Rotorua Daily Post

sports reporter

David Beck

takes a look at the past week of sport.

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#ComeHomeSteven

One of my favourite stories of the past week was about Rotorua basketballers putting the call out for NBA star Steven Adams to return home for the Tall Blacks game against Hong Kong later this month.

Nearly 1900 Rotorua Basketball members, more than 1700 of who are youth basketballers, are hoping to entice Adams home by running a #comehomesteven social media campaign through their Facebook page.

Rotorua-born Adams is easily New Zealand's most successful basketballer and he is at least in the discussion whenever we debate who our top current athletes are. Having the Tall Blacks play in Rotorua is great for the city - it is a rare opportunity to see stars such as Tom Abercrombie, Alex Pledger and Corey Webster in the flesh. To have Adams there would be the cherry on top.

I've been asked a few times this week if I think he will show up and I'm a little bit torn. On one hand, from watching his interviews and hearing his teammates talk about him, he seems like the kind of guy who would like to come home and inspire the next generation.

On the other hand, the NBA season is intense and the off-season is short. Adams played 76 regular season games, averaging 32.7 minutes a game, in 2017/18. I wouldn't blame him if he just wanted to escape and relax between seasons.

As a massive NBA fan myself, I'll be crossing my fingers that he does venture home.

Sideline experts

As a sports reporter, I spend a lot of time on sidelines at different sporting events and it always amazes me that the most vocal among the crowd are usually those who know the least about the game.

Don't get me wrong, the sideline support in this region is generally fantastic and positive - locals get behind their team and that is great to see. However, it irks me when "sideline experts" spend 80 minutes blasting the referee or the players when they don't actually know the rules themselves.

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Growing up, my dad would ask me "have you ever seen a referee change his decision because a player or supporter told him it was wrong?" To this day I haven't seen it happen, so why not just accept the decision and get on with it? Especially if you are on the sideline and the point you are trying to argue is wrong.

It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt.