那么多东西，根本不可能有性生活，你会自然而然习惯禁欲。
N：那我很幸运，没有去上法学院。
P：你会研究多少比赛录像？
N：我会看10分钟录像，但这种办法已经过时了，我的意思是，谁想做个篮球机器？我在赛场上会全身心地投入比赛，但比赛结束后，我就会去考虑其他的事，这样对我更好。职业体育的某些方面是非常无趣的，比如舟车劳顿和应付媒体，这就是我回绝那么多媒体采访的原因。但当你在赛场上和你的队友并肩作战，比赛本身是非常美妙的，我仍然像儿时那样热爱篮球。
P：你更愿意送出一次助攻还是投一个三分？
N：助攻，因为这能让不止一个人参与进攻。
P：你很讨厌这样：运球过多，然后只能停止，于是不得不传球或者投篮，这是为什么？
N：过多运球对防守者有利，你不能晃过他们，他们会让你感到窒息，但是如果你能带球移动，观察局势，那他们只能不断调整。这就和足球里，你想不断带球推进，给防守者施压一样。
P：比赛的节奏是否比平时打球感觉要快呢？
N：当你还是个新人的时候，也许是这样。但当你有了充分经验后，你就会越来越冷静，把比赛节奏慢下来。
P：成为一个优秀控卫需要拥有哪些要素？
N：他需要很聪明，并且把队友的偏好牢记于心，他要使队变得更好，能在一瞬间看清场上局势统揽全局，John Stockton就是个伟大的控卫，还有Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Jason Kidd和去年的最佳新秀，Chris Paul他是一个优秀的年轻控卫，快船的Shaun Livingston也大有前途。
P：在你经历的这10个赛季，联盟变得怎么样了？
N：规则在向好的方向变化。
P：NBA限制了用手接触对方的身体，引入了防守3秒，把防守队员赶出了禁区。这两个规则都对突破的持球者有利。
N：这对比赛也有帮助。在这些规则引入之前，球队只是把最好的两个球员孤立开，进行一对一单打，其他球员则拉到一边。5对5才是更精彩的比赛，这些规则促进了这种5人对5人的较量。
P：如果没有这些新规则，你还会不会拿到两次MVP？
N：当然会，这并没有什么妨碍。
P：以前Jordan会去挑衅其他球员，当他投进一个挑投后会说，“你想再看一次吗？”现在谁说这种话最多？
N：现在没有球员会说这样的话了。他们会向队友大声嚷嚷，但不会去挑衅对手，因为这样也许会引发斗殴，每个人的容忍限度是不同的，在文化方面也是一样，人们太过敏感，很容易感到自己被冒犯了。
P：一些体育说你之记者所以能战胜Shaq，Kobe和James赢得MVP是因为你是白种人，你是否会因此而感到被冒犯？
N：他们谈论种族主义，但我说联盟也许存在着相反的种族主义。
P：你的意思是白人在NBA生存更为艰难？
N：我并没有这么说，我是说这种情况也许存在。
P：hip hop歌手Eminem说过，由于自己是白人，所以要付出双倍多的努力来证明自己，你认为自己是联盟中的少数派吗？
N：这是黑人的联盟，至少数据支持这个观点。但问题是，这对我而言有意义么？没有，因为篮球是橙色的。
P：那联盟呢？NBA是否为自己的形象而感到担忧？
N：联盟当然关心，所有涉及公众形象的问题都被高度重视。
P：你在2003年的全明星比赛上，穿了一件印有“不要战争——为和平而投篮”（NO WAR-SHOOT FOR PEACE）的T-shirt以反对美军侵入伊拉克，现在看来是明智的。你觉得自己被证明了吗？
N：我不觉得自己在伊拉克的问题上需要被证明。你看，这并不是“我告诉你别这样。”我只是不赞成侵略战争，入侵应该是解决问题的最终手段。我认为我们在发动入侵之前并没有动用了所有可行的手段来找寻大规模杀伤性武器，如此而已。我并不是反美派或者反布什派，我也没有说你们必须相信我所相信的观点。我只是希望每个人都能看得更全面，更深入些。
P：你不是一个反布什派？
N：我不会把时间花在反对任何人身上。但我确实和他政见不同。
P：那现在呢？我们现在仍然驻军伊拉克是不是仅仅因为没有保全颜面撤退的方法？
N：这很清楚，我认为每个人，甚至是曾经希望参战的人，都认为撤兵更好。
P：美国人是不是比加拿大人更加好战？
N：我是这么认为的，但我们无法干预别人的事情，我们只是加拿大人而已。
P：去年当Santa Clara将你的球衣退役时，你回校为学生做演讲时说“你们需要更深入地融入这个世界”。
N：我记得在这个年纪时，你有可能会和社会分离。我希望他们知道他们是社会这个大机器的一部分。他们需要对此更有意识，彼此更紧密地联系在一起，因为他们是这个“机器”在地方，国家，甚至整个地球运转的一部分。
