There are a couple articles around the blogosphere today about Kevin Garnett. None of them are flattering:
- Worst Person In the World: Kevin Garnett (NBC Chicago Sports, Eamonn Brennan)
- But I Thought Basketball was a Brotherhood! (Mouthpiece Blog, Eamonn Brennan)
- Hating Kevin Garnett is a Brotherhood (Hardwood Paroxysm, Trey Kirby)
Timberwolves fans should be well-aware of KG's tendency let let a curse word or 60 slip from his mouth when he's on the hardwood. And I hope that most of you felt a bit of pride seeing him win a championship last year, despite any bad blood that made the Celtics' title bittersweet for Minnesotans.
This year, though, things are different. Despite sitting out the playoffs, Garnett has been a focus of the media as games 1 through five have rolled through. I think Brennan sums up last night pretty well:
Last night crossed a line. After Brad Miller missed the first of two potentially game-tying overtime free throws, Garnett took time out of his busy injured schedule to yell "choke" at Brad Miller. Classy, man. (And this is coming from us, someone you'll rarely ever see complain about "class" in sports.) There's also this photo of a snarling Garnett getting in Ben Gordon's face, the same Ben Gordon who played through his injury last night while Garnett threw on Armani and did his cheerleading from the sidelines.
Then there are the incidents from earlier in the year, most notably the one with Jose Calderon, but his sideline status and Boston's insistence that he sit on the bench with the team have stirred up the KG Trash Talk conversation yet again.
An interesting part of a couple of these formal and informal opinions I've heard today mention that they "used to" like and cheer for Garnett, in large part because they felt sorry for his versatile and elite talents being stuck in a mismanaged situation.
I'm sure everyone will have something to say about this, so I'll just leave it with a question: was pity causing everyone to gloss over Garnett's antics? Or has success amplified them?