Okay, that was my opening paragraph and headline for my draft of this weeks post. I thought it was up to my standards of writing and something that I wouldn’t mind being identified as my own. In short, if that opening paragraph came up to me in 20 years and said, “Are you Jim Leonard? You are? That’s crazy because I’m Kate Hudson’s son and she finally revealed to me that you are my father,” I would be proud and accept that opening paragraph in my life. Just to give you guys an example of how I feel about that opening paragraph.
The post was originally going to reveal how I thought the Rockets’ streak was a crazy feat in sports and I was eventually going to have quotes of people who have had notable streaks in sports and their thoughts on what the Rockets are doing. For example, I was going to have:
The Widow of Joe Dimaggio(56 game hit streak): “The record is nice, but try doing it during the Great Depression…pansies.”
That would have been entertaining and fun and I’m sure it would provide some relief from the stress of school, your smelly roommate, or the anxiety that can be attributed to Hillary Clinton running for President.
However, I decided to get a little curious about that sentence I wrote in reference to the “Luis Scola Fan Club.” I wrote that because I wanted to purely emphasize that no one really believed in the Rockets, not to spark an adventure that would change my life. It was this adventure that has changed my view of the world and the Chinese language in general. (that will totally make sense later. trust me). It was this adventure that I wish to share with you hoping to make a positive impact on people’s lives. I didn’t plan on changing you guys or the world forever with the content of this post. But as I have learned in this life you cannot pick your time to be a hero, and I guess my time has come on this damp Monday afternoon by which I am still undergoing my personal recovery mode from a Saturday night whose plot line resembles something like a blank MadLibs sheet.
And now, my crazy afternoon Luis Scola adventure…
So I was getting curious about the last sentence of that opening paragraph that I love so dearly and a thought dawned on me:
“Could such a player of Scola’s status actually have a fan club? I mean, it is 2008 and you can find just about anything on the internet these days.”
This then lead me to Google “luis scola fan club” on a whim just thinking that if there is a God, this greasy Argentinean will have some site run by a creeper in Buenos Aires who also sells stolen items from the home of Manu Ginobili on eBay. On this Google quest, I did not find a site filled with high quality pictures, articles, and flashy highlight montages, which left me a little downtrodden. And I hate being downtrodden. Almost as much as I hate being browbeaten(actual word). However, I DID FIND A SITE THAT OFFICIALLY CALLS ITSELF “Luis Scola’s Fan Forum, at http://www.talk-sports.net/nba/fan.aspx/Luis_Scola.
Thank you God.
So, I naturally joined the site, hoping to chat with other members who just can’t get enough of the Scola. They accepted my application, which only took a name and location. Now I was in! They really aren’t too picky about who the members are, just as long as you bring positive vibes and an obsession with the greatest Argentinean player in the history of teams that have won 22 straight games. The site features great user comments that are just a hoot. I actually got in on the fun and posted the last three comments posing as two different people where one called for the lovechild of Scola and Manu to be the second coming of Christ, while the other guy freaks out a little. Feel free to contribute to the conversation after you join the fan club. It’s definitely the place to be. I was in awe that there are people who actually comment on this page and are Scola maniacs! The site again is http://www.talk-sports.net/nba/fan.aspx/Luis_Scola. (This should be hyperlinked, unlike last posts where you would have to copy and paste it to your browser. I’m not going to lie, I feel so lame for using the terms ‘hyperlink’ and ‘browser’ in the same sentence, let alone on the same day. I’ll get over it though) For example, one user said:
“MVP ROOKIE OF THE MONTH!!!! (February)
GO SCOLA…GOOOOOOOO!!!!”
And…
“Mr Scola, you're my rookie of the year, just bought your jersey last sunday. Your first start as a center againts Utah.
You might see me in the 106 section, I saw how hard you try to push up the team, and I screamed histerically when you fell down try to blocked the big giants in Utah team in the 4th.
My best wishes for you from me and my husband, we officially your big fan now, though my husband a bit jealous since I wear your jersey everynight ;)
And one more thing, it seems you're a little bit lucky if shave the beard before the game. :p”
Those made me laugh at first, but then apparently this fan club is a family affair which was made apparent with this post:
“NO WAYYY. HE PLAYS BETTER WHEN HE DOESN’T SHAVE!!!!
By the way, I bought the first jersey with his name, jajaja
I’m his uncle
These we all good. And I was just having a dandy time reading these to validate the fact that there are some people in this world who are truly rooting for this guy. But then I saw this comment, and it gave me hope that I may not be alone in this quest to get everyone involved with the Scola man on this post:
http://luis-scola.blog.sohu.com/ (you should be able just to click on this to get there. Sorry if it's messed up.)
Could it be? Could someone have beaten me to the punch and is attempting to start a coup of his own with an obsessive Scola website? I visited this site and realized that "Scola Mania" was bigger than me, or anyone else for that matter. This website officially became the one of the greatest things that I have ever laid eyes on, second only to this hand-dryer I used at Wendy’s today that seemed to have a leaf-blower engine in it and dried my hands instantly, which can be seen here on the right. I timidly explored this website like a haunted house in a Scooby Doo cartoon, not knowing what was going to come next. I was also legitimately scared because I also thought for some reason that my computer could get some sort of virus just by being here. For the record, it's fine to visit, and I would recommend it to friends and family alike. But if you want a handy guide on exploring all that is the Scola Mania website, I’ve compiled a lit of tips for you (if you are working on a PC, the site loads really fast. but for some reason, if you go to the website on a mac, the site's main page just perpetually loads, which is why you need the buttons):
- If you click the little man icon on the left, it will take you this wired profile page where it appears that you can write a message to either Scola or someone in the future by clicking on the pencil on paper icon.
-If you click on the booklet icon next to the little man, it takes you to a Chinese blog post that for some reason has nowhere to click in order to get the full post. I realize that even if I could access this post, I still couldn’t read it, but I’m just saying that it makes this site look really unprofessional.
- If you click on the TV icon, you are taken to some Chinese kids social networking account, which is some sort of Myspace of something. It just makes me feel akward.
- If you click on the film strip icon, you are taken to this video highlight page I’m assuming. It takes forever to load, which I’m not patient enough for. It seems as though this site is a work in progress and in need of a full time staffer. I’m finding a way to submit my resume.
-If you click on that little orange rectangle by Scola’s head, you are taken to my new favorite blog. I think this is where the creeper in Buenos Aires airs his unconditional love for Scola, Manu and the Rockets. I cut-and-paste a paragraph into FreeTranslation.com and it was a delightful read. This is so getting a bookmark.
So there you have it. My crazy adventure featuring Luis Scola. Special thanks to Luis Scola’s uncle, the nation of China, Lance Armstrong, and that creepy lady in section 106 who commented in the fan forum.
Scarred? Me too.
Confused? Right there with you brother.
Inspired? Your welcome.
1 comment:
Jim while the xcelerator hand dryer is very effective i would have to say that this dryer pictured here http://www.greenplanetsolutions.co.uk/images/veltia_du.gif
is clearly the most effective at drying hands
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