P：体育有没有分散了人们这方面的注意力？
N：是的，但不仅仅是体育。自我童年起，娱乐业十倍地发展。我们当年没有因特网，电子游戏机，DVD，收费电视，卫星电视。新闻业也不仅仅是关乎重大议题了，这也成了娱乐。
P：好吧，我们来谈谈这个问题，如果一本杂志里都是严肃的议题讨论没有其他会怎么样呢？
N：我们已经完全置身于娱乐业这柄巨伞下。
P：给我们举个例子吧。
N：我们不能再骂脏话了，今年这样做的话，这会是个技术犯规。联盟希望我们尽可能表现得体面。这会影响到比赛，当你拿到一次技术犯规后，你会被罚款1000美元。
P：你可以表现的库班式一点，说“我才不管什么罚款，去他的，我有言论自由！”
N：你需要自己做个选择，我宁愿把1000美元给慈善机构而非联盟。
P：这听上去很有60年代的感觉，有没有一张禁语列表？你们能说废话吗？
N：我不知道。但究竟是从何划出底线呢？究竟在什么时候才要把比赛变成像小孩子过家家一样，把个性与激情统统过滤掉？我们马上就能找到这个底线的答案了。
P：你并不是个一本正经的西装领带男，当你重归太阳队时，你穿了双高尔夫球鞋去新闻发布会。你是怎么看NBA的着装规则的？
N：这很不幸，我们都是成年人了，但还有更重要的事值得我们去关心
P：Bill Walton曾经说你是联盟中身体素质最烂的控球后卫。你想反驳他吗？
N：在跑跳方面，他或许是对的，我认为他指的是这些。
P：你真是个宽厚的人，许多伟大的运动员都会被忌恨所刺激——他们会把一些轻微的批评引发为一场战争。Joradan就是那种人，Tiger Woods也是。
N：这并没意思，我更愿意去享受比赛而非负面的东西。
P：这个命题是对是错：Cuban放你离开这个决定激励了你？
N：（露齿一笑）他也可能会让其他人离开，当然，我并没有怨恨。来到凤凰城对我和我的家人来说都是最好的选择，我们热爱这座城市。
P：你和你的妻子有一对双胞胎女儿，Isabellla和Lourdes，Nowitzki是她们的教父，你的孩子们知道你靠什么养家糊口吗？
N：她们知道我打篮球，但她们才2岁大，她们对工作并没有明确的概念。当他们在电视上看到篮球时，她们会说“爸爸！”
P：去年夏天你剪去了长发，这在加拿大成了一条新闻，你的女儿有没有被你的发型震惊？
N：我就是在她们面前剪的，她们笑着说“还是爸爸！”
P：和我们说说关于球的话题，赛季初，联盟引入了人造革制的新球，抛弃了旧球。联盟有没有就此询问过球员的意见？
N：完全没有。
P：NBA咨询了一些退役球员，但却在你们身上实施了这一变化。
N：新球改变了比赛，它影响了时间的选择，虽然并不至于很厉害但足以让你发生更多的失误，尤其是在赛季初的时候。旧球更有触感，当它打到你的手或是篮板时，会有一个反作用力。但当新球击中篮板后，它就直接砰地落下去了。当你的传球偏斜时，新球不会粘住你的手，它直接就掉下去了。
P：联盟声称新球更加耐用，球在比赛中会不会存在破损这种问题？
N：不会，但如果采用新球是为了更好的环保的话，我能够接受。
P：好吧，新球会在球员的手上少留下些伤口。联盟最终放弃了新球重新用回旧球，你告诉我们，你觉得用人造革的新球感觉还行？
N：不仅仅是还行，如果这是为了动物和环境的话，我会支持这个决定。
P：你真的从来没扣过篮？
N：不，我在高中时曾经扣过好几次，但在NBA从来没有扣过。
P：灌篮这种方式对你而言是不是太过侵略性了？
N：这不是我的比赛方式，而且我已经不如高中时跳得高了。
P：你在球场上遇到过最有意思的事是什么？
N：来到太阳后的第一个赛季和小牛的季后赛中我的第一个投篮。我本想来个3分，但我的拇指被裤带给缠住了，我试图把手指拉出来，但他完全卡住了，最后我只能单手投出了一个面包球。
P：你以投篮姿势而闻名，除了在出手前让手掌正对天花板，一个完美的挑投还有什么秘诀？
N：这和你的腿有关，除非你能运用你的腿力推进投篮，否则再完美规范的上肢动作都是没用的。
P：来说说个人卫生吧，你长发的时候，体育记者都说你的长发看起来像是从来没洗过。
N：不，我每天都有洗头，你难道不是吗？
P：我们已经谈了几个小时，很显然你已经不大舒坦了，你是不是很想回去训练？
N：我的背有些问题，坐在椅子上太久很难受。
P：这是我们的错，我们应该让你躺着接受采访。
N：不不，还行，没有这个必要。
P：我们很快就会结束这个访问。说说你的终极目标是什么?
