Fernando Who? The Story TNT Missed at the Slam Dunk Competition

In last weekend's NBA Slam Dunk competition, Portland Trail Blazer representative Rudy Fernandez readied himself for his first attempt. Suddenly, he lifted off his own red jersey to reveal a retro black jersey with the number "10" and the name "Martin" emblazoned across the back.

Most of us missed it at first, thinking it was possibly a tribute to former Trail Blazer LaRue Martin.

However, every Spanish fan watching the competition immediately recognized the connection.

TNT must have had prior knowledge of the stunt, since they quickly got up a graphic explaining that Fernandez was paying tribute to his countryman, Fernando Martin (pronounced Mar-teen), the first Spaniard to break into the NBA—ironically with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1986.

Fernandez went on to execute a difficult dunk flawlessly, on his first attempt. In Martin's jersey, it was a fitting compliment to the Spanish ground-breaker. However, the judges were harsh and gave relatively low marks for Rudy's effort. He is, after all, a rookie and somewhat of an afterthought in the competition itself. Chalk it up to politics as usual.

Fernandez failed to make the finals.

Given the marvel of modern technology and an army of Web-meisters back in the trailer, TNT dropped the ball. Instead of feeding the broadcast crew with a brief, running history of the man who was Spain's first basketball hero, we were treated with the condescending and elitist commentary of Kenny Smith and Reggie Miller.

Instead of a sparkling human interest story, we got a dull and classless diatribe.

Fernando Martin was Spain's best player as a teenager. In 1986, Portland acquired him as a free agent. Due to injuries and a wide disparity of styles in those days, Martin languished through a season of mediocrity.

He returned to Spain the following year to play with Real Madrid in the European League. He led his national team to a finals showdown against the USA in the 1984 Olympics.

On Dec. 3, 1989, he died tragically in an automobile accident.

Denver Nuggets coach George Karl was coaching the Real Madrid team at the time of Martin's death.

According to an interview with Karl, the team had to play a game immediately after the funeral. The shaken players had consumed too much wine at the pregame meal and performed miserably, falling into a 19-point hole in the third quarter. Chants began to arise from the crowd, "Fernando esta aqui! Fernando esta aqui!".

The team rallied amid the chanting crowd and quickly turned the deficit into a 19-point lead and Real Madrid coasted to victory.

Though most of us missed it on TNT's coverage, millions of fans watching on Spanish television were moved to tears as Fernandez threw down his dunk.

Indeed, "Fernando is here!"

links:
Fernando Martin   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhnJdyZ3o3Y
Rudy's dunks   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSOiJGQJO50