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內文:
After 6 years, Hornets center and college grad Cody Zeller changes family
punchline
歷時六年,Cody Zeller終於大學畢業了!
Let’s say you had a son who started college in the fall of 2011. He
temporarily dropped out of school after his sophomore year. He finally
graduated this past week, which meant it took him six years to earn a
four-year degree.
假設你兒子在2011年考進大學,大二的時候因為不可抗拒因素而暫時停學,最後好不容易
才在上個禮拜拿到了他的畢業證書,相當於是花了六年去讀一張大學文憑….. 你還會為
他慶祝嗎?
Would you be celebrating this?
If you are the Zeller family, you certainly would be. That was the unusual
path that the Charlotte Hornets’ Cody Zeller took to get his degree in
business management, which he flew home to Indiana University to receive this
past weekend.
如果你是Zeller家族的一員,你一定會開心得放煙火…. 效力於夏洛特黃蜂的Cody
Zeller走了一條和大家都不一樣的大學路,他在上週末飛回母校印第安納大學領取了他的
商學院學位。
“I made progress, slowly but steadily,” Zeller said Monday in a phone
interview. “I did a lot of work in hotel rooms on the road.”
“我一直在努力,雖然有點慢” Zeller在電話上告訴記者,“我在客場比賽的旅館裡讀
了很多的書”
Zeller’s dogged work ethic on the court for the Hornets translated into his
schoolwork as well. He ended up finishing with a 3.5 grade-point average. He
has taken online classes from Indiana ever since the Hornets drafted him No.
4 overall in 2013, usually one class at a time but sometimes doing two during
the summers – all the while working his day job as a 7-foot NBA center.
Zeller在球場上超群的工作態度完全可以體現在他的學業表現上,他最後以3.5的高GPA從
大學畢業。自從於2013年以第四順位被黃蜂選進NBA後,澤勒就一直在一邊讀大學的在線
課程(有時候一學期一堂課,夏天的話則是兩堂課),一邊當一個稱職的NBA七尺中鋒。
Once, Zeller wrote a paper on an 18-hour flight to China with the Hornets
before a preseason game in 2015. Once he had to turn in a video for a class
while in Africa for a basketball camp. He couldn’t find a strong enough
Wi-Fi signal to send the video in, so in that case he had to ask the
professor for an extension.
Zeller曾經在飛往中國表演賽的18小時飛機上完成了一整篇論文,也曾經在參加非洲籃球
營的途中試圖上傳一個影片作業,結果因為網路太爛只好請求教授讓他遲交作業。
“All my professors were really cooperative the whole way,” Zeller said. “I
think they knew I wasn’t trying to pull a fast one on them.”
“感謝所有教過我的教授,他們一直都非常幫助我” Zeller說 “他們知道我不是只想混
個學位而已”
The youngest of three basketball-playing brothers, Zeller has long been the
butt of a running joke in his family.
身為Zeller這個籃球家族最小的弟弟,寇弟一直是大家開玩笑的對象。
“My two brothers, Luke and Tyler, went to business school too while they
were playing,” Cody Zeller said. “But they stayed in school for four years
and graduated in four (Luke from Notre Dame, Tyler from North Carolina). So
they were always kidding me about being the college dropout in the family. It
’s been several years of those kinds of jokes.”
“我的兩個哥哥Luke和Tyler也是一邊打球一邊完成了商學院的學位”澤勒說道,“但他
們在大學待滿了四年(Luke從聖母大學畢業,Tyler則從北卡大學畢業),所以他們總是
笑我是家族裡唯一的輟學生…..我已經被笑好幾年了“
His favorite college course
Zeller left Indiana after his sophomore season – his draft stock was very
high at the time – and he has since played four seasons with the Hornets. In
terms of salary, he has done pretty well for a college dropout. The Hornets
recently signed him to a four-year, $56 million extension.
Zeller在大二的時候離開了印第安納大學,他當時的選秀行情非常高,迄今為止他已經為
黃蜂效力了四個年頭。單從薪水上來看的話,他已經算是中輟生中的霸主了:黃蜂剛剛提
供了他一份四年五千六百萬美金的新合約。
Zeller always planned to get his degree, though, and helped himself by
getting ahead early in his college career. He entered his first real semester
of college in August 2011 at Indiana with 22 college credit hours already
complete, thanks to advanced-placement courses and a couple of other classes
he took the summer before his freshman year. He took full loads, went to
summer school between his freshman and sophomore years and was almost a year
ahead of schedule academically when he went pro.
Zeller一直都打算拿大學學位,他從剛入學的時候就已經朝這個方向努力了。他在大一的
第一個學期拿滿了二十二個學分,加上他的AP學分以及暑修學分,這讓Zeller在宣布參加
選秀的時候就趕上大三的進度了。
It still took Zeller the past four years to complete that final year of
college, however. Zeller said it helped that Marvin Williams, also with the
Hornets, was also working his way through college for part of that time.
Williams went to Chapel Hill for only one year before entering the NBA in
2005, and he plugged away for an additional nine before receiving his degree
in 2014.
即使如此,Zeller還是花了四年才完成這通往文憑的最後一里路。Zeller表示幸好隊友
Marvin Williams也在同一時間和他一起讀書,這對他幫助很大。Marvin Williams在北卡
只讀了一年就進入了NBA,最後終於在苦讀九年後於2014年拿到了夢寐以求的大學文憑。
I asked Zeller which of his courses he thought turned out to be the most
valuable during his time at Indiana.
