Alex talks about basketball

The TV show host starts the talk and says "We'll talk about genetics because Alexander's Mom Tatiana Ovechkina was two times Olympic Champion in basketball. I believe your basketball skills gotta be very good." Alex answers that they are not as good as his Mom's, but not bad.

"Talking about genetics..." says Alex, "My Mom would always stick her tongue out while playing and I do it as well, so it was passed to me from my Mom". They talk about why it helps when Alex is sticking his tongue out, does it help to breathe better? Alex jokes when he waggles his tongue it fools an opponent.





The host notes that Alex can bite it accidentally and Alex answers that so far… petew, petew, petew (spitting sound) ... it didn't happen. The host says that everyone who is watching the show should spit three times over the left shoulder too. :-)

Note:
Spitting three times over the left shoulder is the Russian equivalent to keeping the fingers crossed. If you watched the movie "My big fat Greek wedding" the Greeks spit in the movie for good luck, I think this tradition came to Russia from Greece together with Orthodox Christianity, and of course, everything came from Greece! :-)

Here’s the explanation why sticking your tongue out would help the sport performance:

The key to a great sport performance might be as plain as the look on an athlete's face.

The look of success isn't the stereotypical grimace, with clenched teeth, Nova Scotia dentist Anil Makkar says. The best performances come when an athlete has a relaxed jaw.

"Some athletes always seemed to do that naturally," Makkar said in an interview. "Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever, stuck his tongue out as he was driving for the basket. By sticking his tongue out, he was putting his jaw in that relaxed position. It probably wasn't done consciously. It was something he just started doing at the age of 12 and it worked for him."

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Now back to interview... :-)
Alex is showing his basketball skills and says that he grew up playing hockey and basketball. He says his Mom was a basketball Coach and a lot of times he was with her at the team trainings.

Then the host asks how Alex parents reacted to his leaving to America. Alex says that his Mom was worried a lot. His Dad worried less, he wanted Alex to play in NHL, but Mom worried a lot.

"What about now?" asks the host, "Is she still worried, or more happy for you?".

Alex answers "Now she is more happy (less worried), she really is..."