N：我还不知道，打到不能打为止吧
P：作教练这个主意怎么样呢？
N：这并不吸引我，至少现在不，也许我会从事慈善事业。
P：你在凤凰城度过的这两个MVP赛季中让你感觉最好的是什么？
N：我的队友们，我们相处得非常愉快。这个球队有真正美妙的化学反应：我们彼此开玩笑，我们之间的友谊。对我来说，这些才是经久不衰的的。你也许不一定会记住比赛，记住那些投篮。但你会记住和队友在球队大巴、包机、更衣室里的时光，这些和球场上的并肩作战的时光才是让我觉得真正其乐无穷的。
P：凤凰城有你，Marion和Stoudermire这三个超级太阳。来预测一下那支球队会拿到总冠军吧。
N：我并没有什么超能力，总冠军包括有许多因素。我们需要保持健康，Amare在缺席了一年后这个赛季重新归来，我们所面临的挑战是让他重新融入这个集体，而现在我们的挑战是同联盟中最好的球队交手。赢得总冠军并不是一个简单的方程式，所以我不会去预测。但即使我们不能赢取总冠军，我们仍然是一支极富观赏性的队伍。
P：像你这样你个运动小子会不会连睡觉时都梦到篮球？
N：我梦见过，不是每个晚上但经常会梦到。我会梦到球场上球在我的掌控之中。
P：当Shaq接受Playboy采访时，他告诉我们他梦到他能飞翔。
N：那不是我。我只是梦到和平时一样的情形。
P：连做梦都很现实？你穿着太阳队的队服，寻找Stoudermire来个飞扣？
N：恩，但我被困住了。你知道有时候你明白该怎么做但却不能做到的感觉是怎样的吗？
P：你会感到很气馁。
N：是的，我知道应该怎么打，但我不能把球传出去。
P：这里有弗洛伊德《释梦》的缩略版，可以给你看看。
N：我觉得那可能不牢靠。
P：但你现在是位名人了
N：噢，饶过我吧～
P：时代杂志把你评选为世界100大有影响力的人物。这份名单中的部分人物有：Oprah, Bono, Hillary Clinton, the Pope, George Clooney, the Dixie Chicks和Steve Nash。
N：能位列前一百我感到非常荣幸，但我从来没有收到过这种派对的邀请函，也许我并非那么有影响力。
P：Charles Barkley帮时代杂志为你写了一篇小短文，他说你是多么的伟大。
N：我感到非常惊讶，Charles很伟大，他是一个令人难以置信的球员和娱乐界人士，他从不畏惧做自己。
P：那你怎么看他的右翼政见呢？
N：我对人们强烈的党派性感到厌烦。他是右翼的，你是左翼的，那只是问题的一部分。我们应该按照是非曲直来讨论议题，而停止左翼右翼间的斗争。
P：你和Sacha Baron Cohen一起为TNT的Barkley电视网做了个有趣的广告，你是不是Ali G的粉丝？
N：我可是他的超级粉丝啊，在他为HBO做节目、拍Borat前我就从英国视台看他的节目了，The TNT是个好节目，当然他对TNT来说有点过于尖锐了，他最好的一些特质并没有展现出来。比如他有次转过头来问我：“你有没有试过让葡萄干从你的球裤掉落来分散对位者的注意力？”这些并没有被拍进广告。
P：Owen Wilson是你的另一位名人好友。
N：Owen是一个很好的家伙，一个达拉斯小伙子，我在小牛队时认识了他，我们一起去喝过一两次小酒，还玩了网式足球。
P：这足球还是网球？
N：不，那是网式足球，Owen喜欢的比赛，在网球场里以网球的规则里踢足球，你要用脚来发球，这真的很难。
P：但你擅长足球，你是不是冲向球网做一个倒挂金勾式的截击？
N：不，没有。我只是尝试头球式的击，但我并不很擅长这个。Owen很棒，我们上次玩的时候他打败了我，我希望来次复赛。我们需要来个一决雌雄来做次永远的了结。
P：你的手机铃声曾经一度是加拿大国歌，你有没有把它换成“Promiscuous”？
N：我把它换成震动了。
P：差不多，现在你是个名人了，你手机的快速拨号里肯定有一些名人朋友，Wilson, Furtado, Norwitzki……
N：当然，我的手机里有我朋友的号码，但我不想把他们在这里列出来。
P：你不能给我们弗洛伊德的号码吗？
N：哎呀～这次采访怎么让我遇到了一个大傻瓜呀>\\\\<
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原文：
The NBA’s two time MVP- soon to make it three?- is the least likely purple star since Barney. He doesn’t dunk, his bum back forces him to lie down during time-outs, and he’s from a country where basketball is a minor sport somewhere between skiing and ice fishing. Still, the Phoenix Suns’ scrawny Canadian point guard manages to keep up with Kobe, Shaq, LeBron and the rest of the league’s dominators.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his dad was a pro soccer player, Nash grew up in a family with a social conscience. The Nashes so hated apartheid they moved to British Columbia, where Steve became a soccer virtuoso and did footie tricks with the ball. But since soccer and hockey were the big sports, nonconformist Nash switched to hoops. With his picture-perfect jump shot and superhuman court sense, he became the best high school player in Canada- which is like being the tallest munchkin. He got exactly one scholarship offer from a U.S. college: Santa Clara University, nobody’s idea of a basketball power.
