The voice of summer league
Superfan Brett Salap: the bard of Las Vegas Summer League
─超级球迷Brett Salap：夏季联赛的吟游诗人
By Kyle Weidie
ESPN.com 3:34 p.m. ET, July 25, 2013
Some in the crowd wonder if Brett Salap will ever shut up.
有些夏季联赛的观众怀疑Brett Salap有乖乖闭嘴看球的一天。
Most accept that he’s part of an eclectic scene in Las Vegas. His sideline
antics are met with curious smiles, quizzical looks and, sometimes, annoyed
expressions. But the NBA junkies quickly fall in love. A dad tells his son to
get a photo with him. "This guy knows everything!"
不过多数人早已将他视为联赛中独树一格的景象。Salap场边看似古怪的举动常引来旁人
好奇的微笑或疑惑的表情，有时候则是恼怒的回应。不过好些球痴爱上了这家伙。
Salap has attended every single Las Vegas Summer League since 2004. For most
in attendance, summer league is a stop on the line, a step in the process, a
window of opportunity. For Salap, it's the only place where he can truly feel
comfortable watching the game he loves, and since the beginning, his act has
always been the same.
2004年以来，Salap参与了每一场在拉斯维加斯举办的夏季联赛。对绝大多数的参与者而
言，夏季联赛不过是人生路途中的一小站、篮球生涯中的一小步、或是一扇机会之窗。然
而对Salap，唯有这里才能真正舒服的观赏他所爱的篮球赛。而从开始到如今，他始终如一
。
If he sat quietly, merely observing the action, you wouldn't know Salap from
any other jersey-wearing aficionado. But he’s not quiet at all. Sitting in
the first row, he’s the gym’s self-appointed play-by-play guy. Salap calls
the game out loud with vivid accuracy, and is missing only a color analyst by
his side.
当Salap沉默的观察球场上的一举一动，你不会从一群穿着球衣的死忠球迷中看出他来。不过
别误会，他可一点都不安静。Salap自栩为场内主播，总坐在观众席第一排实况转播比赛。
他总能以精准的大声喊出比赛战况，就只差一个正港的球评坐在身旁。
He announces the result of a referee’s whistle before the call makes its way
to the public address system. If points are accidentally assigned to the
other team by the scoreboard operator, it doesn’t get past Salap. A call
doesn’t go the way he sees it? He will give his opinion otherwise. But it’s
not just the action unfolding in front of his eyes, Salap has an incredible
ability to pull context out of thin air with his encyclopedic knowledge of
pro basketball.
Salap总能抢在裁判的哨音被广播以前重复出来。给错队伍的分数一点也不能脱离他的法
眼。如果判决和他想的不一样，他绝对不吝指教。不过Salap令人佩服的地方不只是他对
球场内动态的专注。他有项惊人的能力，乃是对职业篮球如百科全书般的知识，使他能凭
空讲出许多背景资料。
Salap has Asperger's syndrome, which, according to the Mayo Clinic website,
is a "developmental disorder that affects a person's ability to socialize and
communicate effectively with others," and where the person has "an
all-absorbing interest in specific topics."
Salap是个亚斯伯格症患者。根据马约医院网站的资料，亚斯伯格症是一种“会影响个人与
他人社交与沟通的发展症候群”；而病人通常拥有“对特定主题有全方面吸收的兴趣”。
Imagine you have trouble interacting with people on a social level. Most of
us do to some extent. To be quirky is to be human. Because of his condition,
Salap doesn't understand social graces; he isn't aware of nonverbal clues.
Everything for him is black and white.
想像一下一个有社交障碍的你。大多数的人说话会有弦外之音，因为人是总是瞬息万变。
(但你都听不出来) Salap也是如此。他的症状也使他搞不懂社交礼节，和口语之外的蛛丝
马迹(如肢体语言)。每件事情对他而言非黑即白。
Salap is 32 years old. His mother, Sharon Foster, takes care of him full
time. He is capable of holding down a job, but his condition doesn't make it
easy. He worked at a movie theater in Las Vegas at one point.
Salap已经三十二岁了，但他的母亲Sharon Foster得全天候照顾他。他虽然能有份工作，
但因着亚斯伯格症并不轻松。他曾在拉斯维加斯的一间戏院工作。
"Boy, I really hate your team," he once blurted out to a customer wearing a
New York Yankees hat at the cinema. That didn't work out so well.
有一回Salap曾不假思索的对一位戴纽约洋基帽子的客人脱口而出：“天啊，我讨厌死你那
队了！”行不通的嘛。
Salap and his mother have lived outside of Denver for the past three years
after residing in Las Vegas for seven. Sharon has yet to find him a job in
Colorado. Salap doesn't really have any friends. Services for those with
Asperger's tend to disappear once the person reaches adulthood. Even grouping
Salap with others dealing with his condition isn’t ideal. He can't
comprehend how to interact with those less functional.
过去三年，Salap和他母亲住在丹佛郊外；在这之前他们曾住在拉斯维加斯七年。Sharon
还没替Salap在科罗拉多找到工作，Salap也没有朋友。有关亚斯伯格症的帮助似乎在患者
成年之后便随着消失。即使把Salap和其他与他有相同问题的人聚集起来也不是啥好点子，
因为他不懂得和那些比他更严重的人相处。
But once a year in Las Vegas, Salap is just another basketball addict. He
might attract funny looks, but by and large, it’s the one place where
Salap’s passion can be voiced without judgment. Summer league is his safe
haven.
