11/07/2008 - 15:30
Witnessing History, Part II
by Tyson Chandler

My wife and I were watching CNN at home as things went along on Tuesday. I still couldn't necessarily believe it as it was getting closer and closer and they were saying that it looked like Obama was going to be the President. Even once they said it, I was like, "I cannot believe this is actually happening." I felt like somehow he wasn't going to get elected, or something was going to happen.

When it happened, it almost seemed like it wasn't real.

Even as it was happening, I couldn't believe it (Getty Images).

I watched McCain's speech and Obama's speech with my wife and her cousin. I thought Obama gave an incredible speech. I'm pretty sure everybody's favorite part was about the 106 year old woman who voted and everything she had seen in her time. It's just amazing where we've come as a country.

People forget that segregation, and even slavery, wasn't that long ago. My grandparents picked cotton. It wasn't that long ago that this was going on.

Coach Gattison was telling me that he remembers being little, growing up in Carolina and seeing the black water fountain and the white water fountain. When he went into a store, he went through the back door.

A lot of times we lose touch of the opportunity that we have. It makes you respect it a lot more when you hear something like that, or you get a chance to hear Bill Russell speak about playing back then. You say, "Man, I've got the opportunity to do what I love night in and night out, and there were people before me who fought and died for this."

It's not just African Americans either. And it would be important even if he didn't win. But the fact that he did just opens up doors, because I think it gives people hope, not just black, but all races. It just gives them hope.

But I never look at race. I look at a person for who they are and what they stand for. And I think as time goes on, the further we'll get from all the negatives that have challenged this country over the years.

My wife started to tear up when Michelle Obama and the first family came out. She couldn't believe that the first family could be our family. For the first time, the first family looks like us. We all couldn't believe it.

The following morning, I talked to my grandmother. And I asked her, "Did you ever think you would live to see the day of a black President?"

She said, "No, I didn't." She said "I woke up this morning and thanked the Lord that he allowed me to be able to see this before I go." And that hit me a little more than anything else. With everything that my grandparents have been through, everything they've seen, they didn't think this was going to happen. And to see it happening, it's got to be a different experience for them.

At that point, I just kind of sat back and really thought about it. It's an amazing thing. The world is changing.

HOME ALONE
I had to say goodbye to my family yesterday when we left for Charlotte. They're going back to Los Angeles. I'll see my wife at the Clippers game on Nov. 24, and then the next day, we'll be having my son and I'll see them for like three days over the next two months.

It's tough to say goodbye for so long. And like I wrote last time, my daughter goes through so many changes within a week. Having to be away from her for this long of a period of time is always tough. As I was leaving, she was telling me that she wanted to go with me. And it's so tough, because I have tell her that I'm not going to see her for three weeks, but she doesn't necessarily understand that.

It's tough on her. She doesn't understand why I'm gone. She doesn't get that. And I noticed that when they were gone the last time, the longer it went, she started acting out more. After a week and a half, she had had enough. She would start crying for no reason in the middle of the day. She would be really whiny. My wife would try to ask her do something and she wouldn't listen. I knew what it was though. She just didn't understand. And as soon as they came back home, she got back to her old self again.

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
This past week, we got a pond in my backyard (I live on a golf course). It's actually more than a pond, because it runs for a long ways around the community, but I call it a pond. And I found out that they had fish back there, carp and bass.

I loooove to fish. I grew up fishing in Hanford. There's a lot of fishing out there. And now, every summer, I go deep-sea fishing all the time. I would go three times a week if I could, even when I'm training. I love deep-sea fishing for like barracuda ... sea bass ... yellowtail.

So I go to the store to buy some jigs. And I'm in the backyard just trying to fish and I'm not getting a bite. I'm like, "Man, maybe I'm fishing with the wrong things. Maybe I don't know the New Orleans secrets."

So I called the sporting goods store, I went to the bait shop, and they told me what to use. And I'm back there jigging and trying everything. I'm getting bit by mosquitos, really getting lit up back there, but I refuse to go in, because I see bass just jumping out of the water with the sun going down. I'm jigging and I see these huge waves going past my jig. So I'm like, "What is going on?"

I'm doing this like a week straight and I'm torn up right now with mosquito bites. Once I get my mind stuck on something, I'm not going to stop until I get one of these fish. And my wife is busting up laughing when I come in the house, because she knows me, and she knows the fish is winning right now and I can't take it.

So everyday, I come home from practice, go back there and spend a couple of hours trying to catch this huge fish that just keeps jumping out of the water, going by my backyard. And it's just not happening. This bass is just kicking my butt. I haven't caught anything but a cold and some mosquito bites.

THE FIRST LOSS
I think Atlanta came out a lot hungrier than us on Wednesday. And with me and Peja coming back and both in the starting lineup, I think we were both a step slow. That may have thrown us off of our rhythm a little bit.

It's one of those things where you forget the loss and you take the positives out of it. It was something that we needed to wake up. We've got some things defensively that we're not doing well, that we've got to open our eyes to. We were getting away with some wins, but we weren't necessarily doing the things defensively that we should have done. Other teams were just missing shots.

I also think that we've got to recognize that now, we're going to get teams' best game every night. Teams are kind of measuring themselves up against us. We've got to understand that and come out ready to go.

Sometimes, you go on a winning streak and you kind of slip into bad habits and you're not correcting them because you're still winning. I think we did that, and because we were winning, we weren't necessarily changing anything. We came out against a young and aggressive team, and those mistakes showed.

We thought the Golden State and Phoenix games would be the toughest of the first five. So, after we won the Phoenix game, the goal was to go 5-0. Now, it's gotta be 4-1. The next two games are ones we feel like we should win. I expect us to come out hard, especially after losing the last one. Atlanta's a tough, young team though. They're athletic across the board and it's hard to run sets against them, because they switch everything. Most teams try to switch, but they don't have the athleticism or they're not physical enough to do it, and it creates mismatches. But Atlanta's big and they're all about the same size.

They're definitely going to be a tough team.

I wouldn't say I'm at 100 percent with my ankle, but more than that, the toughest thing is to come back, because you're not in basketball shape. It doesn't matter how much time you spend on the elliptical or whatever you do to try to keep yourself in shape while you're out, it's not basketball shape. I was winded the first five minutes of the game.

It's different to have another big body banging you, and it's a different pace. I feel like I'll be more effective in the next game, because I'll have my second wind. It takes a game for me.