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Dražen Petrović

Dražen Petrović (22 October 1964 – 7 June 1993) was a Yugoslav and Croatian professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he initially achieved success playing professional basketball in Europe in the 1980s with Cibona and Real Madrid before joining the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1989.

A star on multiple international basketball stages, Petrović earned two silver medals (1988, 1992) and one bronze (1984) at the Summer Olympic Games, a gold (1990) and a bronze (1986) at the FIBA World Cup, and a gold (1989) and a bronze (1987) at the FIBA EuroBasket. He was the FIBA World Championship MVP in 1986 and the FIBA EuroBasket MVP in 1989. With Cibona Zagreb, Petrović also won two consecutive EuroLeague championships in 1985 and 1986. He first represented Yugoslavia's senior national team and later Croatia's senior national team. He earned four Euroscars and was named Mr. Europa twice. In 1985, he received the Golden Badge award for the best athlete of Yugoslavia.

Seeking a bigger arena after his career started in Europe, Petrović joined the NBA in 1989, as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers. After playing mostly off the bench that year, Petrović experienced a breakthrough following a trade to the New Jersey Nets. While starting for the Nets, he became one of the league's best shooting guards. He was named one of FIBA's 50 Greatest Players in 1991. On 7 June 1993, Petrović's career and life were cut short after he died in a car accident at the age of 28.

In 1993, Petrović's jersey number 3 was retired by the Nets, and the Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall was named after him in his honor. He also received the Olympic Order in 1993. In 2002, he was posthumously enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 2006, the Dražen Petrović Award was created in his honor. In 2007, he was posthumously inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame. He was named one of the 50 Greatest EuroLeague Contributors in 2008. In 2013, he was voted the best European Basketball player in history, by players at the 2013 FIBA EuroBasket.

Petrović is considered a crucial part of the vanguard to the present-day mass influx of European players into the NBA, and to this day he is viewed as a national hero in Croatia.

Early years
Born in Šibenik, Yugoslavia (present-day Croatia), Dražen Petrović was the second child of Jovan "Jole" Petrović, a police officer, and Biserka (Mikulandra), a librarian. His father was born in a Serb family in Zagora, near Trebinje in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His mother was born in Bilice, near Šibenik, and was from a traditional conservative Croat family, devoutly Roman Catholic. The couple's eldest child, Aleksandar, was the first to play basketball and rose to become one of the top point guards in former Yugoslavia. The Petrović brothers are second cousins to the Serbian basketball player Dejan Bodiroga.

Šibenka (1979–1983)
At the age of 13, Petrović started playing in the youth selections of the local club Šibenka; at the age of 15, he had already made the club's first team, just as Šibenka had earned a place in the Yugoslav national first division. With young Petrović as the star of the team, Šibenka reached the final of the third level Pan-European club competition, the FIBA Korać Cup twice (1981–82 and 1982–83), where they lost to the French League club Limoges CSP both times. In 1983, the 18-year-old Petrović hit two free throws in Šibenka's victory over Bosna Sarajevo in the final playoff game of the Yugoslavian League's 1982–83 season's club championship. However, on the day after the club won the championship, the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia stripped the title from Šibenka, because of irregularities in refereeing. The league's championship was then awarded to Bosna, after Šibenka refused to play in a rematch.

Petrović increased his scoring numbers in each successive season that he played with Šibenka. In the 1979–80 Yugoslav FFL season, he scored 13 points in 16 games, for an average of 0.8 points per game. In the 1980–81 Yugoslav FFL season, he scored 39 points in 20 games, for an average of 2.0 points per game. In the 1981–82 Yugoslav FFL season, he scored 392 points in 24 games, for an average of 16.3 points per game. In the 1982–83 Yugoslav FFL season, he scored 758 points in 31 games, for an average of 24.5 points per game. In total, he scored 1,202 points in 91 games played with Šibenka in the Yugoslav first division, for a scoring average of 13.2 points per game.

1984–85 season
After a year's mandatory service in the Yugoslav military, Petrović joined his older brother Aco and moved to Cibona Zagreb, to form what was at that time, the best back court duo in Europe. In his first season in Cibona, Petrović won both the national Yugoslav League championship and the Yugoslav National Cup title. In national domestic league play, in the 1984–85 Yugoslav FFL season, Petrović scored a total of 878 points in 27 games played, for a scoring average of 32.5 points per game.

On 6 December 1984, in the 1984–85 season of Europe's top-level club competition, the FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague), Petrović scored 44 points in a game against the Spanish League club Real Madrid. He scored 29 of the 44 points in the second half of the game. Petrović also scored 36 points in the league's 1985 Final against Real Madrid. Cibona won the game, by a score of 87–78, and the win brought the club their first top-tier level European Champions Cup title. That season, in Europe's top-level club competition, which eventually became known as the EuroLeague, Petrović scored a total of 463 points in 15 games played, for a scoring average of 30.9 points per game.

1985–86 season
On 5 October 1985, in a Yugoslav First Federal League game against Union Olimpija Ljubljana, Petrović scored 112 points, in Cibona's 158–77 blowout win. He scored 67 of the 112 points in the first half of the game. During the game, Petrović shot 40/60 from the field, 10/20 from 3-point range, and 22/22 from the free-throw line. The 112 points scored was the most points ever scored in a single game in the history of the Yugoslav First Federal League. It broke the league's previous single-game scoring record of 74 points, which was set in 1962, by Radivoj Korać. Korać achieved that record while playing with OKK Beograd, in a game against Mladost Zagreb.

Olimpija Ljubljana had failed to fulfill their player registration administrative obligations in time for the game. Olimpija general manager Radovan Lorbek was reportedly late with submitting a registration letter to the Basketball Federation of Yugoslavia (KSJ) headquarters in Belgrade. That rendered their entire men's first team roster ineligible for the Yugoslav First Federal League's regular season opening game, and forced them to instead field players for the game from their youth systems. Olimpija didn't have an under-18 youth squad that season so the club went to Zagreb to play the game with younger players. in the under-16 and under-17 age groups, which included: Igor Đurović, Matjaž Strmole, Jože Maček, Dag Kralj, Tine Erjavec, Jure Zorčič, Gregor Stražiščar, Andrej Novina, and Tine Merzelj.

Cibona, for their part, decided to use a mixed roster for the game, consisting of players from their youth system, plus their senior men's team's twenty-one-year-old Dražen Petrović, who broke Korać's single-game Yugoslav League scoring record of 74 points. Petrović scored 112 points in the game; before the game, he had reportedly announced his intention to leave the game once he had surpassed Korać's 74 points record. Petrović was one of only five Cibona players to score that day.

From November 1985, Petrović began partnering in the backcourt with another high-scoring player, newly arrived shooting guard Danko Cvjetićanin, brought in as replacement for Aco Petrović who was away serving his mandatory Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) stint.

Overall, over the 1985–86 Yugoslav League regular season and playoffs, Petrović scored a total of 1,241 points in 30 games played, for a scoring average of 41.4 points per game. That season, Petrović also won another Yugoslav National Cup title with Cibona. On 7 February 1986, Petrović scored 55 points in a Yugoslav Cup game against Union Olimpija Ljubljana. He also scored 46 points in the 1986 Yugoslav Cup's Final against Cibona's old rivals Bosna Sarajevo.

On 4 December 1985, in a 1985–86 season FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) game against the Israeli Super League club Maccabi Tel Aviv, Petrović scored 44 points. In the same European Champions Cup season, on 11 December 1985, he had 47 points and 25 assists in a game against the then reigning Italian League champions Simac Milano. In another European Champions Cup game that season, on 16 January 1986, Petrović scored 49 points, and had 20 assists against the Spanish League club Real Madrid. On 22 January 1986, in a European Champions Cup game against the French League club Limoges, Petrović made ten 3-pointers, including seven in a row during a first-half stretch, for a final tally of 51 points and 10 assists in the game. The 51 points scored was also his personal career-high scored in a single EuroLeague game.

Petrović won his second straight FIBA European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) title with Cibona, as he scored 22 points in the league's 1986 Final, in which Cibona defeated the USSR Premier League club Žalgiris Kaunas, which starred the legendary Arvydas Sabonis. In the 1985–86 European Champions Cup (EuroLeague) season, Petrović scored a total of 555 points in 15 games played, for a scoring average of 37.0 points per game.

The season ended with Cibona losing the Yugoslav league playoff final series to KK Zadar. Following an opening game win, Petrović controversially sat out game 2 away in Zadar, ostensibly due to a pre-game warm-up injury, leading to accusations of tanking out of desire to win the title on home court in front of their own fans. Cibona lost game 2 thus setting up the deciding game 3 at home in Zagreb at the sold out Dom sportova. However, in one of the biggest upsets in Yugoslav League history, despite having a double-digit lead in the second half, Cibona ended up losing game 3 in double overtime with Petrović fouling out during first overtime with 39 points scored.

