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What's the record for most points in a NBA game?
What's the consecutive game streak number by Joe DiMaggio?
What NFL team has the most Super Bowl wins?
What's the record for most home runs in a single season? (Okay, I guess this one is debatable)
You know all those records. You know the person who established them and the number that corresponds with them.
Why do we care about numbers so much? Why can't we just witness greatness instead of trying to rationalize it based on statistics? We can't because sports don't work that way. We can't decide the winner of a game based on who looked better and we can't say someone was the best without having something to back it up. Sports are all about numbers and there's nothing wrong with that.
So why is wrong if players know the numbers?
This past week Kobe Bryant passed Jerry West to become the Los Angeles Lakers all-time leading scorer. A great accomplishment and an unbelievable achievement at his age, but a record that was soiled by fellow teammates, coaches, fans, and the media. Most athletes would be praised for such a remarkable stat, for Kobe Bryant, it's a distraction that he caused. Immediately after the game we heard Pau Gasol speak about how the Lakers could finally go back to winning games. We heard Phil Jackson say Kobe was distracted because he knew the record was approaching. Fans and the media referred to him as selfish and lamented that all Kobe cares about is the numbers. He wants to break all the numbers.
What athlete doesn't want to be the best though?
To be the best in the sports world you have to have the records. You have to build up your resume and showcase how great you are based on your numbers. The most points, most wins, most home runs, most playoff victories, most titles, mostly everything in sports is based on the numbers.
What's the most amount of points Kobe has scored in a single game? What's the most amount of assists? Most people can tell you the first one; hardly anyone can tell you the second one.
I don't know why it's different for Kobe. Maybe people don't want him to be the greatest. Maybe he still has the stigma of a bad guy to most folks and people can't appreciate how great he is. Other sports and even other players we have no problem with the players going for the record. Do you remember when A-Rod was going for 500 home runs and basically slumped for 20-some odd games? We didn't care that it was affecting the team. We still watched every night waiting for number 500. We didn't care if Mark McGwire or Sammy Sosa struck out three times in a game as long as they hit a home run to move towards Roger Maris. We want to see records be broken, except when Kobe Bryant is breaking them.
I don't know if people have truly comprehended how great Kobe Bryant is. I know I haven't until the past couple years. There were always the excuses why he was so good. He had Shaq on his team. Phil Jackson is his coach. The players that surround him are great. No, the real reason Kobe Bryant is so great is because he works at being great. He may work harder then everyone in the game and anyone who played before him. He makes his entire team better as players and he takes the blame for every loss with no haste towards any of his teammate. The Lakers lost to the Grizzlies on the day that Kobe set the Lakers scoring record. Who was at fault for that Lakers loss? Kobe Bryant, the guy who scored 44 points that game.
If we care about the numbers so much then the players should be allowed to care to. Will Kobe Bryant be the greatest player to ever play the game? I don't know, but I'm sure we're going to try to determine it based on numbers. Maybe we should forget the numbers for once, start experiencing sports greatness by how it's played and what it creates, instead of how many points and how many wins. Maybe then people can appreciate Kobe Bryant for what he is, instead of what people perceive as what he's trying to be.
The best.
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I too wish that people could let go of their bias and just appreciate an absolutely amazing basketballer. He doesn't have the physical gifts that LBJ has, but as you stated - he works harder than anyone else.
I've never gotten the "I hate this team/player" deal that seems so prevalent in pro-sports.