但在每年一次的夏季联赛中，Salap不过就是另一个篮球成瘾者罢了。即便会引起一些看笑
话的眼光，但基本上Salap能在这里尽情的展现对篮球的热情而不会被任意论断。夏季联赛
是他的避风港。
“For a few magical days in the summer he can come here,” Foster says. “And
he’s not different with all these other people who feel so passionately
about that game as he does.”
Salap的母亲说：“在夏季几个神奇的日子里他能来到这里，而且和其他热爱球赛的人没有
多大的差别”
“The rims in Vegas this year seem a lot more bouncy than in years' past,"
Salap observes as shots continue to miss in a certain way. He pulls the names
of marginal players out of his head, often mentioning if said player has had
so much of a cup of coffee in the NBA and with what team.
“今年的篮框比过去几年的还有弹性喔”Salap在看到几颗投篮以特定模式持续打铁后这样
说。他开始提及脑海中许多小咖球员的名字，还会补充球员在NBA所属的球队以及哪怕是一
丝一毫的表现或经历。
“He’s been watching basketball since he was 5 years old, and he would do
the same thing, he would watch it and he would call it,” Foster says. “And
then he has this amazing memory. ... Kids with Asperger’s have a really
remarkable memory, and that’s just one of the things that goes with it.”
“他从五岁起就开始看球。他总会做一样的事：看球然后，喊出他知道的”母亲说道，
“然后他惊人的记忆力便展现出来...，亚斯伯格症的小孩记忆都很强大，而这便是其中一
样伴随而来的结果”
Salap also will watch events such as the NBA draft as a primer for his time
in Las Vegas. He remembers obscure biographical details about more
recognizable players, the kind of stuff conjured by NBA broadcasters after
hours of digging and often with the help of a research staff.
Salap也会注意一些NBA例行盛事，像是选秀，作为参加夏季联赛之前的预备。他总能记得
许多关于球员枝微末节的个人资料。一般主播总得要花上数小时的研究和工作人员的协助
才能完成。
“Waiters really killed my Clippers last year during Cleveland's early trip
out West,” he says after a basket by Dion Waiters of the Cleveland
Cavaliers. In early November, Waiters dropped 28 points on 7-for-11 3-point
shooting against the Clippers at Staples Center.
“Waiters在骑士上赛季一开始作客西区之旅的时候真是杀翻我家快艇了”，在Waiters投
进一球后他这么说。去年十一月初时，Waiters在Staples Center对上快艇时三分11投7中
，砍了28分。
Prompted by my mentioning of Nick Young’s role in the Clippers’ amazing
comeback from a 12-point deficit against the Grizzlies with a little less
than three minutes left in a 2012 playoff game, Salap starts rattling off
other great comebacks in NBA history.
在迅速提及Nick Young在快艇2012年在季后赛，从比赛剩下不到三分钟落后12分的劣势中
神奇逆转灰熊扮演的角色后，Salap开始细数NBA史上的超级逆转秀。
“I remember back in 2002, Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals between
New Jersey and Boston, the Celtics were down like 20-something going into the
fourth quarter and they came back and won that game,” Salap recalled. Paul
Pierce scored 19 points in the final period to give Boston a 94-90 win after
being down 74-53 after three quarters.
“我记得2002年东区冠军战第三战篮网对老赛，老赛落后二十几分进到第四节，但后来他
们赢了那一场”，Salap回忆。PP最后一节砍了19分帮助老赛从前三节打完53-74落后到最
后94-90逆转胜。
“Then again, they lost the next three and the Nets went on to the Finals, so
it really didn’t matter,” he added before going on to mention Reggie Miller
’s infamous "eight points in 9 seconds" heroics in 1995, and a 2002
regular-season game when the L.A. Lakers beat the Dallas Mavericks after
being down 27 points to start the fourth quarter.
“不过老赛最后三场都输掉了，然后篮网打进总冠军，所以其实也没差啦”，在提起大嘴
米勒1995年那声名狼藉的九秒大砍八分的传奇，以及湖人2002年例行赛从进到第四节落后
27分大逆转之前，Salap补了那么一句话。
Salap was born in Fullerton, Calif., and grew up loyal to his hometown Lakers
and Clippers. The “Showtime” days of Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Kareem
Abdul-Jabbar got him hooked on basketball, but it was the voice of former
Lakers play-by-play man Chick Hearn that sparked his passion for calling the
game.
Salap在加州的Fullerton出生，所以从小就是洛城两支球队的忠实球迷。魔术强森、火把
沃锡和天勾贾霸编织而成的"Showtime"使他迷上篮球，然而是前湖人播报员Chuck Hearn
点燃他对喊出比赛过程的热情。
Salap calls Hearn, who passed away in 2002, the greatest in the history of
the NBA at his trade. “I learned so much listening to him,” Salap tells me.
“To this day, I miss him dearly.”
对Salap而言，2002年过世的Hearn是NBA史上最伟大的人。“听他的播报我获益良多，”
Salap告诉我“直到如今，我深深的怀念他”
As Salap has gotten older, it’s been harder and harder for him to watch
games live. He doesn’t handle losing so well. He can watch or attend a
regular-season game under one condition: two of his three teams