After a million hours of practice and 10 zillion gallons of sweat, the consummate gym rat twice became West Coast Conference Player of the Year, averaging 17 points and 6 assists as a senior. Still, when the Suns drafted him in the first round in 1996 (behind Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and high schooler Kobe Bryant but ahead of Jermaine O’Neal), Phoenix fans booed the pick. Soon they booed Nash in person, and in 1998 the Suns traded him to Dallas. He became an All-Star for the Mavericks but courted controversy at the All Star Game in 2003; Nash, who opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq, wore a t-shirt reading NO WAR-SHOOT FOR PEACE. Sports columnists howled, “shut up and play!”
When Mavs owner Mark Cuban, who wanted to build a team around forward Dirk Nowitzki, let Nash go the following year, Nash signed a six-year, $66 million deal with Phoenix. Ridiculous money, according to Cuban. But the point guard who got away has been the NBA’s MVP ever since. The year before Nash arrived, the Suns went 29-53. In the 2004-2005 season, with Nash leading an explosive, fast-breaking attack, they scord more points than any other team in a decade. With Nash averaging 15.5 points and a league-best 11.5 assists, Phoenix had the NBA’s best record. Last year he stepped it up again: 18.8 points and 10.5 assists a game, leading the Suns to the Western Conference Finals and grabbing his second Maurice Podoloff trophy as league MVP.
With his long hair (shorn last summer-national news in Canada) and lady-killing looks, Nash has become a crossover star, an MTV sort of MVP who gets shout-outs in hit songs. We sent freelance writer Kevin Cook to meet him.
“Steve drives fast on and off the court,” says Cook. “We chatted courtside at the U.S. Airways Center in Phoenix, then zipped in his black Mercedes C32 AMG to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant downtown. I’d been told he turns down 9 out of 10 interviews. he said yes to this one because he knew we’d talk about more than how the Suns match up against the rest of the league. And we did. I have interiewed Bryan, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and other NBA stars but never about Nelly Furtado, game-day sex and kicking soccer balls at Owen Wilson. We started with the basics and kept the pace quick.”
AND IT BEGINS:
Playboy: Your Suns lost the past two Western Conference Finals. Can you do better this year?
Nash: For sure. Don’t bet against us. We have to stay healthy and establish our rhythm: Push the ball up and score a lot of points.
Playboy: If you were buying a ticket, who would you go see? Pick a team other than the Suns.
Nash: You’re putting me on the spot. Okay, I like teams that share the ball. Detroit, Miami, San Antonio, Dallas. They’re exciting to watch and to play against.
Playboy: You’re 33 now, a 10-year veteran. How crucial is it for you to win a title before you’re through?
Nash: Not crucial. I won’t kill myself if it never happens.
Playboy: Is it more American to think you have to win or else?
Nash: Yes, and I’m a Canadian who will not commit suicide if I don’t win an NBA championship. But I’m sure gonna give it a go.
Playboy: Can you keep getting better?
Nash: I’d like to be a better defender. But it’s tough. I expend a lot of energy on offense, and I’m not big.
Playboy: The media guide says that you’re six-foot-three. How big a lie is that?
Nash: I’m six-two. I’m not growing any taller, and at my age I can’t just play defense all summer, which is the best way to improve-to guard guys. I tried to get a little stronger and quicker last summer, but there aren’t enough hours in the day, not enough recovery hours, for me to use up my body that way. My being healthy is a bigger priority for our team than my defense.
Playboy: We’ve all seen you lying on the baseline during time-outs. You’ve got spondylolisthesis, which is…?
Nash: A vertebra tha tslips a millimeter out of place. It’s congenital but not degenerative. If it moves more millimeters out of place, I won’t be able to play anymore, but lots of people have it. I don’t see it as a career-threatening.
Playboy: Did Mark Cuban? He said he loved you, then let you go from his Mavs to the Suns three years ago.
Nash: He thought I was old and would physically break down.
Playboy: Was that more incentive for you?
Nash: Nah, I play because I love to play and want to win. I don’t know where “breaking down” came from In the end, it was about money.
Playboy: Were you and Cuban friends?
Nash: Yes. We would email eachother and saw each other all the time. He’s done a lot for his franchise and the league. In the grand scheme I respect him.
