.Maffei says F1 also needs to work harder to get big name sponsors aligned | Forum

SAN ANTONIO -- Spurs power forward Tim Duncan spoke for the first time on Wednesday since announcing his retirement two days prior, expounding upon his 19-year NBA career and explaining why he made the decision to leave the game. Buy Cheap Saints Jerseys .I can still do this. I could probably still play, Duncan said in a wide-ranging interview with ViVid Streaming. But when its time, its time. Its time. I started not enjoying myself. It wasnt fun at times. And I always said when that point comes when its not fun anymore then Im done.As hoops fans all over the country spent Monday and Tuesday watching highlights and tributes to Duncan among the various sports television outlets, the power forward spent the day of his retirement watching the Discovery Channel. Duncans reaction seemed typical of the man of few words, who spent an entire career leading by example, while spearheading the?San Antonios current culture of?selflessness.In the days since announcing his retirement, Duncan said he received an outpouring of support from friends and family, as well as from coaches and executives around the NBA. Included among the well-wishers was?Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who despite playing with Michael Jordan on the Chicago Bulls, once called the power forward the greatest teammate he ever has played with.He actually sent me a message and said something along those lines, said Duncan, who won a pair of NBA titles alongside Kerr during Kerrs two stints with the Spurs. And again, Ive gotten some incredible notes, messages, from so many different people that are honestly blowing me away. I didnt expect all of this; didnt expect the reaction I got. But its been amazing. Ive spent the last two days trying to respond to everybody and trying to get back to everybody to make sure Im thankful for their messages, their words. I did actually get a personal note from Steve.Spurs coach Gregg Popovich on Tuesday delivered an emotional goodbye to Duncan during a 15-minute meeting with local reporters. Duncan watched the footage of Popovichs interview on Tuesday and admitted, I about lost it on that one.Duncan also expressed appreciation for his near-universal standing as one of the NBAs all-time greats -- not just arguably the greatest power forward.I dont know how their ranking goes or anything else, and I tell people I dont really care how the rankings go. Im in the conversation, Duncan said. Im OK with that. Thats above and beyond anything I ever thought I would be. So Im in the conversation. I dont care where you rank me or what you say it is or how you want to say things go. Im in the conversation. That in itself is an honor.Having won five NBA titles with the Spurs, along with earning two NBA MVP awards in addition to making 15 All-Star Game appearances, Duncan, 40, played his final game on May 12 in the teams Game 6 loss to the?Oklahoma City Thunder?in the Western Conference semifinals.In what would be Duncans final NBA appearance, he displayed flashes of his previous All-Star form in scoring 19 points to go with five rebounds and one block in 34 minutes. Just before the fourth quarter with the Spurs trailing, Duncan asked Popovich if he could remain in the game for the final 12 minutes.As the game concluded and the confetti fell from the rafters, Duncan walked off the court in Oklahoma City waving to the crowd with one finger pointed toward the roof.Over the years, Duncan took less money in contracts from the Spurs to give the organization more ammunition to field successful teams; he explained on Wednesday that the money had not ever been a deal for me.I took a little bit less money at certain points [so] that we could stay competitive, so that we could bring players in, so that we could put pieces around, so that we could win championships, he said. Thats all it was about. I dont really care who was making what. Honest truth is I didnt really know from year to year what people were making. I think that was the best perspective to have.That approach led to championship results and back-to-back MVP awards for the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.The good old days when the knees were really good, remember those days? Duncan said jokingly. At that point, I believed in what I could do. Being a competitor, I wanted it year after year after year. I remember being disappointed in the years after that, when I wasnt able to be an MVP. But thats just my competitive nature in that respect. But I believed in what I was. I didnt know that was gonna translate in ending up in five championships or anything else. But I knew that I could affect the game. I knew that I could control the game in ways. I knew how to do it.It was just about being in the right situation with the right bunch of guys and getting it done.Duncan also explained his competitive nature, which he always displayed in a stoic manner, without any hit of boisterousness.I think Ive always approached it in a different way. I think competitiveness is taken in a different way by different people, Duncan said. So Im not a yeller and a screamer, a jumper and a pusher. Im not gonna do all that stuff with my teammates or opponents. But Ive been competitive from Day 1. Whether people recognize that or not, I dont know how they cant. Im not gonna go out there and try to hurt somebody or win at all means. But if its up in the air, Im gonna try harder than you to get it done.Duncan and teammates?Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili rank as the winningest trio in NBA history in the regular season (575 wins) and postseason (126). Duncan and Popovich have combined for the most regular-season victories by any player-coach duo in NBA history (1,001). And the forward ends his career as just one of three players in league annals, along with John Stockton and Kobe Bryant, to spend 19 seasons with one franchise.Duncan said playing alongside Parker and Ginobili meant a great deal to him.We took pride in representing where we came from, took pride in being from small places, and places all around the world and being able to come together and make ourselves into a team, into a group of guys with one goal and get that done, said Duncan, who was born and raised on Saint Croix. A kid from the islands, a kid from somewhere in France, a kid from somewhere in Argentina, and we find ways to get things done. But Pop on top of that, and him having the vision to put us all together to see what we could be. You look back and thats just an amazing feat: to have all these kids from all these different places come together and be what we were.In the end, Duncan made sure to thank the San Antonio fan base for its support.Duncan is the only player in NBA history to play over 9,000 career minutes in the playoffs, and he ranks No. 1 all time in postseason double-doubles (164) and blocks (568), third in rebounds (2,859) and sixth in points (5,172). Duncan played in 251 postseason games (second all time) and averaged 20.6 points, 11.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists in 37.3 minutes, in addition to shooting .501 (1,975-3,939) from the field.Just thank-you. I dont think theres anything better to say than thank-you, Duncan said. Over the years, weve been blessed. Weve been great about winning games and everything else. Weve lost some big ones, lost a couple of chances at championships. But the fans here have just been so awesome in their support and their love for the team. Everybodys always shown such appreciation and love for myself and the team. We have some of the best fans in the NBA -- in sports, in general. Im so appreciative of that. People come out, people support, people love the Spurs. Thats special. Thats not everywhere. Discount Saints Jerseys . Vettel was 0.168 seconds faster than Red Bull teammate Mark Webber around the Suzuka circuit. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg was two tenths of a second off Vettel. "The car balance is decent, but I think we can still improve," Vettel said. Saints Jerseys From China . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. http://www.cheapsaintsjerseyschina.com/ . 24 Baylor in a Big 12 clash between teams trending in opposite directions. Andrew Wiggins made 10-of-12 from the foul line and scored 17 for Kansas (14-4, 5-0 Big 12), which capped a stretch of four straight games against ranked opponents unscathed. Formula Ones new investors see virtual reality and gambling as potential growth areas for the sport.Liberty Media is in the process of buying a controlling stake in Formula One and has made clear it intends to make changes once it has completed its purchase in early 2017. Speaking at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia investment conference in New York, Liberty Medias CEO Greg Maffei said there are a number of areas that his company is keen to explore.Less than one percent of revenues are from digital, he was quoted by Reuters. They really have no organized digital effort. I think theres a lot of things that can be done around gaming, VR [virtual reality] and AR [augmented reality].Theres an enormous amount of video feed and data about thee races that we are already capturing that we are not in any way processing incrementally for the dedicated fan, or opportunities around things like gambling. Youth Saints Jerseys. Outside of the United States there is a huge gambling opportunity in the sport, none of which we capitalize on.Maffei says F1 also needs to work harder to get big name sponsors aligned with the sport.I think we have 17 sponsors, and we have three people working in sponsorship in F1, said Maffei. In contrast at Major League Baseball, a business we have some familiarity with through the [Atlanta] Braves, there are 75 sponsors just in the U.S. Cheap NFL JerseysCheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From ChinaCheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys' ' '