1986–87 season
In the 1986–87 Yugoslav FFL season, Petrović scored a total of 932 points in 25 games played, for a scoring average of 37.3 points per game. In that same season, Cibona competed in the European-wide secondary level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup competition. Petrović led Cibona to the championship, as he scored 28 points against the Italian League club Scavolini Pesaro, in the league's 1986–87 season Final. It was the third straight European-wide club championship for Petrović and Cibona.

In the 1986–87 FIBA European Cup Winners Cup season, Petrović scored a total of 270 points in 8 games played, for a scoring average of 33.8 points per game.

1987–88 season
With Cibona, Petrović again won the Yugoslav National Cup title in 1988. In the 1987–88 Yugoslav FFL season, Petrović scored a total of 860 points in 24 games played, for a scoring average of 35.8 points per game. In that same season, Cibona competed in Europe's third-level club competition, the FIBA Korać Cup. On 14 October 1987, Petrović scored 62 points in a 1987–88 FIBA Korać Cup season game against the Finnish League club KTP Kotka. Petrović led Cibona to the Finals of the Korać Cup, where they lost to the Spanish League club Real Madrid. During the Korać Cup season, Petrović scored a total of 401 points in 12 games played, for a scoring average of 33.4 points per game.

During his four seasons with Cibona, Petrović scored a total of 3,911 points, in 106 games played in the national Yugoslav First Federal League, for a scoring average of 36.9 points per game. With Cibona, he also scored a total of 559 points, in 20 games played, for a scoring average of 28.0 points per game, in the Yugoslav Cup competition. In the three Pan-European club competitions that he played in with Cibona, he scored a total of 1,689 points in 50 games played, for a scoring average of 33.8 points per game.

With both Šibenka and Cibona, Petrović's career scoring numbers in the Yugoslav First Federal League were 5,113 points scored, in 197 games played, for a career scoring average of 26.0 points per game. In the top-level European-wide club competition, the FIBA European Champions Cup, which is now known as the EuroLeague, Petrović scored a career total of 1,018 points in 30 games played, for a career scoring average of 33.9 points per game.

Real Madrid (1988–1989)
After his string of very successful seasons with Cibona Zagreb, Petrović needed new challenges that Cibona and the Yugoslav First Federal League could no longer offer him. The NBA's Portland Trail Blazers had already used their third-round draft pick on the young Petrović, in the 1986 NBA draft, but he had decided to postpone his departure to the United States. In 1988, rather than go to the NBA, he instead signed with the Spanish League club Real Madrid, for around US$4 million in net income.

At that time, Yugoslav sporting laws stipulated that players could not professionally move abroad until they had reached the age of 28. Petrović was still only 23 when he signed with Real Madrid. In 2014, José Antonio Arízaga, the sports agent who played a key role in Petrović's 1988 summer transfer from Cibona to Real, recalled a few details from the transaction: "I spoke to Mirko Novosel, Dražen's head coach at Cibona, and he told me two things. One, every problem in Yugoslavia can be taken care of with the right amount of money, and two, if Dražen leaves, every other player under 28 will be leaving and it'll be chaos. So, you can imagine all the individuals I had to bribe and all the places where I had to pay up, in order to circumvent this law".

1988–89 season
Petrović helped Real to win the title of the 1989 edition of the Spanish King's Cup, over their Catalan rivals, Barcelona. In the Spanish ACB League's Finals, Real Madrid narrowly lost to Barcelona, in the fifth and decisive game of the series. In the Spanish League's 1988–89 ACB season, Petrović was the league's regular season top scorer. Including the playoffs, he scored a total of 1,327 points, in 47 games played, for a scoring average of 28.2 points per game. Petrović's first season in Spain's ACB was also his last, but he still holds the ACB's single-game Finals records for the most points scored, with 42, and for the most three-pointers made, with 8.

In European-wide club competition, Real Madrid competed in the European secondary level FIBA European Cup Winners' Cup. On 14 March 1989, in the 1988–89 Cup Winners' Cup Final against the Italian League club Snaidero Caserta, Petrović tied his previous best scoring performance in a European-wide club competition with 62 points.

Petrović was pressured to join the NBA, by the Trail Blazers, who had drafted him 60th overall in 1986. Being motivated by the potential new challenges that the NBA presented, Petrović finally decided to try to establish himself in the league. He left Spain rather abruptly, at the end of the season; the Blazers assisted him in the process, by buying out his contract with Real Madrid, for as much as US$1.5 million. Petrović finally joined the Blazers for the 1989–90 season.

Portland Trail Blazers (1989–1991)
The Blazers valued Petrović as a shooter, but were concerned that he might not possess the quickness to play guard or the foot speed to play defense. They brought him onto the team primarily as an outside threat to shoot three-pointers. In the Blazers' offensive scheme he was to set up behind the line, receive a passed ball and go directly up to release his shot. Petrović was an aggressive, attacking player who was used to creating his shot and shots for his teammates. Taking the ball out of his hands and making him a static shooter was foreign to him. Making matters worse, the Blazers already had a full rotation of guards, with a starting backcourt of Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter, and with veteran Danny Young as a reserve. Consequently, the reigning La Gazzetta dello Sport Euroscar European Player of the Year saw limited playing time. He had difficulty being productive in the limited role the Blazers had for him. In his rookie year during the 1989–90 NBA season, he averaged 7.4 points in 12 minutes per game.

The following season, veteran guard Danny Ainge was added to the team, and Petrović's playing time dropped further to 7 minutes a game. In many statements made prior to arriving in Portland, Petrović had said he saw a lack of playing time as the only possible obstacle to his success in the NBA. He was determined to be a success in basketball's highest arena. His lack of playing time during his second season in the league brought Petrović's frustration to a climax: "I have nothing to say to Adelman any more and vice versa. Eighteen months have passed by, too long. I have to leave to prove how much I am worth. Never in my life did I sit on the bench and I don't intend to do that in Portland."

At his insistence, 38 games into the season (20 of which held no playing time for Petrović), a three-way trade with the Denver Nuggets sent him to the New Jersey Nets in exchange for a first-round pick in the following draft and Walter Davis, who was sent from Denver to Portland.

New Jersey Nets (1991–1993)
On 23 January 1991, Petrović became a member of the New Jersey Nets. He joined a team that had not reached the playoffs since 1986, but had rookie Derrick Coleman, the number one selection from the 1990 draft. He was immediately given a role on the floor, with 20.5 minutes per game. His scoring over the remaining 43 games increased to 12.6 points per game, one of the league's best points-per-minute ratios. The following year, he and Coleman were joined by Kenny Anderson, giving the team a third talented new addition, and forming was expected to grow into a "big three". Petrović was made a starter for the 1991–92 season, his first full season with the Nets. "Petro", as the Americans had dubbed him, did not miss a single game. On 13 March 1992, Petrović scored 39 points while shooting 65% from the field, and 100% (3 of 3) from 3 point range, in a 110–108 win against the Boston Celtics. His determination, hard work and aggressive on-court demeanor established him as a team leader. In 36.9 minutes on the floor he averaged 20.6 points. Petrović led the Nets in field-goal shooting and free-throw shooting, and his field goal percentage of 51% placed him near the top of all NBA guards. More importantly, his success translated into success for the team. The Nets made the playoffs, recording 14 more wins than the previous year. On 23 April 1992, in Game 1 of their first round matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Petrović scored a playoff career-high 40 points. The Nets would eventually lose the best of 5 series 3 games to 1. The following season saw Petrović increase his scoring average to 22.3 ppg, 11th best in the league.

On 6 December 1992, he was named MVP of the Week. On 4 February 1993, Petrović played a career-high 53 minutes and scored 35 points in an overtime win against the Seattle SuperSonics. For the second season in a row he shot 45% from the three-point arc. His field goal percentage of 52% was again near the top for all guards. American media honored him with a selection to the All-NBA Third Team. However, he did not receive an invitation to the 1993 All-Star game.

In an interview on the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Petrović's Nets teammate, Chucky Brown marveled at Petrović's healing ability. Brown told Brandon Scoop B Robinson that he remembered Petrović spraining his knee and was slated to miss two months. Petrović rehabbed so hard that he ended up only missing two weeks.

EuroLeague

 * style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1984–85†
 * style="text-align:left;"|Cibona Zagreb
 * 15 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || 30.9 || —
 * style="text-align:left;background:#afe6ba;"|1985–86†
 * style="text-align:left;"|Cibona Zagreb
 * 15 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || 37.0 || —
 * - class="sortbottom"
 * style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
 * 30 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || —
 * style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career
 * 30 || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || —

Yugoslavia
Petrović's national team debut came at the age of 15, at the Under-18 Balkan Championship in Turkey, where the Yugoslavia junior team won the bronze. The young man regularly played for the Yugoslavia national team in the Balkan Championships, also winning gold with the junior team and silver with the senior team. He also brought back the silver from the 1982 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship in Bulgaria.

