Caliballfan
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http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ba...ured-guy-win?urn=nba,146676#remaining-content
Behind the Box Score, where the obscured guy wins every time
By Kelly Dwyer
Then there's the Shaq nonsense.
Though we were prepared for Mike Wilbon to make excuse after excuse for Shaquille O'Neal in his taped sit down with the Suns center (he was already mentioning Shaq's pathetic attempts at avoiding blame on this week's PTI), it didn't make the interview any less sad. When is someone in the national media, with a TV camera in front of him or her, going to finally call Shaq out for being a childish, jealous, sensitive, insufferable [Swearing is not permitted at Clublakers. You must edit this post prior to submitting.]?
Van Gundy blamed his actions on the frustrations of a declining superstar, which is just ridiculous. O'Neal acted like this in his early 20s, his mid-20s, his late 20s, his early 30s, today, tomorrow ... at what point are people going to realize that such petulance is a pattern?
And at what point are we going to learn to accept this sort of idiocy and pettiness as a significant part of the overall package, and not something to be ignored? This isn't a lion in winter situation. This guy was lyin' in spring, summer, and fall.
I admire his accomplishments, the way he treats people (fans, lower-rung team employees, the many benefactors from his wonderful charity work) who don't make millions off the NBA, but there's absolutely no reason to act this childish. And worse than Shaq is our ability to forgive and forget. Not because we're sporting WWJD bracelets, but because he makes us laugh. I'm just as bad as anyone, in this regard. I don't wear the bracelet, but I tend to forget how nasty he's been to people who don't deserve it, just because he occasionally dances funny.
As mentioned by Woj last week, Shaq talks up supposed love of authority, but try to name one coach he hasn't clashed with, or trashed in the years following a separation. Name one superstar teammate he hasn't [Swearing is not permitted at Clublakers. You must edit this post prior to submitting.] about. Name one graceful exit. Name one graceful anything!
If this guy had been sent to Cleveland last month, think of the crap we'd be hearing from this guy about Amar'e, Kerr, Terry Porter, etc. Possibly Nash. All while throwing the nonsense at us about he will take the blame when things go wrong, while it's all on his shoulders, while he actually blames everyone but himself when things go wrong.
It's amazing. Not only does he not only not live up to what adults in his position should be doing without having to be told, he explicitly details to the press exactly what he's supposed to be doing (respecting authority, getting the most out of his talent, being a leader), falls way short of the things he says he's doing (not the goals, mind you, but what he claims to consistently do), and he never gets anything for it.
These are things not to be fawned over, but expected day-to-day operations of someone of his age and stature. Imagine me as the world's most notorious bank robber, and every third interview I gave mentioned something about how you shouldn't steal things. And how I respect the law. These boastful un-tellings of this guy's legend have obscured the way we deal with this man's history.
It clouds our judgment. What image comes to your mind as soon as I say "Lakers, 2004"? Probably Kobe, newly-tattooed, chucking jumpers against the Pistons while dealing with the impending Colorado trial. You never think about Shaq showing up to camp completely out of shape, or whining about a contract extension all season.
Who in the NBA ever gets to talk about a contract extension besides this guy? Do you hear Kobe angling for one? He's due, you know. Hell, if I were Kobe, I would have wanted to shoot 30 times a game as well that year, considering that he puts in more offseason training by July 4th than Shaq does all summer.
It's not OK tear into someone's life work when you're as wrong about his life's work as you are. It's no OK to equate gays or transsexuals or transvestites as people who don't have the strength or mettle to overcome tough odds, especially when they've likely had to work through or overcome more by their mid-teens than someone like Shaquille O'Neal has ever had to deal with in a lifetime.
It's not OK to thoughtlessly rip on a person for things he can't control (injuries, perhaps) because that person was carefully doing his job (criticizing Shaq on TV, perhaps) some years after that person went out of his way to work and aid you miles away from the glare of a camera.
It's not OK to act like this, at any age. And at some point, we have to own up to the fact that Shaq, as entertaining as he is, can be a pretty miserable person when the going gets ... somewhat uneasy
It's OK to like him. It's OK to laugh at his barely literate scribblings over at Twitter, as distressing as it is to fathom how a 37-year old man could type like that. It's OK to appreciate his game, and it's definitely OK to consider the things he's throwing out there about the players and coaches and organizations that he's ripping apart. There's a kernel of truth in just about every statement he's ever made about his ex-whomevers.
But it does nothing to hide the fact that this guy, who has barely developed on either end of the court since he came into this league in 1992, has been skating. He's led teams to championships, but he's also submarined entire franchises with his laziness and inability to get it straight. He deserves more blame for bad behavior than any other player in the league, and yet he's easily the NBA's most-liked figure.
Go figure.
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