“It’s not about about East or West. It’s about power and money. Riders and punks. Which side are you on?”
-Tupac Shakur
Whether you think Pac is the GOAT or overrated lyrically, no will deny that he used his talent and charisma to be one of the, if not the, most influential rapper of all time. If you need proof go listen to "Brendas Got a Baby" and think about what you could write at 19. 2pac inspired countless with his rhymes, but he was also an enigmatic and crazy mofo. No matter, fans ate up everything he did. In 1994, he released the mysogynistic “I Get Around” and the touching “Keep ‘Ya Head” as back to back singles, but no one really cared about the contradiction. When he slept with Biggie’s wife and bragged about in “Hit em’ Up,” he somehow gained more fans even though you would side with Biggie if the same thing happened with two of your friends (none of my friends are rappers, so it would have to be cheating caught on Facebook or something). Like most things in life, TuPac was complex, but he worked damn hard to earn the privilege of being embraced for that complexity.
A couple of months prior to his death he changed his name to Makaveli to make the very raw 7 Day Theory. As the legend goes, Pac recorded his verses in less than a week of late night sessions. During the day he was filming the movie Gang Related, so he was operating on fumes and still managed to make a classic rap album. The album opens with a fake news cast poking fun at other rappers who took shots at Pac in rhyme (poor Prodigy) and some rappers who had no idea they earned Tupac’s wrath (see Jay-Z). Then the fake newscast cuts to Tupac reading a press release and the quote at the top. Brilliantly he removes the geography from his feud with Biggie and makes it more polarizing. To him, it’s clear that there is something innately off about his rivals and most of them just happen to be from New York. He didn’t hate them because they were New Yorkers, after all, he could kick it with Boot Camp. Instead, he hated them because they weren’t riders; you couldn't count on them when ish got thick. And in Tupac’s dichotomous world, if you weren’t riding with him you were his enemy, and therefore you were a punk. It was crazy and probably rooted in paranoia, but it was an oddly familiar perspective.
As a fan sometimes there is no rhyme or reason in picking our favorite players. It’s not even tied to game performance all the time. In our heads, we label players as guys we like or guys we hate. Guys Pac would call riders and guys who he would call punks (I'm in no position to call any NBA player a punk, even Reggie Miller, so I will stop with those words). The easiest example of our fan dichotomy would be a couple of forwards named Charles from the 1992-93 that finished with 60 wins and the conference’s top seed. One of them averaged 16.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and 1.6 bpg with a PER of 14.9. The other averaged 6.9 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and .2 bpg (or a block every five games) for a PER of 12.6. Of course the guys are Charles Smith and Charles Oakley, and based on our memories we’d think Oakley was the better player that year. Unfortunately for Mr. Smith our memories of him are seared with pump fakes, stripped balls, and his inability to go up strong in Game of 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
While Smith is probably the least popular player of his era, Oakley is probably the most popular player of his era, and maybe in the running for most popular Knick of all time. Two seasons ago I attended the only Cavs game at MSG during LeBron’s final year with Cleveland. The city was buzzing at the potential of LeBron playing at the Garden full time, and the Yankees World Series victory two days earlier. In attendance were several Yankees, and A-listers like Dustin Hoffman, Chris Rock, and Adam Sandler. Jay-Z was there and he sat next to CC Sabathia and A-Rod. Former Knicks like Anthony Mason and LJ were there, and the crowd went ape shit when LJ’s four point play was shown on the jumbotron. But that applause was nothing compared to the ovation given to Charles Oakley. It was nuts and I probably clapped louder than anyone.
Smith was never forgiven for missing the layups and played five more seasons in the league, including 2 ½ more years with the Knicks. Oakley continued to flourish after that season, even making the All Star game the following year, and ended up playing five more gritty seasons in New York. It was a sad day when he was traded for Marcus Camby. Coach JVG summed it up best: "When guys put it on the line for you and play as hard as Charles did for our team, you feel great sentimental thoughts about the guy. I owe Charles Oakley a whole lot. But I want to make it clear; Charles Oakley does flagrantly foul now." The move was hugely unpopular with fans, but it shouldn’t have been. Oakley was 35 and coming off a season where he averaged 9 and 9. Camby was 24 and the number two draft pick only two years previously. In his last season with the Raptors, he averaged 12 ppg, 7.4 ppg, and led the league with 3.7 bpg. Camby had a well-deserved reputation as being injury prone but even after playing 63 games per season, he had 360 career blocks in two seasons. Charles Oakley only ended up with 384 blocks…for his entire career...in 1282 games. Camby was young, played above the rim, and blocked shots ten times as frequently as Oakley, but he was not warmly welcomed because he was replacing the ultimate fan favorite in Knicks history.
