Poorly disguised Nash joins Beijing pick-up game

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Poorly disguised Nash joins Beijing pick-up game
By J.E. Skeets



Suns guard Steve Nash showed up in disguise at a Beijing pick-up game over the weekend, hoping to shoot some hoops incognito. Unfortunately, he forgot his fake mustache and monocle.

"I had on a Chinese opera bandana and I had on some protective goggles," Nash told the AFP, laughing.

"As soon as I walked on they recognized me. It didn't really work."

Really? Could have fooled me. I thought that was Horace Grant.

Nash is in China for the week doing promotional and charity work. After a few three-on-three half-court games with local regulars, Captain Canada crossed over to the nearby soccer pitch to play a little footy.

Check out the photos below.

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Disguised Nash joins Beijing pick-up game
September 1, 2009, 2:54pm

BEIJING, August 30, 2009 (AFP) - NBA star Steve Nash showed up in disguise at a Beijing pick-up game on Sunday, hoping to shoot some hoops incognito.

But before he even palmed the ball, the city's basketball-crazed fans had spotted the two-time NBA most valuable player.

"I had on a Chinese opera bandana and I had on some protective goggles," he said, laughing.

"As soon as I walked on they recognised me. It didn't really work."

It was not the first time that the 35-year-old Canadian playmaker has made a surprise appearance at a public court. When he dropped in to play pick-up in Lower Manhattan a few years ago, the story spread like wildfire.

"I went one day just to shoot and somebody took a picture -- it kind of got blown out of proportion," he said.

Although he plays soccer in New York City's Chinatown, where he also hosts an annual charity soccer tournament, he shies away from pick-up basketball "because it turns into a camera phone opportunity and it's all over the web".

"But to do it in China is really something because it's so far from home. To play people that you'd have a hard time communicating with but you communicate with basketball... I love that," he told AFP in an interview.

After an hour of hoops, he went to the other side of the fence and kicked a ball around with some soccer players for 40 minutes. "The perfect Sunday," he concluded.

Nash is in China for a week with a handful of NBA players to appear on the finale of a Chinese basketball reality show and for a coaching clinic at a rural school where NBA players are helping build a new basketball court.

It is the Phoenix Suns' guard's first time in China in two years and he said he was amazed at the pace of change in the basketball-mad country.

"The development's incredible. That CCTV building is one of my favourite buildings in the world," he said, referring to the new China Central Television building, a continuous loop of horizontal and vertical glass sections.

It was driving through the city that he spotted the sprawling pick-up courts and knew how he wanted to spend his day off.

"The other basketball players, it seems like they're really influenced by the West," he said of the Beijing court. "It's a really cool amalgamation of Chinese culture and Western culture. The opening up of China is fascinating."

[JGX]

Awesome story. Reminds me of this:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/soccer/news/2003/07/30/ruud_awakening_ap/

[jxuusa]

He looks good, should attempt to keep that on the entire season

[Cammomile]

He looks good, should attempt to keep that on the entire season

Next time do a Mask of Zorro...Seriously what was he thinking ...Funny though!!

[durden_tyler]

This is why you got to love the guy!

[kenna anna]

I find it amusing that Steve Nash tried to go incognito at a pick-up game in Beijing, but failed to disguise himself properly. It reminds me of the time when I took the rice purity test and tried to answer the questions honestly, but ended up revealing more about myself than I intended. It's always a good idea to be true to oneself, even if it means being recognized on a basketball court halfway around the world.

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