The 1984 Summer Olympics were Petrović's first competition of a grand scale with the Yugoslavia senior national team, and the bronze medal won in Los Angeles that summer became his first Olympic medal. Third place was also earned at the 1986 FIBA World Championship, remembered for the last minute thriller in the semi-final game against the Soviet Union. Petrović was named the MVP of the tournament. At the 1987 EuroBasket, Petrović again returned with bronze, as Yugoslavia lost to the hosts and gold medalists Greece. The University Games, held in Zagreb in 1987, saw the Yugoslavian squad with Petrović win the gold. In the 1988 Summer Olympics, Yugoslavia with Petrović, earned 2nd place, as they lost once more to the Soviet powerhouse.

An excellent club season with Real Madrid was topped by Petrović's 1989 accomplishment with the Yugoslavia national team: at the EuroBasket in Zagreb, the young Yugoslavian team went all the way, defeating Greece more than comfortably in the championship game. Petrović was the tournament's second leading scorer and Most Valuable Player. The very next year, the summer in between the two most frustrating seasons of his professional career, as he struggled for playing time with the Trail Blazers, Petrović was again making history with the national team, as Yugoslavia became world champions, after beating the Soviet Union for the gold in Buenos Aires, at the 1990 FIBA World Championship.

Overall, Petrović represented Yugoslavia's senior national team in 155 games, in which he scored a total of 3,258 points, for a career scoring average of 21.0 points per game.

Croatia
The 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, marked the first summer Olympics featuring the independent Croatia, and Petrović was the leader of the Croatian national basketball team at the Olympic basketball tournament. Losing only to the American Dream Team in the group stage, a strong and inspired Croatian team emerged victorious from the Semifinals against the revamped Soviet team, thanks to clutch free throws executed by Petrović, and faced off against the Americans for the gold. Urged on by Petrović's competitiveness and confidence, the Croatians fared well in the first ten minutes of the game, taking a 25–23 lead on a Franjo Arapović dunk and the subsequent made free throw. As the game progressed, however, the now-legendary team composed of NBA stars proved too tough for Croatia: the Americans won 117–85, sending Petrović, the game's leading scorer with 24 points, and his teammates, home with silver medals.

In the period during which Petrović played for the senior Croatian national team (1992–1993), he appeared in 40 games and scored a total of 1,002 points, for a career scoring average of 25.1 points per game. His highest single-game point tally came against Estonia, on 31 May 1993 (48 points). Counting the senior national team games that he played in with both Yugoslavia's and Croatia's national teams, Petrović scored a total of 4,260 points in 195 games played, for a career scoring average of 21.8 points per game.

Death and legacy
In the summer of 1993, after his best NBA season and the Nets' first-round elimination by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Petrović traveled to Wrocław, where the Croatian national team was playing a qualification tournament for the 1993 EuroBasket. He was contemplating departure from the Nets, disappointed with the fact that the Nets had not yet extended his contract. He told American reporters that the lack of recognition in the league made him also consider leaving the NBA completely and playing club basketball in Greece. There were at least two Greek clubs ready to offer Petrović three-year contracts worth US$7.5 million net. Petrović decided to skip the connection flight back to Zagreb from Frankfurt and instead drive to Zagreb with a woman he was romantically involved with at the time. He had met her only a few weeks prior after a game at the Meadowlands Arena.

Petrović died in a traffic accident at about 5:20 p.m. on 7 June 1993. On the rain-drenched Autobahn 9, he was a passenger in a car that was cut off by a semi-truck at Denkendorf near Ingolstadt in the German state of Bavaria. According to the report of the Ingolstadt police, that afternoon a truck broke through the Autobahn median; the driver was trying to avoid a collision with a personal vehicle in his own lane and lost control of the truck, crashing through the median barrier and finally coming to a stop and blocking all three lanes of traffic going in the opposite direction. Seconds later, the Volkswagen Golf carrying a sleeping Petrović in the passenger seat crashed into the truck, and Petrović was ejected from the vehicle. According to the autopsy report, Petrović died of severe head injuries on impact. The driver, Klara Szalantzy, a Hungarian model and basketball player with whom Petrović was romantically involved, and Hilal Edebal, a female Turkish basketball player, sustained serious injuries. It was established that visibility on the road was very poor and neither Petrović nor Edebal wore their seatbelts. According to Edebal, who incurred severe memory loss as a result of the accident and would never play basketball again, Szalantzy was driving 180 kph, which was legal on the Autobahn. Szalantzy would return to modeling and basketball not long after.

Petrović's tomb 45.83947°N, 15.98328°W at Mirogoj Cemetery instantly became a sanctuary for his compatriots. The Cibona stadium was renamed the Dražen Petrović Basketball Hall on 4 October 1993, and the city of Zagreb dedicated a square in his name, which was later followed by Šibenik and Vukovar, while Petrinja dedicated a street to him. Before Game 1 of the 1993 NBA Finals, the NBA held a moment of silence for Petrović, whose death occurred two days before the event began. The Nets retired his number 3 jersey on 11 November 1993. After 1994, the MVP award at the McDonald's Championship bore the name Dražen Petrović Trophy, and the Croatian Olympic Committee's award for young athletes was named for him in 2006. On 29 April 1995, a statue commemorating Petrović's significance to the world of sports was erected in front of the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, thus making him only the second athlete to receive this honor. On 9 July 2001, having defeated Patrick Rafter to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon, Croatian tennis player Goran Ivanišević dedicated the win to Petrović; Ivanišević wore Petrović's Nets jersey amidst the 100,000 strong crowd celebrating his victory in Split. Petrović was inducted posthumously into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2006, the 13th anniversary of Petrović's death was marked with the opening of the Dražen Petrović Memorial Center in Zagreb, dedicated to his life and achievements, with ten themed galleries of multimedia content outlining his entire career and a 4 m statue of Dražen in shooting position in front of it. Petrović was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2007.

The 2010 documentary, Once Brothers (part of the ESPN 30 for 30 series), portrays the achievements of the Yugoslavia national basketball team in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and how the Yugoslav Wars tore the team apart. It explores Petrović's broken friendship with Serbian/Yugoslav player Vlade Divac. In 2011, a statue of him as a little boy sitting on a bench with a ball was unveiled in Šibenik, and his old room was renovated the way it looked when he was young, as a first part of opening a Memorial Center in his hometown. During the 2012 Three Point Shootout, New Jersey Nets guard Anthony Morrow wore Petrović's jersey in the latter's honor. In 2015, Australian writer Todd Spehr released a 470-page biography on Petrović, titled Dražen: The Remarkable Life & Legacy of the Mozart of Basketball. At the urging of the Petrovic family, Spehr's book was released in the Croatian language in 2016 at the Petrovic Museum, and is considered the definitive work on his life. On 3 June 2015, Croatian basketball journalists Marjan Crnogaj and Vlado Radicevic released a 487-page biography, the global paperback edition of which was released on 14 October 2017.

Reactions
"It's hard for you to imagine here in America, because you have so many great players, but we are a country of four million; without him, basketball takes three steps back." "You know, there is a saying that we have about JFK, John F. Kennedy – 'You know, Johnny, we never got to know you.' And I kind of feel that way about Dražen. I felt that the whole year that I was with him went by too fast and I really never got to know him the way I would have liked to." "Dražen and I were very good friends. I was one of those people who welcomed him to Portland when he came from Europe. We talked about his family a lot in his restaurant, and he enjoyed his friends and he enjoyed the game of basketball. I really respect him because he worked very, very hard. Each and every day in practice he would be the first guy to come and the last guy to leave the gym. So anybody with that kind of dedication...you have to have a lot of respect for him." "Dražen Petrović was an extraordinary young man, and a true pioneer in the global sports of basketball. I know that a lasting part of his athletic legacy will be that he paved the way for other international players to compete successfully in the NBA. His contributions to the sport of basketball were enormous. We are all proud of the fact we knew him." "It was a thrill to play against Dražen. Every time we competed, he competed with an aggressive attitude. He wasn't nervous; he came at me as hard as I came at him. So we've had some great battles in the past and unfortunately, they were short battles."

Club competitions

 * European Champions Cup
 * Champion: 1985, 1986

 * European Cup Winners' Cup
 * Champion: 1987, 1989

 * Yugoslavian Championship
 * Champion: 1985

 * Yugoslavian Cup
 * Winner: 1985, 1986, 1988

 * Spanish Cup
 * Winner: 1989

 * NBA Finals
 * Runner-up: 1990

 * Korać Cup
 * Runner-up: 1982, 1983, 1988

 * Spanish Championship
 * Runner-up: 1989

 * Personal
 * Yugoslav First League: most points scored by an individual, in a league game (112).
 * Spanish ACB League: most points scored by an individual, in a final series game (42).
 * Spanish ACB League: most 3-point field goals made by an individual, in a final series game (8).
 * NBA: second highest 3-point field goal percentage (.444) in 1991–92.
 * NBA: fourth highest field goal percentage among guards (.508) in 1991–92.
 * NBA: second highest 3-point field goal percentage (.449) 1992–93.
 * NBA: second highest field goal percentage among guards (.518) 1992–93.
 * NBA: third best career 3-point field goal percentage (.437).