Playboy: Take us behind the scenes. It’s 2004, you just got an offer from the Suns, you just got an offer from the Suns, and you’d promised to give Cuban a chance to make a final offer. How did you do that?
Nash: By phone. I was in Dallas with my agent, Bill Duffy, at the home of a Suns part owner. The Suns said, “We want you to promise not to tell him what the offer is. Just say it’s a substantial one.”
Playboy: Six years and $66 million is pretty substantial.
Nash: So I called Mark.
Playboy: From the Suns’ co-owner’s house?
Nash: Yeah. “The Suns have made me a substantial offer,” I said. I even cheated a bit and told him it was close to another guy’s salary, one he knew.
Playboy: And Cuban said…
Nash: He said, “Oh !” He was surprised. “Let me talk to Duff,” he said. So I gave the phone to my agent.
Playboy: Cuban never came close to matching the Suns’ offer. here’s a billionaire who has happily spent millions to pay fines for ripping the league officials. Were you surprised he made a stand about playing you $10 million a year?
Nash: I was. He paid a lot of guys who never came close to living up to their contract. (The Mavs paid Alan Henderson $8.3 million for his 3.5 points per game that year and the following season paid Keith Van Horn $15.6 million for his 8.9). To draw the line on me, a guy who always showed up and worked hard and was a big part of the team’s success- it hurt.
Playboy: Cuban later said your agent misrepresented the Suns’ offer, inflating it to try to get more from Dallas.
Nash: That was spin.
Playboy: Because he had to save face after letting you go?
Nash: Yeah, he was going to take some heat. It’s all spin.
Playboy: How did that affect your friendship?
Nash: He was a friend. There were other sides of him that weren’t fun to play for: yelling at referees, pouting in the locker room. That was irritating. But then, who’s perfect?
Playboy: Did you roll your eyes when he hollered at the refs? Did it make your job harder?
Nash: Well, refs don’t appreciate it.
Playboy: Do they take it out on the Mavs?
Nash: (nodding) They’re human.
Playboy: Who did you first tell about going to the Suns?
Nash: Two teammates: Dirk Nowitzki and Michael Finley.
Playboy: Teammates before family?
Nash: I could tell my family later. I wanted those guys to hear it from me before they heard it on the news, to tell them it wasn’t my wish. “I don’t want to go, but Cuban doesn’t want me back,” I said. And they were both with me. They said, “You gotta go.”
Playboy: Finley called you “our rock star.” And now you keep turning up in hit songs. You’re the MTV MVP.
Nash: Keep turning up?
Playboy: In “Promiscuous,” Nelly Furtado sings, “Is that the truth, or are you talking trash?/Is your game MVP like Steve Nash?”
Nash: Well, aside from the title, I love it. Nelly’s great; I’m a fan. We’re from the same neighborhood in Victoria, British Columbia. it was sweet of her to put me in the song. It’s not on my iPod, though. I’m worried one of my friends will see it there and say, “Oh, who loves himself?” But if “Promiscuous” comes on the radio, I don’t change the station.
Playboy: You canadians stick together. Is that a conspiracy?
Nash: We root for each other. Did you know there are fewer people in Canada than in California?
Playboy: You’re also in the song “Get ‘Em Daddy,” by the rapper Cam’ron. It goes like this: “I got weed hash, when I breeze past,/Breathe fast, eat ass, on point like Steve Nash.” How does it feel to be rhymed with ass?
Nash: I’m flattered. I’ve never met Cam’ron, but I love his songs. That’s cool.
Playboy: Your Mavs teammate Finley said you were the coolest guy in the league. He called you Wolverine for the way you slice and dice defenses and for your Hugh Jackman-like effect on the ladies.
Nash: I think he was joking.
Playboy: Female fans held up signs that said MARRY ME, NASH. How much fun was it to be the NBA’s most eligible bachelor?
Nash: Any young guy with money has a shot at a nice bachelor lifestyle. The NBA’s no different. You’ve got the most opportunities to meet women in the big cities: New York, L.A., Chicago and Miami- that’s a fascinating town. But what do I know? I’m a father of two.
Playboy: Not until two years ago. Any tips on fending off NBA groupies?
Nash: the usual image of groupies lounging in hotel lobbies- I never saw that. The groupie knows where players go in a particular town, which restaurant or bar, and goes there looking for them.
Playboy: Ever meet one you could relate to- a well-read, politically aware groupie?
Nash: Nah. I’d remember that. Those don’t grow on trees.
Playboy: You were linked in the press with actress Elizabeth Hurley and Geri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell of the Spice Girls. Did you link with them physically?
Nash: I met them both through mutual friends. They seemed nice, but I didn’t know them.
Playboy: In 2005 you married your girlfriend, Alejandra Amarilla, the mother of your twin daughters. Did you propose with a big sign that said MARRY ME?
