Welcome to “Attending to know Pounding the Rock’s writers”! In the course of the All-Star break, we thought it we be enjoyable to get to know just a little bit extra about our writers right here at PtR.
A bit about myself
Whats up there! My title’s Invoice, and my buddies name me, properly, Invoice. I used to be raised in Vancouver, Canada, which is understood for its pure magnificence, multiculturalism, and being the province instantly beneath the Yukon.
My love for sports activities started at a younger age. As somebody with the athleticism of a turtle, although, my most memorable athletic second was dislocating my knee taking part in the bottom stage of soccer potential then by no means taking part in any organized sports activities once more.
Even so, my admiration for athletes and their will to win persevered. As a proud Canadian, I grew up obsessive about hockey, and my two favourite sports activities recollections are Sidney Crosby’s Golden Objective and Alex Burrows slaying the dragon — each of which occurred in Vancouver inside 14 months.
That span continues to be essentially the most enjoyable I’ve had as a sports activities fan. Not solely did my hometown host the 2010 Winter Olympics, however Canada additionally set a document (on the time) for gold medals received with 14. Then, simply over a yr later, the Canucks (my favourite hockey staff) made it to the Stanley Cup Finals and wo— wait, I don’t really keep in mind what occurred within the finals. Most likely wasn’t necessary, anyway.
Fortunately, Canada has nonetheless been on the prime of the hockey world. We repeated as gold medallists within the 2014 Olympics and received the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 too. There hasn’t been a world best-on-best event since then, however that’ll quickly change when the 2025 4 Nations Face-Off occurs subsequent February. And despite the fact that the People have a greater staff on paper, Canada will win as a result of we nonetheless have Crosby and a few man named Connor McDavid.
Outdoors of sports activities, I like watching motion pictures. I’m an enormous fan of Wong Kar-Wai and Denis Villeneuve, so it’s not shocking that my favourite movies are Within the Temper for Love and Blade Runner 2049. Talking of the latter, keep in mind to get your Dune: Half Two tickets. Mark my phrases: it is going to be the Empire Strikes Again of this technology.
How I grew to become a Spurs fan
So, a Spurs fan from Vancouver, huh? How odd, I’m not completely positive how that occurred, both.
Jogging my doubtful reminiscence, I imagine I received into basketball through the 2015-16 season, which many followers now take into account to be one of many best campaigns in league historical past. The final day of the common season was completely bonkers, with the Warriors getting their 73rd win and Kobe dropping 60 (when scoring 60 was nonetheless cool) in his closing sport.
Then, the playoffs had been someway even higher! OKC blew a 3-1 lead, Recreation 6 Klay occurred, the beginning of LeBronto, and naturally, the Cavs getting back from down 3-1 with sport 7 of the finals being the best match ever performed.
Going into the 2016-17 marketing campaign, I knew I needed to choose a staff, and as a low-key man who tries to keep away from drama, I naturally gravitated in direction of the Spurs. San Antonio was coming off a franchise-record 67-win season and simply misplaced its cornerstone in Timmy to retirement, and but there was barely any press surrounding the staff. In addition they performed a team-first model of basketball that I cherished, and everybody sacrificed particular person stats to win. Merely put, I used to be bought.
Why didn’t I choose the Raptors, you ask? Truthfully, I’m not fairly positive myself. Possibly I used to be simply attempting to be completely different and edgy, however I can guarantee you that I didn’t hop on Toronto’s bandwagon in 2019. Positive, I used to be completely happy that basketball grew to become extra widespread in Canada, however I didn’t have any allegiance to the staff in any respect.
Naturally, after selecting the Spurs, I additionally grew to become a die-hard Kawhi fan. I used to be completely devasted when the entire Uncle Dennis fiasco went down, however hey, that was so 2017. I’ll at all times respect Kawhi’s time in San Antonio no matter what occurred, and part of me celebrated his championship with the Raptors whereas one other half stored dwelling on the what-ifs.
Though Kawhi was the one who received away, belief me once I say that Spurs followers have had it simple. The Canucks have by no means even received a championship earlier than and have been arguably the largest dumpster fireplace in hockey since their finals run, and all of the Spurs needed to endure was a few rebuilding seasons earlier than getting one of many best prospects of all time.
The glory days will return, San Antonio: Wemby’s solely 20, and but his work ethic and dedication are already mild years forward of what most of us can ever hope to realize. His dedication rivals his precocious expertise, and there’s little doubt that Wemby will do every thing in his energy to turn out to be an all-time legend.
How I ended up at Pounding the Rock
My dream has at all times been to turn out to be a sportswriter, and I began that journey by contributing and ultimately turning into editor of The Canuck Manner. I then began running a blog about basketball on fan websites reminiscent of Hoops Behavior and Final Phrase on Basketball, earlier than lastly mustering up the braveness to achieve out to J.R. Wilco and asking to jot down for PtR.
Surprisingly, he agreed! Possibly it was the intensive physique of labor I already had, or my good Canadian manners, however regardless, I someway made it. I’m very lucky and grateful to be given the leeway by J.R. to jot down something I’m all for, which occurs to be my Across the NBA sequence more often than not. A lot of my concepts and jargon used are impressed by buddies (you already know who you’re), and I really feel very fortunate to have an important help group and editor who permits me to do what I like.
GSG!
Extra bios:
Marilyn Dubinski
Bruno Passos
Mark Barrington
August Bembel
JeJe Gomez
Tanner Bowen
Devon Birdsong