National teams

 * Summer Olympics
 * : 1988, 1992
 * : 1984

 * FIBA World Championship
 * : 1990
 * : 1986

 * FIBA EuroBasket
 * : 1989
 * : 1987

 * Summer Universiade
 * : 1987
 * : 1983

 * Balkan Championship for Junior Men
 * : 1982
 * : 1982

 * Balkan Championship for Cadets
 * : 1981

 * Balkan Championship
 * : 1984

 * FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship
 * : 1982

 * Personal
 * Balkan Championship for Junior Men Best Player: 1982
 * FIBA World Cup MVP: 1986
 * FIBA EuroBasket MVP: 1989

Dražen Petrović Memorial Center
A museum named "The Dražen Petrović Memorial Center" was founded in his honor, and constitutes a co-operative effort led by the Dražen Petrović Foundation in conjunction with the Croatian government, the city of Zagreb and the Croatian Museum of Sports. The memorial center idea originated from Petrović's parents, Biserka and Jole Petrovic, and was supported with the contributions of Croatian architects Andrija Rusan and Niksa Bilic. All of the articles presented in the center have been collected and categorized by the Croatian Museum of Sports. The organization and operations of the center have been provided by the Dražen Petrović Foundation, which is led by Petrović's family. The Center contains his No. 3 New Jersey Nets jersey and the watch that stopped when he died in a car crash. The center features 1,000 memorabilia items and a video of his basketball highlights.

The official opening of the museum was held on 7 June 2006, while the official opening of the center to the public began at the end of December 2006. The square on which the center is operated upon has been renamed to Dražen Petrović Square in his honor. In 2013, former NBA MVP Derrick Rose visited the museum.

title: Dražen Petrović


text:
Talk:Soap

Vegetable oils
The section on 15th-18th centuries refers to soap made from vegetable oils, such as olive oil. I believe olive oil is not vegetable, and that it would have been too expensive, if not impossible, to produce vegetable oils for commercial soap manufacture at that time. Shtove (talk) 07:50, 26 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Are you serious? Just plain Bill (talk) 12:44, 26 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I meant seed oil, which is difficult to extract - olive is a fruit oil. Shtove (talk) 22:09, 26 August 2021 (UTC)
 * Ah, OK. I imagine palm oil, almond oil, and sesame oil have been articles of commerce around the Mediterranean along with olive oil since antiquity or so. Anything in the article need fixing? Just plain Bill (talk) 00:06, 27 August 2021 (UTC)

Ancient Babylon?
What does the claim mean when it says that soap was recorded in ancient Babylon in 2800 BC? There was no mention of Babylon existing until maybe 2300 BC, although people were living in the area before that, what exactly is meant there is record of soap in 2800 BC in Babylon? Hzh (talk) 12:42, 10 September 2021 (UTC)

Lead
When 'soap' is searched, this wikipedia article comes up, but for some reason the lead says "When did I ask? Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are used as thickeners, components of some lubricants, and precursors to… Read more".

What's with the "When did I ask?" in there? Somebody who knows how to fix this should do so. Aythya affinis (talk) 21:42, 12 April 2022 (UTC)
 * When Google is used to search "soap wikipedia", no such question appears. Your browser may have retrieved the disambiguation page. Zefr (talk) 00:35, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * The search engine may be showing you an outdated version of the page, from before when it was fixed about four days ago. Just plain Bill (talk) 03:10, 13 April 2022 (UTC)
 * Strange. Using Ecosia, when "chemical definition of 'soap' " is searched, as of today, it still shows the vandalism in the lead. Aythya affinis (talk) 14:33, 13 April 2022 (UTC)

"Micele" caption is nice but could benefit from a little more detail.
The illustration of the micele is a nice picture and there is authority in the caption.

But it leaves unexplained what the orange filaments are, which seem to connect the little white spheres with an unseen center.

For that matter, it would be good to state explicitly what the white spheres are as well.

If this is what "soap subunits" are in the picture, then the words "(white spheres)" after the words "soap subunits" would accomplish this. (Plus, I hope, something about the mysterious orange filaments. And what is the center that they are attached to?) 2601:200:C000:1A0:9D6A:3426:156B:13FB (talk) 00:25, 17 June 2022 (UTC)

Centuries need to be corrected
The article refers to the 1500s as the 15th century and 1600s as 16th century rather than 16th and 17th century respectively 142.167.72.196 (talk) 23:23, 3 April 2023 (UTC)
 * I fixed as many of these as I could without access to the sources, as part of fixing general disorganization of the history section. Bryan Henderson (giraffedata) (talk) 20:13, 13 June 2024 (UTC)

"Grime" doesn't mean anything
it should be changed to something more specific or removed. 2404:4404:1704:7700:F93B:11DC:A2E8:EBE (talk) 12:43, 19 April 2023 (UTC)

The india first invented a soap
chakrapani discover mercury sulphide. The credit for inventing a soap also goes to him. Shreyaskhairnar (talk) 05:16, 25 September 2023 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 16 April 2024
anything being added: will be bolded Soapmakers in Naples were members of a guild in the late sixth century (then under the control of the Eastern Roman Empire),[24] and in the eighth century, soap-making was well known in Italy and Spain.[25] The Carolingian capitulary De Villis, dating to around 800, representing the royal will of Charlemagne, mentions soap as being one of the products the stewards of royal estates are to tally. Charlemagne had raised the soap under the laws contributed by himself in western and central Europe. The lands of Medieval Spain were a leading soapmaker by 800, and soapmaking began in the Kingdom of England about 1200.[26 Soapmaking is mentioned both as "women's work" and as the produce of "good workmen" alongside other necessities, such as the produce of carpenters, blacksmiths, metalsmiths, fisherman and bakers.[27]

In Europe, soap in the 9th century was produced from animal fats and had an unpleasant smell. This changed when olive oil began to be used in soap formulas instead due to the healthful benefits it provides for the body, after which much of Europe's soap production moved to the Mediterranean olive-growing regions. [28] Hard toilet soap was introduced to Europe by Arabs and gradually spread as a luxury item. It was often perfumed.[22][28] By the 15th century, the manufacture of soap in the Christendom had become virtually industrialized, with sources in Antwerp, Castile, Marseille, Naples and Venice. '''Soap had gradually moved to being made with lye, which was additionally used to bleach linen becoming the standard formula for centuries later. The lye was produced mixing water with the ash of plants (mainly wood). The mixture was left to stand and then had water poured out. Finally any excess water was evaporated out to concentrate the liquid then adding it to the oil/fat.

The soap uses were not always as expected. For quite some time, soap was mainly used to wash clothes, but only on certain occasions to wash bodies. Soft soap came in two versions, white for bodies and black for cloth. Softsoap was the main cause for these occurrences. The softsoap had little detergent powder. Generally made using mutton fat, wood ash or potash, and natural soda. Women also used a mixture of lye and fuller's earth or white clay. The softsoap had grown quite popular when issues had begun striking. The harshness of the soap left womens legs and hands blistered.

''' Osinger2 (talk) 17:53, 16 April 2024 (UTC)
 * Red information icon with gradient background.svg Not done: please provide reliable sources that support the change you want to be made. Shadow311 (talk) 18:40, 16 April 2024 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Soap


text:
Toboggan

A toboggan is a simple sled traditionally used by children. It is also a traditional form of transport used by the Innu and Cree of northern Canada. In modern times, it is used on snow to carry one or more people (often children) down a hill or other slope for recreation. Designs vary from simple, traditional models to modern engineered composites. A toboggan differs from most sleds or sleighs in that it has no runners or skis (or only low ones) on the underside. The bottom of a toboggan rides directly on the snow. Some parks include designated toboggan hills where ordinary sleds are not allowed and which may include toboggan runs similar to bobsleigh courses.

Toboggans can vary depending on the climate and geographical region. Such examples are Tangalooma (Australia) where toboggans are made from Masonite boards and used for travelling down steep sand dunes at speeds up to 40 km/h.

Design and use

Toboggan was originally an Algonquian term for a type of man-hauled cargo sledge made from bark, hardwood or whalebone, and deer or buffalo hide. Sledges of this type have been in use on the Great Plains and the Great Lakes since 3000 BCE. During the tribes' yearly migration to their winter campsites, these sledges were used to transport bulky personal possessions and small children before the introduction of the wheel. A smaller variant of the toboggan, used for recreational purposes, was known as a Tom Pung. As Europeans settled traditional Algonquian lands, the term was absorbed as an English loanword and applied to the low-profile wooden sledges made by the colonists. "The Mountaineer [Innu] method is the only one adapted for the interior parts of the country: their sleds are made of two thin boards of birch; each about six inches broad, a quarter of an inch thick, and six feet long: these are fastened parallel to each other by slight battens, sewed on with thongs of deer-skin; and the foremost end is curved up to rise over the inequalities of the snow. Each individual who is able to walk, is furnished with one of these; but those for the children are proportionately less. On them they stow all their goods, and also their infants; which they bundle up very warm in deer-skins. The two ends of a leather thong are tied to the corners of the sled; the bight or double part of which is placed against the breast, and in that manner it is drawn along. The men go first, relieving each other in the lead by turns; the women follow next, and the children, according to their strength, bring up the rear; and, as they all walk in rackets (snowshoes), the third or fourth person finds an excellent path to walk on, let the snow be ever so light."

