SI/世界上最牛的兼职人士--Mutombo
[size=3][color=navy]链接:[/color][/size][url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/04/05/mutombo/index.html][size=1][color=darkred]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/04/05/mutombo/index.html[/color][/size][/url][size=3][color=navy][img]http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/04/05/mutombo/t1_mutombo.jpg[/img][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=black][b]刚果共和国给出的出生证明上标明我们的穆叔已经40岁了,但整个联盟都认为那证书一定被改过..因为穆叔一定比那老很多.[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=black][b]想听段经典对白么? 穆叔斜眼瞥了一下,脸颊上的肌肉笑得快要爆掉,他的笑声犹如爵士乐一样在更衣室当中飘荡. 是的,他仿佛又回到了乔治城的青葱岁月.[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy]"曾经我很气愤别人拿我年龄开玩笑，但我现在已经懂得自嘲了."这位火箭的7尺2寸中锋说道:"哪怕他们说我已经50岁了,那我也绝对是一个可以和那些19岁小伙子们在球场上生龙活虎地打球的老糟头子...而且我还能盖他们的帽" 说着,他又把那著名的食指举了起来.[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy]还有哪个职业体育中的运动员比我们的穆叔活得更写意么? 还有谁比他更有价值么? 两星期之内,他就要伴随T-mac, Yaoming 和Battier开始他们的季后赛征程了![/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy]哪怕会一直陪伴他们到总决赛,他还是会在自己的生活中显得游刃有余..因为在7月穆叔就回在他家乡首都Kinshasha建立一个以他母亲命名的医院兼研究中心:Biamba Marie Center.[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=black][b]这是穆叔多年以来努力的结晶,凝结了他整个职业生涯的努力,以及1千5百万的资金. 国外医生和刚果的合伙人会在这所拥有300个床位的医院中合力治疗疟疾,爱滋,肺结核,麻疹和霍乱等足以导致那些连自己5岁生日都没过的孩子们死亡的致命疾病.[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"这将成为我国家里第一所具有3个手术室,4间X光室和高端科技的医院. 我的人民贫困,但那不意味着他们就享受不到良好的医疗待遇."[/b][/color][/size]
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[size=3][color=navy]穆叔的这一举动在1月引起了整个美国的注目,当时第一夫人劳拉一直陪伴在他身边.[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"作为美国人民,我们拥有英雄般的仁慈,勇气和自我牺牲精神." 美国总统布什在演讲中介绍穆叔时说道:"迪坎比-穆托姆博在贫穷和疾病肆虐的非洲长大.他在得到乔治城大学的奖学金后选择了医学专业,但John Thompson教练在见到他后认为他可以做点别的.迪坎比于是成为了一名NBA明星,以及美国的公民.但他从来没忘记的自己生长的热土----更没忘记和自己家乡的亲人分享成功的喜悦.于是他在故乡建立了一个全新的医院."[/b][/color][/size]
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[size=3][color=navy]这可不是什么轻松的工作,因为你至少得在地球的另一端待上6个月.火箭的众将士都目睹了他的电话会议,以及在练习之前和医院顾问及捐赠人会面."在比赛日我会把会面时间缩短到2,3个小时.而在其他实在也花费整整一天.我还记得去年我在一天之内开了4次会议,而且是在在休斯顿四个不同地区的不同建筑内. 有时候真的很难找到平衡,因为我也要休息.[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy]于是激烈的比赛让这个40岁的中年人有些力不从心了[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy][img]http://i.a.cnn.net/si/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/04/05/mutombo/t1_mutombo3.jpg[/img][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=black][b]在近几年跟踪采访他那么比赛之后,我记忆中他的脚踝,膝盖和臀部肌肉一直都是处于拉伤状态的....洗完澡后,他把浴巾围在那肋条骨清晰可见的腰间. 而浴室和更衣室之间仿佛"遥远"的距离让我们的穆叔每次都叹气不已,然后一瘸一拐的前行. 但他的目光和紧闭的嘴唇让人联想到了一位刚刚退休,却还不愿意拄拐杖的倔强老人. 每迈一步会花生脱壳时的响声,而.....连他穿袜子的动作都让你觉得心疼.[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy]可他还能在他的16年职业生涯中保持10.6个篮板,10.1分和2.8个盖帽![/color][/size]
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[size=3][color=navy]但在去年,承办医院的巨大压力几乎将他击垮了.他只得到了职业生涯最低的2.6分,4.8个篮板...而 火箭也失去了晋级季后赛的机会.[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]去年夏天在与女友散布的时候,他又变成了一个脾气暴躁的倔老头:"我想过退役,我和我兄弟们谈过很多,我和Patrick Ewing,Alonzo Mourning都谈过." 是的， 他们都是乔治城毕业的伟大中锋战友.."Patrick的意思是'Deke,你还有些事要做,我知道你并不想离开.'"[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"我说,Pat,我感到比赛的无趣了,真的有些无聊了."[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"而他说.不,别在这糟糕的年份退役,你可以在明年回到赛场上,然后尽力打好那些比赛. 你可以打出好状态的.你可以帮助你们的大个子姚明."[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"我说Pat,我有些厌倦了.----转而我又和我哥哥谈...