  NBA's San Antonio Spurs Have French Connection By Sam Walker, Wall Street Journal If there's one place a Frenchman might want to keep a low profile, it's here in San Antonio. This is the heart of Bush country, after all, a cowboy town surrounded by military bases and anchored by the Alamo, which isn't exactly a monument to peaceful disarmament. Nevertheless, one of the brightest lights in the National Basketball Association these days is point guard Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs. For a kid of only 20, he's turning heads with the kind of telepathic court presence that only comes along once in a blue moon.
Or more appropriately, a lune bleue. He's a French citizen. As a rule, basketball arenas are lousy places to talk geopolitics, or anything else that might suck the bubbles out of a cold beer. But here at the SBC Center this week, opinions about war in Iraq and, more to the point, the French opposition, were not difficult to come by. "Sit down and start taking notes," says Johnny Pace, a Spurs fan in a white Stetson who is no friend of Jacques Chirac. To summarize: He thinks we should chop down the Statue of Liberty and ship it back to France on a garbage barge. But when the subject turns to Mr. Parker, who is possibly the only guy in the building with a French passport, all of that outrage melts like a Popsicle in Pecos. "You can't judge a man by his country. " The Fries Are Still French Before the game Tuesday night, the scene was anything but neutral. Fans, waiting to be wanded, stood patiently in long lines all over the plaza. American flags flapped above pickup trucks and a loudspeaker blasted a jingoistic new country ballad. Inside, however, it might as well have been Bastille Day: French fries at the concession stands were still thusly named.
Tony Parker jerseys hung from the racks. Lovestruck teenage girls carried "Oui Love U Tony" signs. And during player introductions, the pride of Paris got the loudest ovation of all. To be honest, Tony Parker is not as French as they come. He's actually part American: His father was a college player turned journeyman European pro. But even though he was born in Belgium to a Dutch mother, Tony spent most of his childhood in Paris where by 15, he was scooped into the French national hoops program.
Two years ago, after flirting with the idea of college ball in the U.S., he entered the NBA draft. On the court, he plays like a Chihuahua on Ritalin. Quick to the point of blurriness, he is constantly driving and dishing and streaking through traffic. He scored 21 points in a loss to the New York Knicks this week and has boosted his numbers across the board from last season, when he was named to the NBA's All-Rookie team.
"Sometimes we forget he's just a kid," says teammate Danny Ferry. For years, Europe has been considered a fine place to scout for big men, but hardly a breeding ground for great ballhandlers. Point guards, the thinking goes, should come from the muscular playgrounds of New York and Oakland -- places where kids graduate from the school of jukes, tattoos and elbows. But all that is starting to change. Turns out players in the French system actually practice more often and are still expected to listen to their coaches.
So unlike most American prodigies, Mr. Parker came to the NBA with excellent fundamentals and a strong team ethic. Not to mention oodles of charisma and a little basketball savoir-faire that makes everything he does on the court seem effortless and stylish. Focusing on Wins Don't get me wrong, though. The kid knows the NBA game. Forget that he might be the fastest player in the league, he's also an aggressive slasher and a creative passer who's clearly cocky enough to take control on the floor. In short, he's part John Wayne and part Maurice Chevalier -- an allegory, perhaps, of what happens when French and American cultures collide. Or better yet, collaborate. Given the war, the Spurs are understandably skittish about the whole French connection, especially with the team (49-17) steaming toward the playoffs. Players say they have not broached the subject of the war in any meetings and have no plans to do so.
"We're winning right now," says backup guard Steve Smith. "Nobody wants to ruffle any feathers. " For his part, Mr. Parker has very little to say about Iraq or France or the feud between his two nations. "I'm sorry, but I don't really talk about it much," he says. That's just fine by fans like Ray Van Beveren, an Air Force vet whose son is an Army lieutenant awaiting orders. He doesn't hold Mr. Parker accountable for the actions of the French government, he says, but that would change in a hurry if the point guard "started sounding like the Dixie Chicks.
" For now, though, Tony is just another member of the Spurs and a beloved one at that. Cindy Perkins is just as peeved as anybody at the French, but that didn't stop her from spending $30 that night on a Tony Parker jersey. She bought it, she explains, to focus on the positive contributions the French have made to the world. And right now, she says, "Tony is about the only good thing coming out of France.
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