The precursor to the modern American toboggan was the small, utilitarian sledge used by woodcutters in Russia, Scandinavia, and especially Germany, to transport logs when the snow made roads inaccessible. Sledge races were a popular winter sport in mountainous countries during the pre-Industrial Revolution era, and early German colonists in America improved upon the design of the traditional toboggan by giving it a lower, more streamlined profile to increase its speed.

The traditional American toboggan is made of bound, parallel wood slats, all bent up and backwards at the front to form a recumbent 'J' shape. A thin rope is run across the edge of end of the curved front to provide rudimentary steering. These usually lack the iron runners of the older woodcutter's sledges. The frontmost rider places their feet in the curved front space and sits on the flat bed; any others sit behind them and grasp the waist of the person before them.

Toboggans come in a variety of shapes. Modern recreational toboggans are typically manufactured from wood or plastic or aluminum. A small plastic sled on which a rider sits and raises their legs while sledding may be known as a bum slider. Larger, more rugged models are made for commercial or rescue use.

title: Toboggan


text:
Pendine

Pendine (Pentywyn, "end of the dunes") is a village and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. Situated on the northern shore of Carmarthen Bay and bordered by the communities of Eglwyscummin and Llanddowror, the population at the 2011 census was 346.

There are two parts of the village: the old hill-top settlement around the parish church; and the small harbour settlement on the shore. The latter developed into a small seaside resort during the 20th century. The seaside resort is best known for adjacent Pendine Sands.

Development
In 2016 Carmarthenshire County Council completed construction of a new building on the Pendine promenade. It was named the Parry Thomas Centre and contains five commercial premises and public toilets.

In 2019 construction began on the next stage of the Pendine Tourism Attractor Project, creating an eco activity resort, including a hostel with Passivhaus certification. The Museum of Speed was demolished in 2019 and will be replaced in the new development by the Sands of Speed Museum.

Demographics
Pendine community's population was 346, according to the 2011 census; a 1.4% decrease since the 351 people noted in 2001. The community, which covers an area of 409 ha, lies a few miles south of the linguistic boundary known as the Landsker line, and is predominantly English-speaking. The 2011 census showed 18.2% of the population could speak Welsh, a rise from 13.9% in 2001.

The beach

Malcolm Campbell and J. G. Parry-Thomas set the world land speed record five times between 1924 and 1927. Parry-Thomas was killed while making a final record-breaking attempt on Pendine Sands in 1927. For part of the summer the Pendine Museum of Speed has, Parry-Thomas' restored car Babs on display. Carmarthenshire Land Sailing Club is allowed to use the beach for wind-traction activities, including land sailing, kite buggying and kite landboarding.

Cars were banned from the beach between 2005 and 2010 but are now permitted. The BBC's Top Gear have thrice test-driven on the sands.

MOD Pendine
MOD Pendine is a military range operated by the defence technology company QinetiQ for weapons testing, evaluation and training. The range occupies 20.5 km2 with 9 km of shoreline and a sea danger area of 18 km2. The range includes three test tracks.

Part of the beach is classified as a land danger area and is sometimes cordoned off when the range is active.

title: Pendine


text:
User:Iota/Constitution Alteration (State Debts) Act 1909

The Constitution Alteration (State Debts) Act, 1909 amended the Constitution of Australia to allow the federal government to assume the debts of a state. The Act was approved by referendum on 1909 and enacted on 6 August 1910.

Changes to the text
Deletion from Section 105 (removed text in bold):

The Parliament may take over from the States their public debts as existing at the establishment of the Commonwealth, or a proportion thereof according to the respective numbers of their people as shown by the latest statistics of the Commonwealth, and may convert, renew, or consolidate such debts, or any part thereof; and the States shall indemnify the Commonwealth in respect of the debts taken over, and thereafter the interest payable in respect of the debts shall be deducted and retained from the portions of the surplus revenue of the Commonwealth payable to the several States, or if such surplus is insufficient, or if there is no surplus, then the deficiency or the whole amount shall be paid by the several States.

Related topics

 * Constitutional amendment


text:
Adam Penenberg

Adam L. Penenberg (born July 27, 1962) is an American journalist and educator, currently associate professor of journalism at New York University and director of undergraduate studies. He had previously served as editor of PandoDaily and written for Forbes, Fast Company, The New York Times, Wired News, and Playboy. While at Forbes, Penenberg gained national attention in 1998 for helping reveal The New Republic reporter Stephen Glass had been fabricating his stories.

Education
Penenberg received his B.A. in Economics from Reed College.

Stephen Glass scandal
In the summer of 1998, Penenberg, then a reporter with Forbes magazine's online arm, Forbes Digital Tool, came upon a story in The New Republic about a Silicon Valley firm which was hacked by a teenager, then hired the hacker as a security consultant. Amazed that The New Republic had somehow managed to scoop Forbes, Penenberg tried to verify it. Penenberg could not find any evidence that the company, Jukt Micronics, even existed. He also could not verify any of the events that Glass claimed resulted from the hacker's hiring, such as a radio spot from concerned Nevada state officials or several joint state efforts to combat hacking. After an internal investigation, The New Republic determined that Glass had fabricated the story and subsequently fired him.

Other activities
, Penenberg is an assistant professor of journalism at New York University. He is also a freelance writer for Fast Company, The New York Times, Forbes, Wired News, and Playboy.

He is the author of numerous books
 * Tragic Indifference: One Man's Battle With the Auto Industry Over the Dangers of SUVs (2003). About the biggest product liability case in history, the Ford and Firestone controversy, currently being made into a movie.
 * Spooked: Espionage In Corporate America (2008). Co-authored with Marc Barry.
 * Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today's Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves. (2009) This book explains how companies such as Netscape, eBay, PayPal, Skype, Hotmail, Facebook, and Twitter implemented viral loops to grow exponentially and achieve billion-dollar valuations in only a short amount of time. The book is divided into three sections including viral businesses, marketing, and networks.
 * Trial and Terror (2012) A thriller.
 * Play at Work: How Games Inspire Breakthrough Thinking (2013) Nonfiction.
 * Virtually True (2014) A thriller.
 * Sky Rivals: Two Men. Two Planes. An Epic Race Around the World (2016) Nonfiction

In popular culture
Penenberg was portrayed by Steve Zahn in the movie Shattered Glass.

title: Adam Penenberg


text:
Basketball court

In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with 3.048 m-high rims on each basket. Outdoor surfaces are generally made from standard paving materials such as concrete or asphalt. International competitions may use glass basketball courts.

Dimensions
Basketball courts come in many different sizes. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), the court is 94 by. Under International Basketball Federation (FIBA) rules, the court is slightly smaller, measuring 28 by. In amateur basketball, court sizes vary widely. Many older high school gyms were 84 ft or even 74 ft in length. The baskets are always 3.05 m above the floor (except possibly in youth competition).

Basketball courts have a three-point arc at both baskets. A basket made from behind this arc is worth three points; a basket made from within this line, or with a player's foot touching the line, is worth 2 points. The free-throw line, where one stands while taking a foul shot, is located within the three-point arc at 15 feet from the plane of the backboard. A foul shot is worth 1 point, but if a shot is made from the foul line while in play it is still worth 2 points.

Center circle
The only two players permitted to enter this area prior to the tipoff are the players contesting the jump ball (usually but not always centers). Both players jump when the referee throws the ball in the air, each attempting to tap the ball into the hands of a player of their own team.

Three-point line
The three-point line is the line that separates the two-point area from the three-point area; any shot made beyond this line counts as three points. If the shooting player steps on the line, it is counted as two points. Any foul made in the act of shooting beyond the three-point line would give the player three free throws if the shot does not go in, and one if it does.

The distance to the three-point line from the center of the basket varies depending on the level or league, and has changed several times. These are the current distances, with the league or level using each distance:

 * 19.75 ft (6.02 m): High schools (US)
 * 21.65 ft (6.60 m) to 22.15 ft (6.75 m): FIBA and NCAA
 * 22 ft (6.71 m) to 22.15 ft (6.75 m): WNBA
 * 22 ft (6.71 m) to 23.75 ft (7.24 m): NBA

The NBA adopted the three-point line at the start of the 1979–80 season. This is of variable distance, ranging from 22 ft in the corners to 23.75 ft behind the top of the key. During the 1994–95, 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons, the NBA attempted to address decreased scoring by shortening the overall distance of the line to a uniform 22 ft around the basket. It was moved back to its original distance after the 1996–97 season. FIBA and the NCAA both adopted the three-point line in 1986.

