Pink jacket, gold shoes, yellow shirt with a silver tie, always smiling and ready to ask a serious question next to the basketball court, but also to receive criticism on his outfit.
There has hardly been a more colorful character in the history of NBA television broadcasts than Craig Seger.
There is no more irritating moment of an NBA game than when, usually at the beginning of the second quarter, a live reporter from the court joins one of the team's coaches and asks two questions.
Coaches hate it, spectators hate it, and yet Seger did it brilliantly.
Partly with the idea of creating a trademark, which in his case was a really disastrous outfit (jackets with multi-colored rose petals, tie with pink tufts!), partly because in those moments that are so irritating to everyone, we get a relaxed response from the interlocutor, with the obligatory comment Seger's fashion statement for that night.
And that's how relationships were created... If you watched the San Antonio games, you just couldn't wait for it to start, because you know that Pop won't remain indifferent.
Gregg Popovich, who normally "destroys journalists" at conferences, had a special relationship with Seger.
He would nonchalantly take Craig's decorative handkerchief, wipe the sweat from his forehead, hand it back to the reporter and then instead of answering the given question, comment on his construction, to the delight of the audience.
Or Kevin Garnett, who could never help telling a reporter to take his clothes and set them on fire immediately after an interview.
Behind all that colorful, almost comic appearance, was a combination of an excellent sports connoisseur, a hard worker, and a born entertainer.
Back at Northwestern College in Chicago, as a student, Craig showed a tendency to entertain people at sporting events, so he was the University's mascot, Willy the Wildcat.
In his early days as a journalist, he will be remembered as the first to conduct a live interview with Hen Eron, the legendary baseball player after his record 715 home runs, surpassing Babe Ruth.
On that April 8, 1974, then young Seger managed to outsmart security and interview the baseball player live practically immediately after setting the record.
"Today, if I decided to do something like that, the security at the stadium would probably shoot me," said the TNT reporter.
From his time covering MLB, people remembered him as a hard worker who liked to set up the camera and set up shots himself.
Seger was a multi-sport expert, covering baseball, college football (American football), Nordic skiing, curling, the Olympics, soccer (ours).
He will be remembered in the annals of sports journalism as a member of the TNT network, where he served as a reporter from the field for over two decades.
When he was diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2014, the entire TNT network team showed up in colorful jackets as a sign of support.
He underwent three bone marrow transplants, along with long sessions of chemotherapy, which he refused the last time, even though the doctor told him he had three to six months to live without it.
He survived to celebrate his wedding anniversary with his wife, Stacey, and died the day after.
Numerous NBA stars, journalists, coaches said goodbye to Seger. Some teams warmed up in colorful T-shirts in his honor.
However, Dwayne Wade's words may best describe the loss experienced by the NBA.
"In our sport, the terms legend and legacy are often used. If you ask me, those are the terms I would use to describe Craig Seger. We loved being around him, joking with him, giving interviews after games. Leaving a legacy means leaving a story to be told. tells. Craig left us many stories, many moments, many memories that we will retell," said the Chicago basketball player.
"The most wonderful thing about him was his courage. What he survived, and the way he fought the disease, that courage he showed there...if any of us possessed it, only half as much as he did in fight to stay on this planet, to live every day as if it were the last, the world would be a better place. We will all miss him a lot," said his "arch-enemy" near the court, Greg Popovich.
And then when that next San Antonio game comes, and when in the black and white AT&T arena we look for a flashy jacket, and wait for Craig's questions and Pop's quips about the same, and they don't come, then we will understand who the NBA lost.
When someone, as a reporter from the field, is irritating at first (a typical Dixieland American with no taste), then makes you laugh, only when he leaves the world, do you realize that you actually loved him as a journalist, because you know he will be missed.
Anyone who has watched more than two or three NBA games will know that feeling.
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