I Hate Kevin Garnett
He’s one of the most beloved players of the decade, but I couldn’t care for him any less
Last winter break, I got into a heated argument with a friend of mine while we were watching the Celtics — a team whose ravenous fan base loves to routinely overestimate their championship chances (who would’ve thought relying on a rookie and a second-year player might yield some growing pains?) — play against the Cavaliers, because that’s obviously how every group of just-turned-21-years-old friends typically spend their Saturday night. The conversation turned into a light-hearted debate regarding some of the best players over the last decade or so. Naturally, since Lebron James was playing, he was a major focus. But what eventually tilted the conversation towards being more contentious than easy-going was the mention of Kevin Garnett.
Aside from baseball pitchers as an entity overall (we’ll get to that some other time), there are very few professional athletes I have despised more than Kevin Garnett — if any at all. For as long as I have been watching the NBA, there hasn’t been a player on the level of obnoxious, mean-spirited and repulse nature that he was. Remember when he made fun of Carmelo Anthony’s wife? Or when he shouted “Happy Mother’s Day Motherf****r” at Tim Duncan, who lost his mother before his 14th birthday?
Yeah, I don’t like jerks, sue me.
My friend — who I will refer to as “Fredo” in order to preserve his anonymity from the millions that will surely be reading this — countered my opinion of Garnett by calling me “soft”, and pushed the idea that “he did whatever it took to win, and that’s respect.” Needless to say, the banter between us became more acrimonious and offensive than the racial politics and treatment of women in 48 Hours.
For those that don’t know, Kevin Garnett is a now-retired player who spent most of his prime years with the Minnesota Timberwolves, then was traded to the Boston Celtics, where he finally captured that elusive first championship. He was a phenomenal player, and is one of the few big men that I can remember completely carrying a team like he did with the aforementioned Timberwolves. There is little doubt that Garnett is a Hall of Fame-caliber talent, and I suspect in the future he will receive the honor.
However, Kevin Garnett represents to me what I feel is an ideology that has permeated society, especially with men. As my friend Fredo said, there is this belief in competitiveness that is warranted, no matter the degree, if you are trying to achieve success. Meaning, it’s all kill-or-be killed, and there is no line to be drawn. So what if you mock someone’s wife or dead mother? It helped you win the basketball game!
Garnett has been the epitome of this notion. Sure, there have been plenty of players whose trash-talking was part of their strategy — as evidence from something like Winning Time: Reggie Miller Versus the New York Knicks would attest to — but not always to this extent. What makes me even more disgusted with the behavior of Garnett is that we have proof you don’t need to be a loathsome person in order to be “successful,” which I put in quotes since it’s probably one of the most subjective terms in existence. Look at Tim Duncan (5 championships), was he ever known for being one who used unwarranted cruelty as a tactic to win? No, and that’s what makes Garnett’s personality and demeanor more cowardly than respectable.
It’s true that I might be a softie; that I don’t have a killer instinct. Maybe that’s something that holds me back at times. But what I refuse to accept is that what Kevin Garnett is, and represents, is something that instantly garners adulation. Because it doesn’t make you someone who did whatever it took to win, it just makes you a jackass. If going to extreme lengths like that to put others down is what “success” entails, then I’d rather be a “failure” for the rest of my life.