而他的态度是'你到底怎么了? 你疯了么? "[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"我说,我不想去训练营了. 而他说'兄弟,你最好回去好好工作.确实还有很多其他事等着你去做! 但你绝对可以边打篮球边做!"[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]于是穆叔又回到了火箭,而在训练营的第二天,他和VGD进行了谈话[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"Jeff和我谈了很久,他问我'你感觉怎么样? 因为你去年打得并不好,而今年你可以做得更好...我们也需要你打出更好的比赛!"[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"所以我表示我会尽力的,而我目前也确实比去年更努力. 在联盟待了这么多年以后,你就不那么想提前2小时来训练了。我想说我已经投了足够多的篮.....但今年我真的认真考虑了Jeff的建议,于是我提前到体育馆训练,我做了更多的准备活动,我和那些正在学习中年轻人一起奔跑练习.这事实上比坐在那等训练开始好玩多了...我也在思想上受到了鼓舞."[/b][/color][/size]
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[size=3][color=navy]这可不止是思想上,而是全方位的.今年在17.7分钟的上场时间内他可以得到6.7篮板和1.1个盖帽.但在姚明缺席的32场比赛中,年薪只有220万的穆叔可以在27.5分钟内得到10.6篮板,1.5个概貌,并成功地把火箭留在争夺季后赛席位的阵营中![/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy]"和老霍一起,迪坎比成就了他们职业生涯中最伟大的成就"VGD表示"他们在失去球队最佳中锋时候守住了阵地! 这对迪坎比来说尤为不易,因为他这几年确实退步很快,而且我没想让他上这么长时间....但当球队需要他的时候,他为我们做了很多,特别是在前3个星期,当我们缺乏自信的时候....他独力撑起了球队."[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=black][b]穆叔和莫宁打先发? 那已经是很久以前的事了,那时候的球员还穿着"斯托克顿似"的短裤.....但在这两位老兵以替补身份成为球队的先发时,他们为球队作的贡献不可磨灭![/b][/color][/size]
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[size=3][color=red][b]上个月穆叔在丹佛抢了22个篮板,没有人在他这个岁数还能这么干."我感觉又回到了年轻的时候,穆叔以他特有的Louis Armstrong似的沙哑声音说道:"比赛后,莫宁给我发短信说' 老人家,你居然抢了22个篮板?! 我说'你还是看看自己吧,还叫我老人家....你岁数也不小了. 而他说,'Deke,我真的为你感到骄傲,你让我们所有人感到骄傲,在在这个岁数还能抢这么多篮板...那意味着我也绝对能做到!!"[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy]虽然火箭在这个月的成绩并不理想,穆叔还是决定明年继续参加比赛. 他坚持表明继续参加比赛和维持医院所需要的资金并没有关系,这点是从他的恩师Thompson那学到的[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=red][b]"他说,嘿,小子.总有一天你再也不打篮球了,而你要教会自己成为一个商人.无论何时,见到别人后你要先递上名片,而且记住他们的行当,你们什么时候见的面,以及在哪....并找到一个保持联系的方式."[/b][/color][/size]
[size=3][color=darkred][b]"他就是这么说的"穆叔说"如果不是因为我在一生中结识了这么多人,我是绝对没能力办起一座医院的! 那些捐赠了50万美元,那些给我30,10,20万美元的人.那些我从来都不认识,但来看我比赛并给了我那么多钱的人."[/b][/color][/size]
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[size=3][color=navy]这也就是为什么当看到Ron Artest,Stephen Jackson陷入麻烦后,穆叔都会为他们感到苦恼的原因. 他认为如果得不到公众的信任和认可,他们将一事无成...[/color][/size]
[size=3][color=navy]"我们必须让球迷们相信我们,即使在场下,我们也要得到他们的信任...而不是去惹麻烦"穆叔低声说道"因为不打篮球后,生活还要继续.宾不是所有篮球运动员都可以像我一样打16年职业篮球. 他们的职业生涯并不长.但无论你打多长时间,你都要向世人展示好的一面,这就是我给大家的建议."[/color][/size]
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[size=4][color=red][b]那长年的自律,那繁忙的工作,以及多年以来兼职2份工作都因他得到的认可和奖许而释怀了....他亲眼见证了姚明的成长,他为刚果提供了320个在医院工作的机会. 受疾病折磨的人会得到痊愈,而火箭也会如愿进入季后赛而继续拼争. 是的， 就在他认为自己的职业生涯即将结束的时候,他却正在经历一个最令人欣喜的赛季[/b][/color][/size]
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原文
The birth certificate from the Democratic Republic of Congo makes him out to be 40-years-old. But his NBA colleagues have long joked that the document must be forged because [b]Dikembe Mutombo[/b] is years older than that. The punch line? That comes when Mutombo laughs along: Eyes squinting, cheeks bursting, his laughter fills the room like music in a jazz club, and he looks young enough to be a student at Georgetown all over again."I used to get mad about it, but now I just laugh," says Mutombo, the 7-foot-2 center for the Houston Rockets. "If they say I'm 50, then I may be one of the best 50-year-old guys running up and down the court with some of these 19-year-old guys. And," he adds, predictably raising his telltale index finger, "I'm still blocking their shot."
