Nate Robinson Speaks On Love Of Hoops, Will Ferrell

Manny Faces

If you are like me, you wait outside until late Tuesday night to grab your Seattle Weekly hot off the press. In case you didn’t see it last week, the Seattle Weekly had an excellent story on Nate Robinson’s rise to power in New York.

Not much has changed with Nate since he left UW for New York. He still plays with the same childlike joy and recklessness that he has always played with.

“I feel like every time I play basketball I’m just floating. Different guys, they let the fun get away. It’s like Peter Pan—if you lose the fun, you can’t fly. I will never lose my joy, so I will always be able to fly.”

Come to think of it, I think Nate Rob was one of the Lost Boys.

The article also discusses Nate’s love of Will Ferrell, especially the movie Talledega Nights, of which Robinson says:

“Ricky Bobby really put me over the edge. Every time I saw him, all I could think about is every character that he’s been. I know almost every line like I rehearsed the movie with him.”

Nate also has appropriated Ricky Bobby’s “Shake and Bake” as his own catch phrase.  Nate also talks about his infamous shake and bake fist bump with Will Ferrell during a game (video below), calling it his “ultimate highlight since he’s been in the NBA”.

The problem with Nate playing out in New York is that Seattle folks don’t get enough chances to see him play.  I credit him with making Husky Hoops entertaining again.  Even before the 2003-2004 team clicked together and went to the NCAA tournament, it was worth the price of admission to go see Nate play.  It is possible that the added excitement he brought to Hec-Ed made the other players step their games up as well.  The article really sums up the appeal of Nate Robinson in this quote by Romar:

“I don’t think he’s being hyped up as the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. He’s being hyped because on the court, you find yourself not wanting to take your eyes off him. You can be captivated by his every move. And as long as he plays basketball, he’s going to be that way.”