Τετάρτη 15 Ιουνίου 2016

The gangster and the conduit

It is a typical example of the worthy and the mediocre. A Salieri and a Mozart. Nikolaos Georgalis or Nick Galis as his name was transformed in the USA, was the player who made Greece a winner team in basketball. At a time when no one could beat the Soviet Union or Yugoslavia, Spain and Italy could spent a lot of money on their teams and there was no Bosman ruling so one had to invest on ones native players and other countries gave their citizenship to average NBA players.
He was talented and not only did he take his training sessions with the team seriously, but he trained extra time with a personal trainer, to improve his physical abilities.
In 1987 the European Basketball Championship was held in Greece. Greece won consecutively Italy, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union in the knockout stage and won the gold medal. Galis scored 30.5 points average when he played for the national team of Greece. He was placed by another three players who were great, but of a level that had been reached by other Greek players as well; no one combined talent and diligence like Galis did. Those four played most of the time and there were others who would play some minutes with all their heart. Two years after in Yugoslavia Greece won silver, because the host was overpowering and Greece had played an exhausting semifinal against the Soviet Union.
With his team Aris he never made it to the final of a European Championship as his team would lose in the semifinals.
From that moment every kid played basketball, schoolyards were full of hoops. Every tall man saw his future in becoming a profesional player. They were also more professional, because they saw it paid off.
George Basilakopoulos was already 48 years old when the first gold medal was won. A very mediocre player, no one would remember him, if he wasn't member of the Greek and the European basketball federations afterwards. He was nicknamed the Conduit, because of his stature. He became a member of the Hellenic Basketball Federation when it was founded, went into politics, was picked up by the worst populist ever in Greek history.
This politician was the biggest accident in modern Greek history. He gained power in the most favourable year for populists. He gain power in 1981, the year Greece became a member of the European Economic Community. Greece became a lot of money for economic growth and they were spread very unproductively, to say the least. That populist needed loyal people to rely on, so he had to find people who depended on him and not on their knowledge and virtues. One politician called Katsifaras had said that if it weren't for Andreas Papandreou, they wouldn't be known to their own janitor.
One of these people was Mr. Basilakopoulos, as he became positions such as Secretary-General of Sports and network himself further.
However it was not enough for Mr. Basilakopoulos that he earned a lot of money without being competent in something, he was also ambitious. He wanted to be the man who made Greece a basketball power. So the man who really achieved this had to be put aside.
Galis is downplayed to the same level as Panagiotis Giannakis, also a club teammate. Giannakis is taller, emphasises his training on strength, so he is a good defender and a three point shooter. The media, part of the political system as the owners do business with the state, always emphasised on his passionate way of playing. Georgios Basilakopoulos was the first coach of Panagiotis Giannakis, he knows him since his adolescence.
George Basilakopoulos always stressed, that Galis was important, but not the only one, there were others as well. Even the childish nicknames of the player chosen by the media were carefully chosen. There were the four musketers, so they were all one level and the childish nicknames, maybe first appeared, when Greek commentators jabbered, but were picked up, because they suited the cause. The gangster, the dragon, the baby(face) and the spider. Galis was the gangster, a nickname that implications of being a mercenary and coldblooded.
20 years ago, a deputy minister of Sports had the idea to name the Central Stadium of Athens after Galis and Basilakopoulos blocked the decision as they were both members of the ruling party. He justified his opposition under the pretext that people shouldn't be honoured such a honour while they are still alive. However he had no problem when the authorities of his home town named the local stadium after him, while he is still alive.
Now the idea has come up again. No one had a problem, but him. It was written in the internet, that he didn't express his discontent very elegantly. He urged his deputies in the Federation to phone the people in the Ministry to block the decision. He then remembered that a Hall in Thessaloniki was named after Nick Galis. Not a whole stadium, just the main hall. It has been proved that his morals are just a pretext, because he doesn't apply those to himself.
He has an ally to this issue. A basketball club named Panathinaikos. Basilakopoulos was a player of that team. The club where Galis played his last two seasons and was out to play a third. This club was and is still owned by a family of pharmacists, who sold their goods to the state and not very cheaply. The year his teammate from Aris Thessaloniki Panagiotis Giannakis came to Panathinaikos as well, he was told that he would play for short periods only, although the last season he played splendidly. There and then he stopped playing basketball.
The family ruling Panathinaikos BC said that if they want to call a stadium after Galis, than they should name the stadium of Peiraius where the European Championship of 1987 took place. Or naming a hall after Galis should be enough, now other people should have stadiums named after them. Panathinaikos BC plays at the stadium, which is to be named after Galis.
Panathinaikos with his ex-athlete Basilakopoulos try to present a player called Dimitris Diamantidis as equal to Galis, when not better. This shows how sure they feel themselves in manipulating the public opinion. Diamantidis is a type of player like Giannakis not Galis. He was always placed by high class players, he played at a time when Greek teams were respected, and as player of Panathinaikos he had the full support of the media.
Later another member of the clique uttered his disagreement with the nomination. It was the head coach of the 1987 triumph and then head coach of Panathinaikos, who humbled Galis and urged him to withdraw in disgrace, Kostas Politis. He said that basketball is a team sport and the deputy minister should learn that there is not only the player that scores, but the others as well who do various things.  Well he must mean the other players, because all athletes have trainers and support. By the way this head coach is also an ex-player of Panathinaikos. He won some trophies before basketball became popular and after winning the European Championship, he didn't do anything spectacular, even with good players. He is not remembered for any special tactics, except the 'laissez-faire' one. There has never been a Politis-team like the hated Malkovic-team or the adored Obradovic teams by Panathinaikos fans.
Politis probably thinks it wrong when people like Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Zidane are honoured, because they as well had teammates.
All these because some people can not take the fact that they don't have any special talents. One cannot do anything about these things, but one can always try to leave with decency.

Source in Greek