In most high school associations in the United States, the distance is 19.75 feet. This was formerly the distance for college basketball as well. On May 26, 2007, the NCAA playing rules committee agreed to move the three-point line back one foot to 20.75 feet for the men. This rule went into effect for the 2008–2009 season. The three-point line for women (NCAA) moved back one foot to 20.75 feet at the start of the 2011–12 season. During the 2019 offseason, the NCAA men's playing rules committee adopted the FIBA arc in a two-phase implementation, with Division I adopting the new arc in 2019–20 and other NCAA divisions doing so in 2020–21. The NCAA women's arc was moved to the FIBA arc starting in 2021–22.

The international distance, used in most countries outside the United States, as well as in FIBA and NCAA competition, is currently 6.6 m (21.65 ft) to 6.75 m (22.15 ft). The WNBA uses FIBA's arc except in the corner area, where the minimum distance is the NBA standard of 22 ft (6.71 m).

Perimeter
The perimeter is defined as the areas outside the free throw lane and inside the three-point line. Shots converted (successfully made) from this area are called "perimeter shots" or "outside shots" as called during older NBA games. If a player's foot is on the three-point line, the shot is considered a perimeter shot.

Low post area
The low post is defined as the areas closest to the basket but outside of the free throw lane. This area is fundamental to strategy in basketball. Skilled low post players can score many points per game without ever taking a jump shot.

Key
The key, free throw lane or shaded lane refers to the usually painted area beneath the basket; for the NBA, it is 16.02 feet (wider for FIBA tournaments). Since October 2010, the FIBA-spec key has been a rectangle 4.9 m wide and 5.8 m long. Previously, it was a trapezoid 3.7 meters (12 ft) wide at the free-throw line and 6 meters (19 feet and 6.25 inches) at the end line; the NBA and U.S. college basketball has always used a rectangle key.

The key is primarily used to prevent players from staying beneath the basket of the opponents' team for long periods (maximum three seconds).

The no charge zone arc is a semi-circular arc drawn around the area directly underneath the basket. With some exceptions, members of the defending team cannot draw charging fouls in this area. The no charge zone arc in almost all North American rule sets above high school level (NCAA men's, NBA, and WNBA) has a radius 4 feet (1.22 m) from below the center of the basket. FIBA uses a marginally larger radius of 1.25 m (4 ft 1.2 in). Starting with the 2023–24 season, NCAA women's basketball reduced the size of the no-charge arc to a radius of 9 inches (22.86 cm)—in other words, the size of the basket. The no charge zone arc rule first appeared at any level of basketball in the NBA in the 1997–98 season. The NCAA restricted area arc was originally established for the 2011–12 men's and women's seasons at a 3 ft radius from below the center of the basket, and was extended to match the 4-foot radius for the 2015–16 season and beyond. NCAA men's basketball still uses the 4-foot radius.

Baseline
The baseline or endline is the boundary line running the end of the court, and usually measures 50 feet long. Inbounds passes after made baskets are taken from the baseline.

Other lines
On NBA floors, two hash marks are drawn at the end lines near the key to mark the area known as the lower defensive box. A defensive player is allowed to draw a charging foul within the restricted arc if the offensive player receives the ball and/or starts his drive within this area.

Also, two lines are drawn on each of the sidelines, 28 feet from each of the endlines, which designates the extent of the coaching box and bench. This line marks the farthest extent a coach (aside from the sidelines) can stand. Directly behind this area is the team bench.

On the half-court line of NBA floors two lines extend outside the playing court, designating the place where substitutes wait before they can enter the playing court; directly behind this area are the various off-court officials such as the timekeeper and reserve referee.

FIBA changes

On April 26, 2008, FIBA announced several major rules changes involving the court markings. These changes took effect for major international competitions on October 1, 2010, after that year's World Championships for men and women, and became mandatory for other competitions on October 1, 2012 (although national federations could adopt the new markings before 2012). The changes were as follows.
 * The shape of the key changed from a trapezoid to a rectangle as it is in the NBA, with NBA dimensions.
 * The three-point line moved back to 6.75 meters (22 ft 1.7 in) from 6.25 meters (20 ft 6.1 in), compared to 23 ft for the NBA at the top of the arc.
 * The FIBA adopted the NBA's restricted area arc with a marginally wider radius of 1.25 meters (4 ft 1.2 in).

title: Basketball court


text:
Ram Vilas Paswan

Ram Vilas Paswan (5 July 1946 –8 October 2020) was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the Lok Janshakti Party, nine-times Lok Sabha member and two-time Rajya Sabha MP. He started his political career as member of Samyukta Socialist Party and was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969. Later, Paswan joined Lok Dal upon its formation in 1974, and became its general secretary. He opposed the emergency, and was arrested during this period. He first entered the Lok Sabha in 1977, as a Janata Party member from Hajipur constituency, and was elected again in 1980, 1989, 1991 (from Rosera), 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.

In 2000, Paswan formed the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as its president. Subsequently, in 2004, he joined the ruling United Progressive Alliance government and remained a Union Minister in Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Steel. He was posthumously awarded India's third highest civilian award the Padma Bhushan in 2021.

Known for holding cabinet positions under 7 governments, Paswan was known as the weatherman of Indian politics. As of 2024, he is the longest-serving Union minister who was not a member of the Indian National Congress.

Early life and education
Paswan was born in a Dusadh family on 5 July 1946 in Shaharbanni, Khagaria district of Bihar to Jamun Paswan and Siya Devi. Paswan held Bachelor of Laws and Master of Arts degrees from Kosi College, Khagaria and Patna University. He had been selected as a DSP in Bihar Police in 1969.

Political career

Paswan was elected to the Bihar state legislative assembly in 1969 as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party ("United Socialist Party") from Alauli, a reserved constituency. He lost 1972 Vidhan Sabha election from Alauli to Shri Mishri Sada of Congress. In 1974, as an ardent follower of Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan Paswan became the general secretary of the Lok Dal. He was personally close to the prominent leaders of anti-emergency like Raj Narain, Karpoori Thakur and Satyendra Narayan Sinha.

In 1975, when emergency was proclaimed in India, Paswan was arrested and spent the entire period in jail. On being released in 1977, he became a member of the Janata Party and won election to Parliament for the first time on its ticket from Hajipur with a record margin (later broken) of 424,000 and 89.3% votes which is perhaps an all-time record for general election in India. Former PM Narasimha Rao got a higher percentage of vote in a 1991 bye-poll. When Janata Party split in 1979, he joined Charan Singh's faction. Paswan was re-elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980 from Hajipur constituency as Janata Party (Socialist) candidate. In 1983, he established the Dalit Sena, an organisation for Dalit emancipation and welfare. The Dalit Sena was later headed by his brother Ram Chandra Paswan. Later it was renamed as Scheduled Caste sena in a vein similar to the Scheduled Caste federation established by Bhim Rao Ambedkar. Paswan lost 1984 Lok Sabha election from Hajipur.

Paswan was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 and was appointed Union Minister of Labour and Welfare in the Vishwanath Pratap Singh government. He was elected to Lok Sabha from Rosera (Lok Sabha constituency) in 1991, the only time between 1977 and 2014 when he did not contest from Hajipur. In 1996, he won again from Hajipur, and he even led the ruling alliance or Proposition in the Lok Sabha as the prime minister was a member of the Rajya Sabha. This was also the year when Paswan first became the Union Railway Minister. He continued to hold that post till 1998. Thereafter, Paswan was the Union Communications Minister from October 1999 to September 2001 when he was shifted to the Coal Ministry, the portfolio he held till April 2002.

In 2000, Paswan broke from the Janata Dal, to form the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). He resigned as minister and left the ruling NDA in 2002 after developing differences with BJP. Following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Paswan joined the United Progressive Alliance government and was made the Union Minister in Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Steel. In the February 2005 Bihar State elections, Paswan's party LJP along with the Indian National Congress contested the election. The result was that no particular party or alliance could form a government by itself. However, Paswan consistently refused to support either Lalu Prasad Yadav, whom he accused of being extremely corrupt, or the right-wing National Democratic Alliance thereby creating a stalemate. This stalemate was broken when Nitish Kumar succeeded in persuading 12 members of Paswan's party to defect; to prevent the formation of a government supported by LJP defectors, the Governor of Bihar, Buta Singh dissolved the state legislature and called for fresh elections, keeping Bihar under President's Rule. In the November 2005 Bihar state elections, Paswan's third-alliance was utterly devastated; the Laloo Yadav-Congress alliance reduced to a minority and the NDA formed the new government.

Paswan has declared that the Bihar state elections have no influence on the Central Government, which will continue with both him and Laloo Yadav as ministers. Paswan has served as a Union Minister under five different Prime Ministers and continuously held a cabinet berth in all the Council of Ministers formed since 1996 (as of 2015). He was also part of all the national coalitions (the United Front, the National Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance), which have formed the Indian Government from 1996 to 2015.

