Athletic Greatness: Post-Mortem

During the end of the Spurs-Hornets blowout last night on TNT, David Aldridge reported his fascinating conversation with the Spurs' Robert Horry. Horry has enjoyed a long and distinguished NBA career, and his memorable timely 3-pointers in the playoffs have of course earned him the very deserved nickname "Big Shot Rob".

Consider his track record:

• He set NBA Finals records in Houston with 5 3-pointers in a quarter and 7 steals in a game
• He hit the game-winning 3-pointer in Game 3 of the 1995 Finals
• He iced game 3 of the 2001 Finals with a 3-pointer to put the Lakers up 4
• He hit the game-winning 3-pointer in Game 3 of the First Round against Portland in 2002
• He looks just like Will Smith, which admittedly is not always a cool thing, but since people seem fired up about Will Smith's new movie, I'm going to count it as a positive here
• He went 7 for 7 on 3-pointers in Game 2 the 1997 Western Conference Finals, still a record for most 3-pointers without a miss in the playoffs
• He hit the game winning 3-pointer in the pivotal game 4 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals against Sacramento
• He regularly admitted to not playing his hardest during the regular season (When Randy Moss says this, it's game over, but when Robert Horry does, somehow everyone thinks this is hilarious. Including me.)
• He scored 21 points in the 4th quarter and overtime to lead the Spurs to a Game 5 win over Detroit in the 2005 Finals
• He is second all-time in playoff 3-pointers
• He once hit the somewhat irritating Danny Ainge in the face with a towel, which I laughed about for days

In all, Robert Horry has played 14 seasons in the NBA. In every one of those seasons, his team went to the playoffs. Never once has his team lost in the first round of the playoffs. He has been to the NBA finals 7 times, and won 6 championships.

So I thought it was awfully interesting when he told Aldridge that he would trade it all, his whole career, the memories, the wins, the titles IN A SECOND to be "the man". He said he would much rather have had Karl Malone's career or Reggie Miller's career, and be a team's primary star, even if it meant not winning a title. Aldridge recounted that Horry told him, "in a few years, no one will remember who I am. But they'll remember Karl Malone. They'll remember Reggie Miller".

Reggie Miller happened to be broadcasting the game for TNT, so they threw it back to Miller, who went berserk and called Horry insane. I talked about this one with Brian and Justin, and we all agreed it was a point worth considering. Brian mentioned that he had heard a lot of other athletes say this as well. So much is made in the press about the importance of winning a championship, and how incomplete an athletic career is without one. But a career spent in limiting roles, never achieving the peak performance that is perhaps within a player's capacity - well that may be just as incomplete.

In the case of Derrick from Real World/Road Rules Challenge, the one thing we know for sure is that he has performed as well as is physically possible. If satisfaction comes not from championships, and not from individual greatness, maybe true athletic fulfillment comes from overachieving. In which case, Derrick has nothing to worry about.