(pic credit: udn Sport)
Owowowowow...
The nose couldn't stop bleeding and he missed the game, due to the rule of NBA (the one nicknamed "article of Magic Johnson). Worst of all, the wound from the collision with Parker makes him look like a Rudolph the reindeer...ouch but cute still.
Why is this player renowned for and adored worldwide? What has he accomplished besides his successful career and powerful plays with his teammates?
The answer lies in his passion for life.
Steve Nash, the 5-time All star game player and back-to-back MVP of '05 and '06, inspires a lot of the people all these years. He became one of the most influential people in the world because of his professional career and personal image. In addition to his unselfish play during the games with his teammates (in Mavericks or Sun), Nash is also lauded for his modesty and benevolance. This charmer attributes every winning game to the effort of his teammates, contribute to better life for some of those in need of help (the children's hospital in his wife's homeland is an example), and keeps a low profile on his personal interest and life. As a matter of fact, he knows the art of speech and retains good habits of reading and appreciating art. In my point of view, I tend to attribute this openmindedness to his family education and sense of morale and ethics passed onto him from his parents, who insisted raising their children in a non-apartheid environment and immigrated to Canada.
From the shaggy hairdo to a clean cut with sweat dripping down his forhead, his cheeks, he is never the good-looking guy but the personal charm nevertheless kills. He's always there to give a hand to those fell on the courtfloor; he's also the one that's ready to pass the ball and assist his teammate to make the shot; and not to mention that he's the one that broke the record in All-Star game '05 (and still retains the record) with 25.8 seconds in the Skills Challenge.
He loves the play just as he loves his life. And that is how I look up to him as an influential figure, other than another nominee of the MVP '07.