Re-thinking Diesel

When it comes to any sport, I have a strict one team rule. There is only one team for which I actively cheer in any sport. In basketball, that team is the Timberwolves. However, when I am watching a game, I do assess the teams involved to determine for whom I will be rooting. This determination may involve story lines, players, announcers, or standings. If the defeat of one of the involved teams will impact the standing of "my" team, I will be pulling for that team to lose. If there is a specific player on the team that I feel is being overly-hyped by the media without having earned it (see also: Kenyon Martin), I'll usually pull against that team.

This brings us to Sunday's game of the Miami Heat versus the New Jersey Nets. The team that I was pulling for won. Here's the strange part: I'm not sure how I feel about that fact. My assessment of the game went as follows:

New Jersey:

Vince Carter – I can't stand any player who purposely sabotages his team to force a trade whether by faking an injury, playing below his ability, or just plain whining about everything. Carter, in a rare bit of overachieving, hits the trifecta. Vince, however, is balanced on New Jersey by

Jason Kidd – Say what you will about his wife's shameless self-promoting, Kidd is quite possibly the best point guard over the last ten years. He's not a very good shooter, but he can affect the game by passing the ball to the exact right person in the exact right spot every time. I appreciate a pass-first point guard in this day and age. Because of that, he cancels out Carter.

Underdog factor - Let's face it, the Nets are not the favorites for this series. I have always had a special place in my heart for the underdog.

Miami:

Dwyane Wade – I love watching this guy play. He goes hard each and every day and puts his body on the line. While this doesn't speak well of his longevity in the league, it speaks very well of his heart and desire to win. Very much like a younger Allen Iverson without saying dumb things about practice. However, much like Jason Kidd, his positives are balanced by the negatives of

Antoine Walker – Early in his career, if he had played anywhere but on the east coast, he would have been forgotten a long time ago as another big man with a few skills who decided to just settle for the three-point shot. However, he somehow ingratiated himself to some Boston fans and therefore was considered to be good for a short while. Never liked him, myself.

So, according to our count right now, I should have been cheering for New Jersey. But then we come to the deciding factor:

Shaquille O'Neal – Realize where I'm coming from here: Shaq has always bothered me. He didn't really start to bother me until he was signed by the Lakers and moved into a major media area that gave him the outlet for his big mouth to spout about whatever he could think of, declaring himself the best center ever to play the game. In my view, he was committing an offensive foul almost every time down the court. I was once watching highlights with a friend of mine and predicted, "Watch this: Shaq will do a shoulder, shoulder, drop-step, dunk." I was off by one too few shoulders into the chest of the poor schmuck that was trying to guard him. There was once where he swung his elbow around and hit Rasho Nesterovic in the nose. Rasho’s face was called for the foul. I would get into long discussions with my friends, who for some reason *coughBANDWAGONcough* were Lakers' fans in the middle of the US, about how Shaq was overrated and if the officials called the game the way that the rulebook says that it should be called, he'd have mediocre stats at best and be on the bench for three quarters of the game at worst. Then a strange thing occurred. The Lakers ran into some personality (Kobe) issues that caused a very ugly break-up of a two-time championship team. Phil Jackson retired. Kobe won the heart of the ownership enough so that Shaq was traded away to Miami. Somehow (I'm still trying to determine how), this made Shaq a sympathetic figure to me. There is no way that the Lakers would have won their championships without Shaq, but yet they traded him away because the Robin to Shaq's Batman complained about getting second-billing. Yes, he's now considered to be one of the most talented players in the game, but they were ousted in the first round by a team that can't play defense. They will continue to do nothing probably until Kobe's off the team, but I digress. Shaq came out of the whole ordeal, in my eyes, as the victim of a selfish, spoiled brat. Meanwhile, he goes to a team with a player who might be as offensively talented as Kobe, but doesn't seem to carry the ego and selfishness (Wade). He's getting older. He's slowing down. He's gaining weight. He's not as good as he used to be. However, you still have to account for him; he can still take over a game; and he's working hard to get his team the W.

In the question of "who am I going to root for", Shaq (pardon the phrase) tips the scales. And to a certain extent, I'm not sure what I think about that.