Steve Nash Retires – Leaving His Fingerprints All Over Today’s NBA Game

The Canadian Connection: Captain Canada

Though many Canadians followed him in Dallas and Phoenix the love affair with Captain Canada goes back to the Australian Olympics. He captained the National Team to an upsets over the host country and a huge victory over Yugoslavia (who were expected to met USA in the finals) finishing 4-1 and  first in Group B of the Round Robin, however they suffered a devastating loss to France who went on to the Gold medal match by virtue of the win. Nash was visibly torn up and left the court in tears. His response was so genuine and the fact he had personally kept Canada in most of the games but felt responsible for the loss, truly is indicative of him as a person and as a leader.

In retirement, he will continue to give back to his home land as he was announced as the General Manager of Canada’s National Team. When you talk to a lot of the kids currently earmarked to be on that squad (Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph, Tyler Ennis, Kelly Olynyk, Robert Sacre, Andre Nicholson) many of them site Vince Carter and the Raptors Franchise (which is in it’s 20th season) as their favorite player/team growing up  and how it got them interested in basketball. Yet, many of them will also point to Steve Nash and his two MVP trophies as a point in time that made them realize their NBA dreams could become reality.

Next: The final bow