Is there a happier soul in any professional sport than Mutombo? Is there a more valuable player in the world today? In a fortnight he will be supporting the attempt by [b]Tracy McGrady[/b], [b]Yao Ming[/b] and [b]Shane Battier[/b] to win their first playoff series.
Even if Mutombo helps guide them all the way through the NBA Finals, it will, by his standards, be a small gift. In July he will open his Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center, named after his late mother, in Kinshasha, the capital of his African homeland.
The facility is the culmination of a monumental, decade-long investment of Mutombo's time, energy and $15 million of his own money. The foreign doctors and Congolese providers serving the 300-bed hospital will treat the epidemics of malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, measles and cholera, which are largely responsible for killing one in five DRC children before they reach their fifth birthday.
"This is going to be the first hospital in my country to have the capacity of three operating rooms and four X-ray rooms and all of the high-technical stuff," he says. "When people are poor, that doesn't mean they have to receive poor treatment."
Mutombo's project drew the eyes of the nation in January when he sat next to First Lady Laura Bush during the State of the Union address.
"The greatest strength we have is the heroic kindness, courage and self-sacrifice of the American people," said President [b]George W. Bush[/b] while introducing Mutombo. "Dikembe Mutombo grew up in Africa, amid great poverty and disease. He came to Georgetown University on a scholarship to study medicine, but coach [b]John Thompson[/b] took a look at Dikembe and had a different idea. Dikembe became a star in the NBA and a citizen of the United States. But he never forgot the land of his birth -- or the duty to share his blessings with others. He built a brand-new hospital in his old hometown."
That isn't an easy task when you have to spend at least six months of the year half a world away. His fellow Rockets see Mutombo working the phones as well as meeting with hospital advisers or donors before and after practices. "On the gameday I've cut it to two to three hours," he says. "Though sometimes on gamedays it's a full day. I remember last year I had four meetings in one day, all at different buildings in different parts of Houston. It's not easy to balance what I do with my job, because you need a lot of siesta."
Every game seems to take a heavy toll on him.
Having visited with Mutombo after more than a dozen NBA games in recent years, I cannot recall a time when it did not appear as if he had just sprained all six of his ankles, knees and hips. He comes out from the shower with a towel wrapped around his thinly elongated waist, and his locker always seems to be on the far side of the room, causing him to sigh and maybe shake his head before he sets off limping and hobbling, his eyes and mouth slitted in agony like the one client in the retirement home who is still too proud to use a walker. Each movement recalls the sound of multiple peanuts being shelled. It hurts just watching him pull on a sock.
Yet he has impressively maintained averages of 10.6 rebounds, 10.1 points and 2.8 blocks over the 1,142 games of his 16-year career.
Last year, however, the burdens of the hospital project appeared to finally have drained him. He averaged a career-low 2.6 points and 4.8 rebounds as the Rockets missed the playoffs.
While talking with his confidantes last summer, Mutombo played the part of the cranky old man. "I thought about retiring. I talked to my brothers a lot, I talked to [b]Patrick[/b] ([b]Ewing[/b]), I talked to [b]Alonzo[/b] ([b]Mourning[/b])," he says of his fellow Georgetown centers from the elder Thompson era. "Patrick was like, 'Deke, you still have something left, you don't want to walk away now.'