Nash: No, no sign. We’d been living together for three years. It was time. She’s from Paraguay. We met in New York, started dating and boom- together ever since. Our babies were eight months old when we married.
Playboy: Some athletes think sex saps their energy. What’s your view of sex on game day?
Nash: I don’t have a rule against it. I think you want to be spontaneous. Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s not happening on a game day because you’re in a routine that day; you’re totally focused. But I don’t make a law of it. “No sex on game day” is definitely not written on my bed. That would be too limiting.
Playboy: Let’s fast-break through your formative years. Born in South Africa, moved with your family to British Columbia, where you grew up playing soccer.
Nash: The first word that I ever said was goal!! But all my friends in eighth grade loved basketball, so I switched. It was an exciting, romantic time for the game, and I was swept up in it. The Showtime Lakers, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and my favorite player, Isiah Thomas.
Playboy: Point guard for Detroit’s “Bad Boy” Pistons.
Nash: And Michael Jordan, who was new then. Air Jordan commercials definitely influenced my life.
Playboy: Did your soccer background help you in hoops?
Nash: In soccer you have to see where everybody is all at once. In basketball it’s called court sense. You really need it as a point guard, and for me it started in soccer. And there’s something else: Since you can’t use your hands in soccer, you find creative ways to get the ball to the right spot. Switching to basketball made ballhandling a lot easier. I could use my hands! it was almost like cheating.
Playboy: You were the best high school basketball player in Canada. You wanted to play for a big-time program in the U.S. but couldn’t get a scholarship. Indiana and Duke rejected you. Who else?
Nash: You name ‘em. My high school coach sent letters to 25 top schools. Nobody wanted me. I would have loved to go to the University of Washington, but there was zero interest.
Playboy: You wound up at Santa Clara University. How did coach Dick Davey recruit you?
Nash: He said, “You’re the worst defender I’ve ever seen.” There was some truth to that. Compared with a lot of kids in the States, where the competition is better, I had a lot to learn. And he set the tone. He made it clear that if you played for him at Santa Clara, he wasn’t going to kiss your ass. He was going to push you.
Playboy: After your junior season there, you were the West Coast Conference Player of the Year. You considered leaving school for the NBA draft.
Nash: I explored it. It looked as if I might be a late first-round pick, but you can’t be sure. It was safer to stay.
Playboy: Risky, though. What if you’d been hurt during your senior year?
Nash: I took out an insurance policy- for a million dollars. To get it I had to take a physical exam to show the insurance company I wasn’t a career-ending injury just waiting to happen.
Playboy: How did you pay for the policy? You were a college kid.
Nash: I got a line of credit. The bank evaluated my earning potential; a million dollars seemed about right.
Playboy: You make that in a month now. What kind of student were you at Santa Clara?
Nash: Average. I definitely majored in basketball. There wasn’t enough time or energy to excel on the court and in the classroom, at least for me.
Playboy: Why shouldn’t college players major in sports? It’s hypocritical of the NCAA to pretend it’s turning out scholar-athletes.
Nash: I agree. College sports is a huge industry. You could make different educational demands on athletes who are part of that billion-dollar money making scheme.
Playboy: While you were still in college you practiced with NBA stars Jason Kidd and Gary Payton. How did that come about?
Nash: I don’t know if this incriminates me, but my agent had played at Santa Clara, and he represented Jason and Gary. It isn’t legal, but he said, “You can work out with these guys.” I went to Gary’s backyard, and we worked out. I went to a health club and worked out with Jason.
Playboy: Payton was called the Glove, for his tight defense. Do other players call him that?
Nash: That’s fan vernacular. Most of his friends call him G.P. or Gary.
Playboy: How about you? You don’t like the nickname Wolerine.
Nash: Most guys call me Nashy or Steve-o.
Playboy: Are there any nicknames guys actually use?
Nash: Kein Garnett is Big Ticket. Allen Iverson’s the Answer, but I would never, ever call him that. I call him Allen. And if I saw Stephon Marbury, I wouldn’t say, “I ran into Starbury the other day,” because I’d sound like a total cheeseball.
Playboy: In 1996 the Suns made you their first-round pick, 15th overall- the highest any Canadian had eer gone in the NBA draft. When the pick was announced, Suns fans booed.
Nash: And I couldn’t have cared less. Hey, I’d made the NBA!
Playboy: What did you buy with your NBA money?
Nash: Cars for my parents. And a big screen home-entertainment center, also for my parents, because we had this lousy TV when I was growing up. The channel dial fell off, so we changed channels with a pair of tweezers.
Playboy: In Phoenix you backed up All-Star point guard Kevin Johnson.
Nash: We went against each other in practice. One day he said, “You know what? You’re as good as anybody I play against. You just don’t know it yet.”
Playboy: Was he right?
Nash: (nodding) I thought I could be good, but that gave me more belief.
Playboy: Did you call him K.J., like everyone else?
Nash: We called him K.