Camby was eventually beloved and there was plenty of unhappiness when he was traded to Denver after only three injury plagued seasons with the Knicks. So there is not necessarily rhyme or reason when determining who deserves our respect, praise, and applause. Some guys will always be cheered like Oakley even if they aren’t playing well, some guys can earn the cheers like Camby, and some guys wouldn’t get an applause even if they found the cure for cancer (sorry Charles Smith). This year’s team might have more potential fan favorites than any team in recent memory. The big offseason move was Tyson Chandler, and his reputation as a cerebral defender (despite the foul problems) and his championship ring make him someone fans want to root for. If the Knicks ever improve defensively, Chandler will benefit from the likely narrative that he is the defensive savior. Baron Davis becomes more popular with each game that Toney Douglas starts at point guard and Mike Bibby’s corpse is DNPed. Josh Harrellson got everyone’s attention on New Year’s Eve with a double and double and four treys in a start for Amar’e at PF. Plus he wears Jorts.
But early on, everyone is trailing rookie Iman Shumpert. Last night in a disappointing loss, the fans in attendance let D’Antoni know that Shump Shump needed to be back in the game. He filled up the box score in 30 minutes, but the team was only +1 with him on the court. He has played in only six quarters in his NBA career and seemingly shoots the ball every team he touches it. But he has irrational confidence (watch his attempted dunk on Biyombo) and plays with obvious passion, while the rest of the Knicks look frightened and disinterested. It’s early but Shumpert should remain a fan favorite no matter what his numbers look like (plus he is a Twitter savant). Does it make sense to unconditionally root for Shumpert after 1 ½ games? Probably not. Does it have to make sense? No. The lines have been drawn and Shumpert is on our side.
-Tupac Shakur
Whether you think Pac is the GOAT or overrated lyrically, no will deny that he used his talent and charisma to be one of the, if not the, most influential rapper of all time. If you need proof go listen to "Brendas Got a Baby" and think about what you could write at 19. 2pac inspired countless with his rhymes, but he was also an enigmatic and crazy mofo. No matter, fans ate up everything he did. In 1994, he released the mysogynistic “I Get Around” and the touching “Keep ‘Ya Head” as back to back singles, but no one really cared about the contradiction. When he slept with Biggie’s wife and bragged about in “Hit em’ Up,” he somehow gained more fans even though you would side with Biggie if the same thing happened with two of your friends (none of my friends are rappers, so it would have to be cheating caught on Facebook or something). Like most things in life, TuPac was complex, but he worked damn hard to earn the privilege of being embraced for that complexity.
A couple of months prior to his death he changed his name to Makaveli to make the very raw 7 Day Theory. As the legend goes, Pac recorded his verses in less than a week of late night sessions. During the day he was filming the movie Gang Related, so he was operating on fumes and still managed to make a classic rap album. The album opens with a fake news cast poking fun at other rappers who took shots at Pac in rhyme (poor Prodigy) and some rappers who had no idea they earned Tupac’s wrath (see Jay-Z). Then the fake newscast cuts to Tupac reading a press release and the quote at the top. Brilliantly he removes the geography from his feud with Biggie and makes it more polarizing. To him, it’s clear that there is something innately off about his rivals and most of them just happen to be from New York. He didn’t hate them because they were New Yorkers, after all, he could kick it with Boot Camp. Instead, he hated them because they weren’t riders; you couldn't count on them when ish got thick. And in Tupac’s dichotomous world, if you weren’t riding with him you were his enemy, and therefore you were a punk. It was crazy and probably rooted in paranoia, but it was an oddly familiar perspective.