For the 2009 Indian general election Paswan forged an alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav and his Rashtriya Janata Dal, while dumping their erstwhile coalition partner and leader of the United Progressive Alliance, the Indian National Congress from the new alliance. The duo was later joined by Mulayam Singh's Samajwadi Party and were declared the Fourth Front. Paswan lost the elections from Hajipur to the Janata Dal's Ram Sundar Das, a former chief minister of Bihar for the first time in 33 years. His party the Lok Janshakti Party was not able to win any seats in the 15th Lok Sabha, while his coalition partner Yadav and his party too failed to perform well and were reduced to 4 seats.

Paswan was elected as member of 16th Lok Sabha after the 2014 Indian general election from Hajipur constituency when he contested in alliance with BJP, while his son Chirag Paswan won from Jamui constituency also in Bihar.

Paswan was again given charge of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in May 2014, which continued in Second Modi ministry in 2019. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2019 with the help of BJP though his own party had only 2 MLAs in the state assembly.

Personal life
Paswan married Rajkumari Devi in 1960s. In 2014, he disclosed that he had divorced her in 1981, after his Lok Sabha nomination papers were challenged. Paswan had two daughters from first wife, Usha and Asha. In 1983, he married Reena Sharma, an air hostess. They had a son and a daughter. His son Chirag Kumar Paswan is an actor-turned-politician.

He was often called a dynast. He brought his brothers Pashupati Kumar Paras and Ram Chandra Paswan into politics. Of the six seats that the LJP won in 2019, three were from his family – son Chirag, and brothers Pashupati Kumar Paras and Ram Chandra Paswan. Ram Chandra's son Prince Raj succeeded his father upon his death.

Death
Paswan died on 8 October 2020, and his death was confirmed by his son, Chirag Paswan. Paswan had undergone heart surgery and was hospitalised for a few weeks prior to his death. Paswan was cremated in Patna on 10 October 2020. His body was brought to Janardan Ghat in the Digha locality from his residence in Shri Krishna Puri, about 3 km away, for the last rites.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Paswan's Delhi residence to pay homage to him. Also, senior leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav paid tribute to him.

title: Ram Vilas Paswan


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SoWa

The SoWa Art & Design District (South of Washington) in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, is a community of artist studios, contemporary art galleries, boutiques, design showrooms, and restaurants. It features the SoWa Open Market, the SoWa Vintage Market, and a residential neighborhood.

Originally derived from a shortening of "South of Washington", SoWa spans the area from East Brookline Street to East Berkeley Street and from Shawmut Avenue to Albany Street.

History
GTI Properties and owner Mario Nicosia are credited with gentrifying the district beginning in the early 2000s and for inventing the SoWa name.

In the 19th century, SoWa's brick and beam factories were home to manufacturers of pianos, canned goods, shoes and other merchandise. In addition, 540 Harrison Ave, a building currently used to host markets and events, originally opened in 1891 as the Central Power Station for the West End Street Railway Company, the precursor to the MBTA. The Romanesque Revival and Gothic Revival structure was the world's largest electrical power station at the time and later became a trolley barn.

Culture
Due to the number of artists and galleries located in the neighborhood, many events regarding art are held at SoWa. Every month, over 90 artists and galleries in SoWa stage their new 30-day shows, showing the works of established painters, photographers and sculptors. This event, known as "SoWa First Fridays", is held on the first Friday of every month from 5pm to 9pm. In addition, the SoWa Art Walk, an annual art festival held each spring, enables many artists to present their works and host open studios.

Opened in 2003, The SoWa Open Market provides an opportunity for local artisans to share their products. Each Sunday, many visitors from across New England converge in SoWa.

title: SoWa


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Gregory Rabassa

Gregory Rabassa (March 9, 1922 – June 13, 2016) was an American literary translator from Spanish and Portuguese to English. He taught for many years at Columbia University and Queens College. Robassa was ordered for Commander of the Order of Merit in 2011.

Life and career
Rabassa was born in Yonkers, New York, to a family headed by a Cuban émigré. After serving during World War II as an OSS cryptographer, he received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth. He earned his doctorate at Columbia University and taught there for over two decades before accepting a position at Queens College, City University of New York.

Rabassa translated literature from Spanish and Portuguese. He produced English-language versions of the works of several major Latin American novelists, including Julio Cortázar, Jorge Amado and Gabriel García Márquez. On the advice of Cortázar, García Márquez waited three years for Rabassa to schedule translating One Hundred Years of Solitude. He later declared Rabassa's translation to be superior to the Spanish original.

He received the PEN Translation Prize in 1977 and the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation in 1982. Rabassa was honored with the Gregory Kolovakos Award from PEN American Center for the expansion of Hispanic Literature to an English-language audience in 2001.

Rabassa had a particularly close and productive working relation with Cortázar, with whom he shared lifelong passions for jazz and wordplay. For his version of Cortázar's novel, Hopscotch, Rabassa shared the inaugural U.S. National Book Award in Translation.

Rabassa taught at Queens College, from which he retired with the title Distinguished Professor Emeritus. In 2006, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

He wrote a memoir of his experiences as a translator, If This Be Treason: Translation and Its Dyscontents, A Memoir, which was a Los Angeles Times "Favorite Book of the Year" for 2005 and for which he received the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for the Art of the Memoir in 2006.

Translation methods
Rabassa sometimes translated without having read the book beforehand.

In a 2006 interview with the University of Delaware, Rabassa said "I just let the text lead me along. In my mind, the book I’m translating exists in English even before it’s translated. I just have to pull it out. I do a first draft, “write” the book as the author him- or herself would have written it if they’d spoken English. Ideally, a different style emerges for each author being translated".

Death
Rabassa died on June 13, 2016, at a hospice in Branford, Connecticut. He was 94.

Selected translations

 * Demetrio Aguilera Malta
 * Seven Serpents and Seven Moons, 1979 (Siete lunas y siete serpientes)
 * Juan Benet
 * Return to Region
 * A Meditation
 * Jorge Franco
 * Rosario Tijeras, 2004
 * Julio Cortázar
 * Hopscotch 1966 (Rayuela) —U.S. National Book Award for Translation
 * A Manual for Manuel, 1978 (Libro de Manuel)
 * 62: A Model Kit, 1972 (62: Modelo para armar)
 * José Maria de Eça de Queirós
 * Saint Christopher
 * Gabriel García Márquez
 * One Hundred Years of Solitude 1970 (Cien años de soledad)
 * The Autumn of the Patriarch 1976 (El otoño del patriarca), for which he received the Pen Translation Prize.
 * Chronicle of a Death Foretold 1982 (Crónica de una muerte anunciada)
 * Leaf Storm (La hojarasca)
 * Clarice Lispector
 * The Apple in the Dark 1967 (A maçã no escuro, 1961)
 * Luis Rafael Sánchez
 * Macho Camacho's Beat 1983 (La guaracha del Macho Camacho)
 * José Lezama Lima
 * Paradiso (Paradiso)
 * Mario Vargas Llosa
 * Conversation in the Cathedral (Conversación en la Catedral)
 * The Green House (La Casa Verde)
 * Machado de Assis
 * Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cubas (Memórias Póstumas de Bras Cubas)
 * Quincas Borba (Quincas Borba)
 * António Lobo Antunes
 * Fado Alexandrino (Fado Alexandrino)
 * The Return of the Caravels (As Naus)
 * Osman Lins
 * Avalovara (Avalovara)
 * Manuel Mujica Lainez
 * Bomarzo
 * Jorge Amado
 * Captains of the Sands (Capitães da Areia)
 * Ana Teresa Torres
 * Dona Ines vs. Oblivion (Doña Inés contra el olvido)

Honours

 * POR Ordem do Merito Comendador BAR.svg Commander of the Order of Merit, Portugal (12 November 2011)

title: Gregory Rabassa


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Talk:FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar

This text was used with permission from Friarbot.com - although I did copy/paste it, as one of the webmasters for Friarbot.com I have full permission to use it.

If there are any questions, feel free to contact the Friarbot.com web team at friarbot(at)friarbot.com - thanks!

~Goobergunch

Is it OK to redirect to the FIRSTwiki article? --Astronouth7303 16:28, 16 Jun 2004 (UTC) ---

The web site lists the webmasters as "Captain Daniel J. Pall, Lieutenant Matthew Blumenthal, and Ensign Martin Pyne.". Goobergunch's First Wiki page (a link from his user page) gives his name as Martin Pyne. So - I believe that Goobergunch is webmaster of that site. Therefore not a copyvio? Secretlondon 00:43, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Aye. Although the article could probably be better written then just the stuff from friarbot.com.  --Goobergunch 17:39, 9 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Infobox added
I added an infobox and created a template to use on other game pages. I don't remember how many regionals there were in 2004, so please add that someone.Bryan Duggan 05:51, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

External links modified
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External links modified
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title: Talk:FIRST Frenzy: Raising the Bar


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Carlos Hernández (catcher)

Carlos Alberto Hernández Almeida [er-NAN-dez] (born May 24, 1967) is a Venezuelan former Major League Baseball catcher who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers (1990–1996), San Diego Padres (1997–2000) and St. Louis Cardinals (2000).

