In just two days we have gone back a decade. We have felt like we were in the golden years of our sport and we have gotten our ass off the couch again due to an overtaking of one car to another in a Formula 1 circuit. And we have been moved again with a Spaniard putting the field of the Lakers, as was the case a little over ten years ago. What we needed. Now that everything is Negreira, super leagues, racism, polarization and communications, we needed Fernando Alonso and Pau Gasol more than ever. We only needed Rafa Nadal winning a Masters 1000 around the world and the party would have been complete, but we are satisfied with what we have felt again.
Fernando on Sunday and Pau at dawn today have shown once again that the bar is too high for those who come. Alonso, 41 years old, debuts his car and does so with the enthusiasm of a rookie and the strength of a recent champion. Pau, 42, watches with emotion as his jersey goes up to the sky in Los Angeles and brings to mind the two NBA rings and his unforgettable tandem with Kobe Bryant. They are different feelings: one is pure and hard competition; the other, homage and recognition to the best basketball player in the history of Spain. But we both belong the two have grown with us day after dayweekend after weekend.
Now that everything is Negreira, super leagues, racism, polarization and communications, we needed Fernando Alonso and Pau Gasol more than ever
Years later, we can say that the passage of time has done them very well. They can go with their heads held high, far from scandals, behavioral changes or divisives. Both are the same as they were, but even more mature. The two continue to be figures that should be set as an example in any school. I’m not saying it as a cliché, I think of it like that. The two represent the culture of effort and sacrifice that is now in clear danger of extinction.
We will enjoy Alonso this season. His car will go through ups and downs and the rivals that were behind in Bahrain will get their act together in the coming weeks –they say that Mercedes will debut a much better car in Australia–, but Just what I experienced this weekend already deserves recognition. That’s how you compete.
Seeing both of them back in action and making news has been wonderful.
Of Pau we have left his induction into the Hall of Fame, almost certainly, and its institutional role. Those who know him say that Pau will be a very important executive, that his stamp will be seen in management and that his role in the IOC will increase much more in the coming years. Whatever it is, it will be good for Spanish sport, just like the historic event this morning with the withdrawal of his shirt and his number 16.
Seeing both of them back in action and making news has been wonderful. A message as happy as hard. It is very difficult for sport to make us as happy as those wonderful years in which we Alonso, Gasol and Nadal reigned on the planet and in their free time they went to see the Spanish team in the World Cup final.
