Just saw it too and I thought to myself, "How much better could Hakeem have been had he found religion earlier in his life?" I'm not saying every great player needs religion in his/her life but it seemed to bring an inner peace in THe Dream. Of course, then we wouldn't have those rim-rattling dunks and beautiful right hooks of the young Olajuwon! Who was that Jazz player that Hakeem just suddenly clocked?!
Seeing the young Dream, I couldn't help but think how fortunate we are to get Yao. He seems to already have the poise and inner peace it took Hakeem several years to acquire. Watching Yao develop is like getting to see Hakeem's infancy all over again.
How come ESPN hasn't done a SportsCentury on Hakeem. I mean, they've done a Century on freaking Scretariat.
Scretarat was the greatest horse ever to live. I live in Maryland and I worked for a horse racing company and he is praised highly.
I was thinking the exact same thing but there's also a big difference on Hakeem's side: talent. To watch the footage from his UH days, you could see the great quickness that Hakeem had, especially on defense. He could just get up so quickly for dunks and blocks . IMO, Hakeem's talent level is just a head above Yao's. Of course, Yao could still have the same impact because of his maturity (hopefully it stays with him ) and he's 7'6" (Hakeem wasn't a true seven footer).
Horse racing is considered a sport and Secretariat was one bad ass horse. Now, if some great showdog, speller, or bowler gets a Sportscentury before Hakeem, I'll have a big problem.
Watching right now Just punched Mark Eaton in the face.... Hakeem. I had never seen this side of you. Guess it makes sense, I don't remember anything from before 1991 (when I started understanding what the hell my cousins were watching, 6 years old at the time)
Is it just me, or do all of these "Beyond the Glory" things make the featured athlete seem somewhat of a bad guy. Gary Sheffield, Hakeem, Chris Webber, they focus a lot on the bad stuff, and then spend a little time on their triumphs. (ie. Right now, the Rockets NBA Finals 94 series was given maybe 45 minute tops. They showed a clip from game 6, block on Starks Then Game 7, a few clips. Then that was it. Is it just me that thinks this?
hence the name "beyond the glory." it's to tell you about the not so glamorous aspects of certain athletes' lives because we pretty much know all of the highlights and achievements.
I don't see how they made Hakeem to be a bad guy. They could have touched more upon the ugliness of him going to Toronto. Instead, they finished with the basketball championships, the touching relationship with his first daughter (how he told his brother after Game 4 of the '95 finals that she was his true "trophy" was very touching), and his new family. I thought it was a very nice ending. You have to understand that they aren't going to show as much bball stuff because that's the stuff we already know. It's great to see the off the court of Hakeem and still come away impressed.
