I don't want to steal my own thunder from my rant against the federal government but I'm as outraged by last night's felching of Reggie Miller's anus as I am about federal intrusion in private business.
To be honest, my memory is hazy on this but I don't remember ESPN doing a soft-focus, misty video tribute for Karl Malone, John Stockton, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing or Hakeem Olajuwon upon their retirements. Why does Reggie get one? It's preposterous. He was never as good as any of the aforementioned players. Perhaps because Reggie was imminently more quotable (with the exception of Sir Charles), ESPN felt the need to thank the guy for making post-game press conferences so entertaining.
That being said, it really pisses me off that we're giving hero worship to a guy that was a good but not great player. He's had his moments, no doubt. He's buried the Knicks more than anyone but MJ and perhaps that's why I hate him so much but let's be frank about this -- Reggie is not among the 50 greatest players in history and certainly shouldn't get his ass kissed more than any of his contemporaries who all outrank him in just about every meaningful stat. Reggie was never the best player at his position the way the guys listed above were.
ESPN has become a media outlet that promotes showboating, overrated pseudo-superstars. They'd actually have you believe that the NBA will somehow miss Reggie when in fact, only ESPN will miss Reggie. Believe me, the NBA will go on. There are at least 5 shooting guards in the league today that are more skilled than Reggie ever was.
Oh, and as far as that "flair for the dramatic" reputation goes -- I defy any reader of this blog to come back to me with a playoff series where Reggie carried his team to victory. I'm not talking about 1 game, I'm talking about a whole series. Go find me a series where he put together back-to-back classics the way the truly great players do.
1 comment:
Reggie may never have dominated a whole series, though when they finally beat the Knicks in 1995, or when they went to the NBA Finals in 2000, Reggie was on top of his game and probably averaged 25 ppg.
Ultimately, he isn't better than any of the people you named. The main difference is that Barkley, Olajuwon, Ewing, and Malone all went to different teams and their skills eroded by the time they retired. People were glad to see them retire at that point.
I have no reason of why Stockton didn't get more of a tribute, other than the fact that he's a goofy white guy.
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