"I said, 'Pat, it's getting boring, it's getting boring.'
"He said, 'No, don't make that bad year be the end of your life. You can come back next year and play at your best. You can stay in better shape. You can go and help Yao Ming.'
"I said, 'Pat, I'm tired of this s---.' Then I talked to my oldest brother, and everything I said he was just saying the opposite: 'What the hell is wrong with you? You're crazy brother, you're sick.'
"I said, 'I don't feel like going to training camp.' He said, 'Man, you'd better go back to work. There [are] a lot of things you want to do, but you can still do it while you're playing basketball.'"
So Mutombo returned to the Rockets, and on the second day of training camp it was coach [b]Jeff Van Gundy[/b]'s turn to appeal.
"Jeff and I had a talk," says Mutombo, "and he asked, 'How are you feeling? Because you didn't play at your best last year. This year you can do more than you did last year.' He said, 'We need you to be much better.'
"So I said, I'm going to do my best. And now I am doing more extra stuff than I did last year. After so many years you don't want to come to practice two hours early. I would say that I have done enough shooting over the years. But this year I took into consideration more what Jeff was saying. I come early to the gym, I do extra stuff, I walk through plays with the young guys who are learning the game and I am just there. It makes everything much [more fun] instead of just waiting for practice time to come. I think it helped me mentally."
Mentally? It helped him universally. Overall Mutombo is averaging 6.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in just 17.7 minutes this year. But it was during the 32-game absence of Yao that Mutombo earned his $2.2 million salary: He averaged 10.6 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 27.5 minutes to help keep the Rockets in playoff contention.
"In combination with [b]Juwan[/b] ([b]Howard[/b], the veteran power forward), Dikembe did something as significant as anything they've ever achieved in their career," says Van Gundy. "They held the fort when we lost the best center in basketball. For Dikembe it was unexpected, because he dropped significantly last year, and I didn't think he started this year well as a backup. But when more was asked of him, he responded, particularly in the first three weeks when we needed a jolt of confidence that we could hold the fort."
There was an extended time when Mutombo and Mourning -- teammates at Georgetown in the long-ago era of short shorts and four-year collegians -- were starting centers for playoff-bound teams. Though neither may be regular starters anymore, they are certainly key ingredients to playoff-bound teams again.
Last month in Denver Mutombo came up with 22 rebounds; no one his age had ever produced more than 20. "It was like we were turning the clock back," says Mutombo, in his [b]Louis Armstrong[/b] voice that scrapes from his long throat like gravel along a washboard. "After that game Alonzo sent me a text message saying, 'What are you doing old man, getting 22 rebounds?' I said, 'Look at you, calling me old man, you're just behind me too.' He said, 'Deke, I'm so proud of you man, you make all of us proud. At your age you're doing this, so that means I can do it too.'"
Regardless of the Rockets' success or failure in the month ahead, Mutombo has been inspired to return to the court next year. He insists that his extended playing career has nothing to do with maintaining the relevance of his hospital, which has developed a life all its own because of a lesson he learned from Thompson.
"He'd say, 'Son, one day basketball is going to be over, and you need to teach yourself to be a businessman. Everytime you meet somebody, try to get their business card, and try to remember what they do, where did you meet them, and when did you meet them. And try to find a way to stay in touch.'
"That's what he told me," recalls Mutombo, "and I could never have built the hospital if I had not known so many people in my life. People that gave me a half-million dollars, people that gave me $300,000, $100,000 or $200,000. People that I never have known in my life, who came to two or three games and gave me so much money."
This is why he is personally troubled each time [b]Ron Artest[/b], [b]Stephen Jackson[/b] or any NBA player is drawn into trouble. He thinks of the good work that might not be done because the public trust is being squandered.
"We have to gain the trust of our fans, we have to get their respect outside the court instead of getting in all this trouble that some of us do get into," he says in a whisper. "Because there's life after the game. I don't know so many basketball players who will play 16 years like I am. That number is very short. Whatever you're playing for -- four years, five years -- try to see if you can create a great platform for your life. That's my advice."
The self-discipline, the tiring work, the long hours of managing two full-time jobs has been overcome by the rewards. He has seen Yao become a star, and he will oversee the creation of 320 hospital jobs in his country. The sick will be made well and the Rockets will play into May. Just when he thought he was finished, this is becoming the happiest NBA season of Dikembe Mutombo's life. 大叔真是 青春焕发，经验是火箭的法宝啊 尊敬大叔 为大叔致敬. 大叔肯定能活到99 好人啊
感动！
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