As a fan sometimes there is no rhyme or reason in picking our favorite players. It’s not even tied to game performance all the time. In our heads, we label players as guys we like or guys we hate. Guys Pac would call riders and guys who he would call punks (I'm in no position to call any NBA player a punk, even Reggie Miller, so I will stop with those words). The easiest example of our fan dichotomy would be a couple of forwards named Charles from the 1992-93 that finished with 60 wins and the conference’s top seed. One of them averaged 16.6 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and 1.6 bpg with a PER of 14.9. The other averaged 6.9 ppg, 8.6 rpg, and .2 bpg (or a block every five games) for a PER of 12.6. Of course the guys are Charles Smith and Charles Oakley, and based on our memories we’d think Oakley was the better player that year. Unfortunately for Mr. Smith our memories of him are seared with pump fakes, stripped balls, and his inability to go up strong in Game of 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
While Smith is probably the least popular player of his era, Oakley is probably the most popular player of his era, and maybe in the running for most popular Knick of all time. Two seasons ago I attended the only Cavs game at MSG during LeBron’s final year with Cleveland. The city was buzzing at the potential of LeBron playing at the Garden full time, and the Yankees World Series victory two days earlier. In attendance were several Yankees, and A-listers like Dustin Hoffman, Chris Rock, and Adam Sandler. Jay-Z was there and he sat next to CC Sabathia and A-Rod. Former Knicks like Anthony Mason and LJ were there, and the crowd went ape shit when LJ’s four point play was shown on the jumbotron. But that applause was nothing compared to the ovation given to Charles Oakley. It was nuts and I probably clapped louder than anyone.
Smith was never forgiven for missing the layups and played five more seasons in the league, including 2 ½ more years with the Knicks. Oakley continued to flourish after that season, even making the All Star game the following year, and ended up playing five more gritty seasons in New York. It was a sad day when he was traded for Marcus Camby. Coach JVG summed it up best: "When guys put it on the line for you and play as hard as Charles did for our team, you feel great sentimental thoughts about the guy. I owe Charles Oakley a whole lot. But I want to make it clear; Charles Oakley does flagrantly foul now." The move was hugely unpopular with fans, but it shouldn’t have been. Oakley was 35 and coming off a season where he averaged 9 and 9. Camby was 24 and the number two draft pick only two years previously. In his last season with the Raptors, he averaged 12 ppg, 7.4 ppg, and led the league with 3.7 bpg. Camby had a well-deserved reputation as being injury prone but even after playing 63 games per season, he had 360 career blocks in two seasons. Charles Oakley only ended up with 384 blocks…for his entire career...in 1282 games. Camby was young, played above the rim, and blocked shots ten times as frequently as Oakley, but he was not warmly welcomed because he was replacing the ultimate fan favorite in Knicks history.
Camby was eventually beloved and there was plenty of unhappiness when he was traded to Denver after only three injury plagued seasons with the Knicks. So there is not necessarily rhyme or reason when determining who deserves our respect, praise, and applause. Some guys will always be cheered like Oakley even if they aren’t playing well, some guys can earn the cheers like Camby, and some guys wouldn’t get an applause even if they found the cure for cancer (sorry Charles Smith). This year’s team might have more potential fan favorites than any team in recent memory. The big offseason move was Tyson Chandler, and his reputation as a cerebral defender (despite the foul problems) and his championship ring make him someone fans want to root for. If the Knicks ever improve defensively, Chandler will benefit from the likely narrative that he is the defensive savior. Baron Davis becomes more popular with each game that Toney Douglas starts at point guard and Mike Bibby’s corpse is DNPed. Josh Harrellson got everyone’s attention on New Year’s Eve with a double and double and four treys in a start for Amar’e at PF. Plus he wears Jorts.
But early on, everyone is trailing rookie Iman Shumpert. Last night in a disappointing loss, the fans in attendance let D’Antoni know that Shump Shump needed to be back in the game. He filled up the box score in 30 minutes, but the team was only +1 with him on the court. He has played in only six quarters in his NBA career and seemingly shoots the ball every team he touches it. But he has irrational confidence (watch his attempted dunk on Biyombo) and plays with obvious passion, while the rest of the Knicks look frightened and disinterested. It’s early but Shumpert should remain a fan favorite no matter what his numbers look like (plus he is a Twitter savant). Does it make sense to unconditionally root for Shumpert after 1 ½ games? Probably not. Does it have to make sense? No. The lines have been drawn and Shumpert is on our side.
No comments:
Post a Comment