我問Zeller他在大學讀到最有用的一堂課是什麼? “即席演講課” 他說,“那是我大一
讀的一堂課,我不是一個很喜歡在人群前說話的人,所以我當時很不喜歡這個課。但我覺
得這應該是我上過最有用的一堂課,這讓我跳脫了自己的舒適圈。我們每堂課都要做一次
題目各異的即席演講,錄影下來並且評價自己的表現。這非常困難,但是我現在已經可以
很輕鬆的在一堆人面前說話了“
“Public speaking,” he said. “I took it my freshman year. I’m not a fan of
public speaking at all. So I took the class and I hated it. But it was
probably the most useful one that I had. It got me out of my comfort zone. We
had to do impromptu speeches and critique ourselves using videotape. It was
tough. But now I’m at the point where I can get up in front of a crowd and
speak. It’s still not comfortable for me, but now I can do it.”
上週四,Zeller飛回了自己在印第安納的家,並與親朋好友共進晚餐(包括他當年在印大
的教練Tom Crean以及學術顧問)。他在週五參加了位於印大籃球主場Assembly Hall的商
學院畢業典禮,可以說是以另一種方式回到了那個他曾經拼鬥的球場上。
Zeller flew home to Indiana last Thursday, had dinner with family and friends
(including former Indiana coach Tom Crean and his old academic advisor) on
Thursday night. Zeller then went to the business school graduation ceremony
Friday at Indiana’s Assembly Hall, the same venue in Bloomington, Ind.,
where he had once starred as a player.
“我不認識任何一個和我一起畢業的人,我可以隨便挑個位子坐“ Zeller說道,”所以
我是自己一個人去的,但是有大概三四個人馬上認出了我,然後一定要坐在我旁邊。我坐
在比較後面的位置,當我站起來準備走到台上的時候,我每走過一排,大家發出的聲音就
越大,等到我走到台上的時候,全場都起立鼓掌了。“
“I didn’t know anybody else graduating, and you could sit wherever you
wanted,” Zeller said. “So I was there solo, but a group of 3-4 guys
recognized me and wanted to sit next to me. They were entertaining. I was
about three-quarters of the way back. And once I stood up to go on stage,
with every row I passed to get toward the front, the buzz got a little
louder. By the time I got up on-stage, I got a pretty good ovation.”
Hornets 3-17 without Zeller
這是令人興奮的一刻,但是Zeller應該會更希望自己現在正在NBA季後賽裡廝殺… 他哥哥
Tyler以及其所屬的塞爾提克現在正與巫師在東區第二輪打到總比分2-2平手。用Zeller的
話來說,黃蜂度過了”令人失望“的一個賽季,”但我非常喜歡我們球隊,尤其是幾個核
心的球員相處很融洽“ 他補充道。
It was a nice moment, although Zeller would have been just fine missing it.
He would prefer to be in the NBA playoffs right now, like brother Tyler,
whose Boston Celtics are tied 2-2 with the Washington Wizards in a
second-round NBA playoff series. Instead, Charlotte had a “disheartening”
season, Zeller said, quickly adding: “But I still like our team, especially
our core.”
今年澤勒迎來了他職業生涯的最佳賽季,他分別在得分(場均10.3)以及籃板(場均6.5
)上創下個人新高,並被認為是聯盟最佳的擋拆手。
Cody Zeller did have his best NBA season in 2016-17, although the Hornets
were a disappointing 36-46. He posted career highs in points (10.3 per game)
and rebounds (6.5) and has become known as one of the best screen-setters in
the league.
下列數據或許能更好的體現Zeller究竟對現在的黃蜂有多重要:在他因傷缺陣的二十場比
賽裡,黃蜂隊輸掉了其中的十七場。
Perhaps most indicative of how essential he was to the Hornets was this
statistic: Zeller missed 20 games because of various injuries, and Charlotte
was 3-17 in those games.
Zeller與黃蜂的新合約會持續到2021年,今年24歲的他相信自己已經找到了歸屬:他已經
開始在夏洛特找房子了,也常在推特上分享關於卡羅萊納黑豹隊的新聞。
With a contract that goes through the 2021 season, Zeller, 24, believes he is
in it for the long haul with the Hornets. He is house-shopping in Charlotte
now. He is tweeting about the Carolina Panthers (he welcomed Christian
McCaffrey to the Panthers with the hashtag #AthleticWhiteBoys).
Zeller has also already picked out a new puppy – a mix of a Bernese mountain
dog and a miniature poodle.
Zeller還不知道他會怎麼運用大學文憑,”我只希望能做好準備,等到職業生涯結束後我
還有些事情可以做” 他說道。
Zeller doesn’t know what he is going to do with that college degree yet. “I
just like having it in my back pocket,” Zeller said, “knowing I will be set
to do something once my career ends.”
而對於他兩個哥哥來說,那些關於中輟生的笑話終於可以停止了。
As for his older brothers, that running gag about Cody being a college
dropout is now officially over.
“他們終於可以閉嘴了”Zeller說,“雖然我覺得他們很快就會找到新的方法來笑我”。
“They can cross that one off the list now,” Zeller said. “But I’m sure
they are going to find something new to make fun of me about.”
心得:
印第安納大學的Kelley School of business全美排名前十,算是商學院裡的精英強校,
我只能說澤勒弟繼承了他們家會讀書的勇猛傳統。(Luke Zeller讀的聖母大學Mendoza
College of business以及Tyler Zeller讀的北卡大學Flagler School of business同樣
都是全美前十的商學院)
另外和澤勒弟同時參加選秀的Oladipo也是印大產品,但他在宣布參選的時候就已經拿到
畢業證書了。Oladipo家也非常重視讀書這件事,他用了三年就把大學念完並且拿到學位
(但他讀的是比商學院簡單很多的Communication major)。