Fire-Eyed Man

"I am little concerned with beauty or perfection. I don't care for the great centuries. All I care about is life, struggle, intensity."- Emile Zola

If one were to do a Google search of this blog's name, he or she would most likely encounter a video of LeBron James posterizing Kevin Garnett during the 2008 playoffs. Even though Garnett's Celtics went on to win the Finals that year, there is something about that dunk that makes me think KG did not forget about it after getting his ring.

The kind of intensity, the kind of competitiveness, that lives inside of Kevin Garnett is the kind that is not easily sated. It is the kind that makes you wonder if he ever sleeps at night, or if he is constantly plagued by visions of a late pass, a missed assignment, a shot clinked off the back of the rim. Andrew Abides and I used to wonder what it would be like to go out for a drink with Garnett. Would he race you to the bottom of each pint? Stare at you menacingly as you tried to beat his score on Big Buck Hunter? See who could slam his tip down on the bar the hardest? Is there anything the man can't turn into a chance to prove his superiority?

With these kinds of questions running through my head, I find it impossible to not think about how Garnett sees himself in this, LeBron's, NBA.

It might be worth considering whether KG could have ever been the figurehead that LeBron has become. For years, he existed as (arguably, I suppose) the best player in the NBA, a freakishly athletic big man who made everyone on his team better and just about always found a way to win, except for when it really counted. Sound familiar? But just as Garnett finally found that team success he yearned for so badly, he was no longer that best player, according to conventional wisdom. It is no secret that Kevin Garnett, in many ways, ushered in the modern era of this game, and yet, his name will not be the one mentioned as its owner. No matter how much more success his teams have than LeBron's, he will end up being remembered not as "one of the top five players of all time," but more like, "one of the best big men of all time" or "one of the fiercest competitors in history." It is hard to say exactly what KG's legacy will look like, but it is fairly easy to say what it won't look like.


Could the NBA's marketing machine have made Garnett into the kind of commercial, pop cultural superstar we have seen LBJ become? Probably not. His background was a little too questionable, his temper was a little too real, his body was a little too lanky, and his style was just never as smooth as LeBron's. Perhaps most importantly, he came along at a time when the NBA wasn't sure if it wanted a face, and if it did, it sure as hell didn't know what that face was supposed to look like.

So tonight, as LeBron takes home his MVP trophy and Garnett takes home the knowledge that he and his Celtics made James and his Cavs look like a JV squad in Game 2, think about the idea of motivation. Think about what is at stake for certain players as this season winds down, but more than that, think about what is at stake for certain players as their careers wind down. Think about legacies. Think about history. Think about life. Think about what it truly means to have no regard. Think about this face: