Many of you know that I'm a basketball
Many of my loyal readers also know Bleubeard and I are hosting Art Journal Journey this month with my Hearts theme.
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The 2020 NBA All-Star Weekend was all about tributes, mostly to Kobe Bryant, but also to his daughter, the seven other people who died in that same crash, and David Stern, who died January 1.
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David Stern was the commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1984 to 2014. He started with the NBA in 1966 as outside counsel, joined the NBA in 1978 as general counsel, and became executive vice president of the league in 1980. He became commissioner in 1984. After 30 years of service, Stern resigned as the longest-tenured commissioner in the history of any major North American sports leagues. He made many significant changes, which included more exposure to basketball and founding the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).And that is just the short list of his accomplishments. He was also responsible for taking basketball world wide, creating international markets. That may be why so many countries vie to have our NBA players visit and play in their countries.
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The Rising Stars Challenge features a group of standout first-year players or Rookies, against a group of standout second-year players known as Sophomores. Since 2015, the game is now divided among players from the USA versus players from around the world. What that means is, if the chosen player was born in the states, he will be on Team USA, whether he's a rookie or a sophomore. If the player was born outside the USA, he is on Team World. Regardless, all players are members of NBA teams and are selected through voting by the NBA’s assistant coaches.
Many of us aren't fond of the new "us" versus "them" format and prefer to pit the rookies against the sophomores. This year the final score was Team USA 151, Team World 131.
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Kobe and his daughter Gianna were honored in several ways, including the 69th annual All-Star Game. Team LeBron James wore the No. 2 on the back of their jerseys, while Team Giannis Antetokounmpo, wore the No. 24. Gianna Bryant wore the No. 2 in her ball games, while we associate Kobe with No. 24.
On Friday, players in the NBA Rising Stars game (a game between the league's best rookies and sophomores) wore jersey patches featuring the numbers 2 and 24 in the center surrounded by nine stars.
Both teams wore jersey patches displaying nine stars, representing those who lost their lives in the crash (the Bryants; John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah and Payton Chester, Christina Mauser, and Ara Zobayan).
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The same patches were also worn by players competing in the Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest, and Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday night.
The TNT (cable channel showing All-Star Weekend) NBA Studio Analysts spoke into mikes with the numbers 2 and 24, also.
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The new format was a little confusing on paper, but made
sense once I saw it in action. The score was reset after each quarter, and the team
that won each quarter received a $100,000 charity bonus. Team LeBron won
the first quarter, Team Giannis took the second, and the third ended in an out-of-our-seats
thrilling tie.
I was amazed at the amount of fouls called, free throws taken, and even
several challenges and reviews of plays. This was unheard of in
previous All Star games. Usually, the referees are there as mere
courtesy, like to hand the ball to the player for inbounding. Not so
this game. This was like the seventh game of a world championship and the
game was played with the same intensity.
The
total score of the game at
the end of three quarters was 133-124 in favor of Team Giannis. Rather
than having a traditional 12-minute game clock, the two teams played to
157, which was 24 more points than the leading team, a tribute to Kobe
Bryant (and his jersey number). At first, I wasn't sure this idea would
work.
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For this page, I wanted color and brightness, unlike the previous page which implied mourning. I began by laying down yellow and purple watercolor pencils on a substrate of 110 lb card stock. I created the yellow and purple hearts using acrylic craft paint. From there all images came from the internet. Since I only have black ink (inkjet printer) and black toner (laser printer), I knew it would be foolish to try to color in the uniforms. Instead, I added dye ink around each of the computer generated sentiments. To pull both spreads together, I added three gifted stars (thanks Jeanie) to the mix.
Thank you beyond belief for sticking with me all the way to the end. I know it won't be read by some, but for me, it was a small way I could add to the many tributes that were made over the All-Star weekend. It was something I definitely felt I needed to do. Since there are hearts on both pages, I'm also sharing this with Art Journal Journey. Hope to see you there, too.
16 thoughtful remarks:
Wonderful tribute to your favourite game. We even get basketball shown on out TV over here, but as you know, I don't watch any sports! Have a fun day, Valerie
A wonderful page to dignify basketball! Gorgeous made, made with much LOVE!
Very cool way to hold onto a memory ~
Awesome post, great tribute as well.
Re my diamontes on my card, it was a real heart on a chain which I photographed and turned it into a png file and used it...xx
Germany, despite "having had" Dirk Nowitzki sadly is a land of soccer.
Slowwly American Football gets cool (Braunschweig being #1 again!), the Basketball Lions are first league, too, but I admit I´ve never seen a game, just pass by these huge guys and feel like a dwarf each time!! They have sponsored cars (VW Gold Plus) and you cannot see their heads fully, when they drive! Golf Plus is not big enough! But they are nice. Smiles all over.
So sad what happened to Kobe Bryant and his Daughter, it was on the news here, in "soccer land".
Great work you did as a tribute. Life is not fair at times.
A very beautiful and heart-felt tribute
What a lovely tribute :)
I enjoy watching any sport the person I'm with wants to see, so I'll treasure these moments with the Lakers. There are some times when we're all one sports family, and my heart goes out to the long-time Kobe and Lakers fans. The shock waves will be felt for a long time to come.
What a wonderful tribute, Elizabeth. Kudos.
These are both great pages Elizabeth. I am not a big basketball fan, but your love shines through. And I have to say the Kobe Bryant page is an extremely nice tribute. Hugs-Erika
A beautiful tribute to those who died on that awful accident and to the Lakers.
Well done Elizabeth xx
Wonderful tribute pages Elizabeth, I can tell when I read this post and previous times you have mentioned your favourite sport that you love the game.
The black heart really captures the mood and tone that the pages are showng .
Yvonne xx
This was super interesting. And I don't know HOW the all-star game got by me. I don't follow as much as I did when our home town kid, Magic Johnson, was playing but I still keep an eye out. Maybe I was too sick to care this weekend! I love these pages. The tribute to Kobe, everything. Well done, Elizabeth. And so well written too.
The NBA needs to hire you TODAY! Your tribute, artwork, facts and comments truly epitomize what they stand for, and I love this so much. I know you're not on Instagram, but I hope it's okay f I take a few of these and share there. You've done a phenomenal job! Hugs, RO
A fabulous page and tribute Elizabeth! I wish we got to see more sports from the US than we do! Hugs, Chrisx
A great tribute. Your love of the game shines through.
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