Career
Signed by the Dodgers as a free agent in 1984, Hernández became the second Venezuelan catcher in MLB history, following Bo Díaz. He made his major league debut in the 1990 season, basically as a backup for Mike Scioscia. A high skilled defensive player, Hernández spent his Dodgers career as mainly a back-up catcher to Scioscia and Mike Piazza, appearing in 230 games, including 133 starts. He signed as a free agent with San Diego and later was traded to the Cardinals.

In his first full major league season as a regular catcher for the Padres, Hernández batted .262, with 9 home runs and 52 runs batted in in 129 games played. In 22 postseason games, he hit .299 (20-67) with one homer and two RBI.

Hernández finished his career batting .253 (315–1244) with 24 home runs, 141 RBI, 102 runs, 51 doubles, one triple, and one stolen base in 488 games played.

Hernández started his career as a manager with the Toros de Tijuana in the Mexican League for the 2004 season. He then returned to the San Diego Padres organization as a catching coordinator from 2005 to 2007. He also managed the Leones de Caracas from the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League from 2006 to 2008.

Hernández returned to the San Diego Padres in 2012 as a color analyst for Spanish game broadcasts on Fox Deportes and their Spanish radio broadcast on XEMO.

Hernández owned 'Caribbean Flavor', a Venezuelan restaurant in the San Diego suburb of Poway, but the restaurant closed in 2011.

title: Carlos Hernández (catcher)


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John Murray (theologian)

John Murray (14 October 1898 – 8 May 1975) was a Scottish-born Calvinist theologian who taught at Princeton Seminary and then left to help found Westminster Theological Seminary, where he taught for many years. He was ordained in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1937.

Life
Murray was born in the croft of Badbea, near Bonar Bridge, in Sutherland county, Scotland. Following service in the British Army in the First World War (during which he lost an eye, serving in the Black Watch regiment) he studied at the University of Glasgow. Following his acceptance as a theological student of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland he pursued further studies at Princeton Theological Seminary under J. Gresham Machen and Geerhardus Vos, but broke with the Free Presbyterian Church in 1930 over that Church's handling of a discipline case in the Chesley, Ontario congregation concerning the Lord's Day. He taught at Princeton for a year and then lectured in systematic theology at Westminster Theological Seminary to generations of students from 1930 to 1966, and was an early trustee of the Banner of Truth Trust. Besides the material in the four-volume Collected Writings, his primary published works are a commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (previously included in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series but now superseded by Douglas J. Moo's commentary), Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Principles of Conduct, The Imputation of Adam's Sin, Baptism, and Divorce.

Murray preached at Chesley and Lochalsh from time to time until his retirement from Westminster Theological Seminary in 1966. He returned to Scotland, where he was connected with the Free Church of Scotland, and at the age of 69, married Valerie Knowlton 7 December 1967. Writing after a communion season at Lochalsh, Murray said, "I think I feel most at home here and at Chesley of all the places I visit." There had been some consideration that upon leaving the seminary, Murray might take a pastorate in the newly formed Presbyterian Reformed Church, but the infirmity of his aged sisters at the home place necessitated his return to Ross-shire, Scotland.

Works

 * ? pages
 * ? pages
 * 192 pages
 * 272 pages
 * ? pages
 * 736 pages
 * ? pages

title: John Murray (theologian)


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Mani Shankar Aiyar

Mani Shankar Aiyar (born 10 April 1941) is an Indian politician and former career civil servant diplomat. He is a member of the Indian National Congress Party.

He represented the Mayiladuthurai constituency of Tamil Nadu in the 10th Lok Sabha, 13th Lok Sabha, and 14th Lok Sabha. He was a nominated member of parliament from Rajya Sabha.

Early life and education

Mani Shankar Aiyar is the son of Vaidyanatha Shankar Aiyar, a chartered accountant, and Bhagyalakshmi Shankar Aiyar. He was born in Laxmi Mansions, Lahore in British India, which as post-Partition refugee property, became house for the family of Saadat Hassan Manto. His older brother is the journalist, Swaminathan Aiyar. He lost his father at age 12 in an air crash.

He attended Welham Boys' School, The Doon School and obtained B.A. in economics from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, University of Delhi. While at Doon, he was an editor of The Doon School Weekly. After the loss of his father, Aiyar's mother had to negotiate with Doon to allow him to continue his studies with reduced fees and in return she taught at the school.

He graduated in economics from Delhi University, and then did a two-year B.A. in Tripos in economics at Trinity Hall, Cambridge at the University of Cambridge which, in the Oxbridge tradition, became an M.A. with the passage of time. He was a member of Trinity Hall. He was also an active member of the Marxist Society in Cambridge. At Cambridge, Aiyar joined student politics and once even tried to win a presidential contest. Rajiv Gandhi, who was his junior both at Doon and Cambridge, supported him in his campaign.

Career
He joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1963 and served as Joint Secretary to Government of India from 1982 to 1983 in Ministry of External Affairs and later as Joint Secretary at Prime Minister's Office from 1985 to 1989. He resigned from service in 1989 to take up a career in politics and media, entering the Parliament as a Congress MP from Mayiladuthurai in 1991, 1999 and 2004 but was defeated in 1996, 1998, 2009 and 2014. He spent some time in Pakistan posted as a diplomat, serving as India's first consul-general in Karachi from 1978 to 1982.

He is a special invitee to the Congress Working Committee and was a chairman of both the party's political training department and the department of policy planning and coordination. He is also a well-known political columnist and has written several books, including Pakistan Papers and Remembering Rajiv, and has edited a four-volume publication, Rajiv Gandhi's India.

His special interests include grassroots democracy, Indian foreign policy particularly with India's neighbouring countries, and West Asia and nuclear disarmament.

Personal life
He was married on 4 January 1973 to Suneet Vir Singh, a Sikh woman. They have 3 daughters – the eldest, Suranya Aiyar is a lawyer; the second, Yamini Aiyar is a senior research fellow and director of the Accountability Initiative;

Aiyar is the uncle of Vidya Shankar Aiyar, former anchor on Channelnews asia and CNN- IBN.

Controversies
While on a tour of the Andamans as the Cabinet Minister in the later part of 2004, Aiyar was quoted as saying at the Cellular Jail there that there was no difference between Hindutva ideologue Vinayak Savarkar and Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah as they shared a 'divisive' philosophy. He also ordered that a plaque with a poem commemorating Savarkar be replaced with a plaque with quotes from Mahatma Gandhi. Reports of the incident paralysed Parliament and led to agitations by the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. Aiyar's remarks created confusion as well in the ruling party; the official spokesman, Anand Sharma, noted that the Congress Party did not consider Savarkar either a freedom fighter or a patriot. A few days later, the Prime Minister dissociated himself and the cabinet from that view.

In September 2011, Aiyar visited his alma mater—St. Stephen's College—to speak about 'Governance and Corruption: Is Panchayati Raj A Solution?'. However, he began to mock the Hansraj College and its former student Ajay Maken. He also belittled the Kirori Mal College and the BA (Programme) Degree, a course in the University of Delhi. This led to an agitation by the students of Hansraj College. When the agitated students approached him, he mocked them even further. When later questioned by the media, Aiyar refused to apologise and rather ridiculed the institutions even further. Baffled by his remarks, Stephen's College and its students went on to apologise to Hansraj College and extended a hand of friendship.

He in an interview days before the run up to the 2014 Parliament elections in India, said that a tea seller (The Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of the BJP) can never become the Prime Minister of India, but can sell tea in AICC meetings. His comment was disowned by the congress saying it's his personal view and not the party's view. Rahul Gandhi asked him not to make personal attacks.

Mani Shankar Aiyer justified November 2015 Paris attacks as a response to France banning Hijab. He also justified Charlie Hebdo shooting as a backlash for the death of Muslims. His comments were disapproved by his own party members.

He sparked a political firestorm when he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi a "neech aadmi", which PM Modi interpreted as nichli jaati (lower caste). Subsequently, he was temporarily suspended from the party's primary membership. Aiyar said the comments by the PM showed his "low-level mindset and one bereft of any manners". He further justified his remarks on Modi by adding "Yes, I called Modi 'neech' but did not mean it as a low-born; I meant it as low".

Publications
Aiyar has written seven books –
 * How To Be A Sycophant, NBS, New Delhi, 1990.
 * Rajiv Gandhi: The Great Computer Scientist of India, Mughal Publishers, New Delhi, 1991.
 * Remembering Rajiv, Rupa & Co., New Delhi, 1992.
 * One Year in Parliament, Konark, New Delhi, 1993.
 * Pakistan Papers, UBSPD, New Delhi, 1994.
 * Knickerwallahs, Silly-Billies and Other Curious Creatures, UBS Publishers, 1995.
 * Rajiv Gandhi's India, 4 vols. (General Editor), UBSPD New Delhi, 1997.
 * Confessions of a Secular Fundamentalist, Penguin, 2004.
 * A Time of Transition: Rajiv Gandhi to the 21st Century, Penguin, 2009.

title: Mani Shankar Aiyar