Playboy: A nickname for a nickname.
Nash: Yeah, you want to get it down to one syllable if possible. Shawn Marion is Matrix because his game has special effects, so we call him Trix.
Playboy: After two years Phoenix traded you to Dallas for three players and a first-round draft pick the Suns used to get Marion. You hurt your back, and Mavericks fans booed you.
Nash: That helped me. I thought, Not many people get to have this experience.
Playboy: The thrill of being booed by thousands?
Nash: No, of having something to prove. It hurt, but what a great opportunity to fight through it and win them over.
Playboy: You’re fierce for a Canadian.
Nash: We’re a pretty laid-back country.
Playboy: Here’s a joke: What does a Canadian say when you step on his foot?
Nash: Okay, what?
Playboy: He says, “Excuse me.”
Nash: That’s not a joke. That’s true. But you can be laid-back in life and fierce in your profession.
Playboy: When you joined Mark Cuban’s Mavs, you struck up a friendship with Nowitzki, who had just arrived from Germany.
Nash: We got to camp the same day. We lived in the same apartment complex and both loved to work at our game, so we practiced together. The team’s practice facility was open to the public most of the week. When the public players had the court, Dirk and I would use one of the side baskets.
Playboy: A bunch of lawyers and college kids kept you off the court?
Nash: We didn’t own the court, so we played horse on the side.
Playboy: School-yard rules? Would you call a swish?
Nash: Sure. Call a swish, call a bank shot. I’d shoot runners to get a letter on Dirk, or I’d wear him down with threes. He might get me with mid-range jumpers.
Playboy: In your years at Dallas you and Nowitzki were deadly on the pick-and-roll. Was that from endless practice or just good timing?
Nash: Both. It’s about reading the other team- the bodies, the footwork. You get your man stuck on the pick, so the big man has to cover you; just when he steps toward you while the guard’s trying to get back, that’s your moment. With Dirk it was like telepathy.
Playboy: You two are Western Conference rivals now. Does he take it easy on you if you come through the lane?
Nash: No. There are some hard elbows out there. I expect Shaq would be at the top of the list for elbow power. He’s a strong man. I’ve avoided his elbows, but Karl Malone got me good. One of his elbows bent back my front teeth. It took six or seven sessions in the dentist’s chair to fix that.
Playboy: Did you haze rookies? Does that still go on?
Nash: We make the rookies sing a song or carry our luggage. When I was a rookie in Phoenix, A.C. Green would kick the balls around at practice and say, “Rookie, go pick ‘em up.”
Playboy: Green was religious- the league’s most famous virgin. He didn’t make you all become virgins?
Nash: Well, you can’t reverse virginity.
Playboy: You can in law school. Law students say if you study so much you never have sex, you become a common-law virgin.
Nash: Fortunately, I never went to law school.
Playboy: How much game tape do you study?
Nash: I’ll watach 10 minutes of tape, but it gets old. I mean, who wants to be some kind of basketball machine? I put a lot into the game when we’re playing- mentally and physically. When the game’s over, I want to think about something else. I operate better that way. Some aspects of the pro game are no fun- the travel and the media demands- which is why I turn down the vast majority of media requests. But the game itself, when you’re out there playing with your teammates, that as good as it gets. I still love to play as much as when I was a kid.
Playboy: Which would you rather have, an assist or a three-pointer?
Nash: An assist. It involves more than one person.
Playboy: You hate to pick up your dribble-to stop dribbling- and have to pass or shoot. Why?
Nash: Picking up your dribble does the defense a favor. You can’t go by them anymore; they can smother you. But if you keep your dribble alive, they have to constantly adjust. It’s like in soccer- you want to keep moving forward, keep the pressure on.
Playboy: Does game action seem to go faster than real life?
Nash: It might when you’re a rookie. With experience you get calmer and the game slows down.
Playboy: What makes for a great point guard?
Nash: He needs to be intelligent and have his teammates’ best interest at heart. He makes his team better. He can see the whole court at once. John Stockton was a great point guard. Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Jason Kidd. Chris Paul, last year’s Rookie of the Year, is a terrific young point guard. The Clipper’s Shaun Livingston could be a great one.
Playboy: how has the league changed in your 10 seasons?
Nash: The rules have changed for the better.
Playboy: The NBA has curtailed the hand check and introduced the defensive three-second rule, which keeps defenders out of the lane. Both changes helped ball handlers who could penetrate.
Nash: They helped the game. Before that, teams would just isolate the two best players while everybody else stood around. Five-on-five’s a better game, and these rules promote five-on-five.
Playboy: could you have won two MVP awards without the new rules?
Nash: They sure didn’t hurt.
Playboy: Michael Jordan used to taunt other players- he’d hit a jumper and then say, “You want to see it again?” Who talks the most now?
Nash: Guys don’t talk now. They yell to teammates but won’t taunt an opponent, probably because there would be fights. Everybody takes things so personally. That’s true in the culture, too. People are too sensitive, too easily offended.
Playboy: Were you offended when a few sportswriters said you had won your MVP awards over Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryand and LeBron James because you’re white?
Nash: They talked about racism. I said there might be reverse racism going on.
Playboy: You meant it may be harder for a while guy in the NBA.
Nash: I didn’t say it was the case. I said it was possible.
Playboy: Eminem said that about hip hop. He felt he had to prove himself twice over because he was white. Do you feel like a minority in your game?
Nash: it’s a black man’s game. The numbers support that view. The question is, what does it mean to me? Nothing. The ball is orange.
Playboy: What about the league? Is the NBA worried about its image?
Nash: The league is concerned. All businesses are concerned about their public image.
Playboy: You took a political stand at the 2003 All-Star Game, wearing a t-shirt that read NO WAR- SHOOT FOR PEACE. Opposing the invasion of Iraq seems awfully smart now. Do you feel vindicated?
Nash: I don’t need to feel vindicated about Iraq. Look, it’s not about “I told you so.” I just don’t believe in agressive war. Aggression should be a last resort. I didn’t think we had done all we could to find weapons of mass destruction before launching an invasion. That’s all. I wasn’t being anti-American or anti-Bush. And I didn’t say you have to believe what I believe. I just wanted everyone to try to be a little more informed, to dig a little deeper.
Playboy: You’re not anti-Bush?
Nash: I don’t want to spend time being anti-anyone. But I don’t necessarily agree with his politics.
Playboy: What now? Are we still in Iraq only because there’s no face-saving way out?
Nash: That seems clear. I think everyone, even people who wanted to go to war, wishes there were a good way out.
Playboy: Are Americans more warlike than Canadians?
Nash: I suppose. But then we don’t have the means to go sticking our nose in everybody’s business. We’re just Canada.
Playboy: You stayed on message when you spoke to Santa Clara students last year on the day the school retired your number. “Dig deeper,” you said. “Get involved in the world.”
Nash: I remember being that age. You can get detached from the world. I wanted them to know they’re part of this machine, this mechanism we call society. They’ve got to be more aware, more connected, because they’ve got a part to play locally, nationally and even globally.
Playboy: Doesn’t sports distract people from all taht?
Nash: Yeah, and not just sports. Entertainment has grown tenfold since my childhood. I didn’t have the internet, video games, DVDs, pay TV, satellite TV. Journalism isn’t about issues anymore- it’s entertainment too.
Playboy: Come on, we’re talking issues in a magazine that’s all about sober discussion of the issues and nothing else.
Nash: We’re all under that big entertainment umbrella.
Playboy: Give us an example.
Nash: We can’t swear anymore. As of this year, it’s a technical foul. The league wnts us to be as presentable as possible. And this can affect games- you get a technical and a $1,000 fine.
Playboy: You could Cubanize: You could say, “I don’t care what it costs. it- I’m for free speech!”
Nash: You have to pick your spots. I’d rather take that $1,000 and give it to charity than give it to the Man.
Playboy: That sounds very 1960s. Is there a list of verboten words? Can you say crap?
Nash: I don’t know. But where do you draw the line? At what point does the game get so Leave It to Beaver that all the passion and personality go out of it? We’re coming awfully close to finding out.
Playboy: You’re not a suit-and-tie guy. When you rejoined the Suns, you wore golf shoes to the press conference. What do you think of the NBA dress code?
Nash: It’s unfortunate. We’re grown men. But there are more important things to worry about.
Playboy: Bill Walton once called you the least athletic point guard in the NBA. Did you want to pop him one?
Nash: As far as running and jumping, he’s probably right. I think that’s what he meant.
Playboy: That’s charitable of you. A lot of great athletes are motivated by grudges- they’ll turn some mild criticism into war. Jordan was like that. So is Tiger Woods.
Nash: That’s not fun. I’d rather enjoy my career than go negative.
Playboy: True or fals: Cuban screwed up by letting you go.
Nash: (grinning) He could have let someone else go, for sure, but I don’t have a grudge. Coming to Phoenix was best for me and my family. We love it here.
Playboy: You and your wife have twins, Isabella and Lourdes. Nowitzki is their godfather. Do your kids know what you do for a living?
Nash: They know I play basketball, but they’re only two years old. They’re not so clear on the idea of a job. When they see basketball on TV they say, “Papa!”
Playboy: You shaved your head last year, and it made the news in Canada. Were your daughters shocked?
Nash: I shaved it right infront of them. They laughed. “Still Papa!”
Playboy: Tell us about the ball. At the beginning of the season, the NBA introduced a new synthetic basketball, ditching the old leather one. Did the league consult the players?
Nash: We had zero input.
Playboy: The NBA consulted some ex-players but sprang the change on you.
Nash: And it changed the game. It affected your timing. Not a lot but enough to make more turnov
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