Not sure if this was posted, couldn't see a post about it on the first page or so. Anyways, ESPN had a scale from 0 - 10 on the "Vengeance Factor" listing athletes, events that show a persons vengeance against a situation or another person ... Hakeem was listed at 7.3 on the scale ... "Hakeem's reaction after David Robinson won the '95 MVP Award ... " Here's the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/040720
Great article, although Shaq to Miami is too high. Here is one that I would have included Clifford and Linderman beating up Moody and Mike in My Bodyguard ("You broke my nose!")
During the 1995 postseason run culminating in Houston's second NBA championship, the Rockets defeated the San Antonio Spurs and the Orlando Magic, two teams with great centers who were left bewildered by Olajuwon's moves. In a Life magazine story, San Antonio's David Robinson seemed perplexed. "Solve Hakeem?" said Robinson. "You don't solve Hakeem." Infact, I still wake up drenched in terror sweat screaming for weakside help!!! I always have to check to make sure Dream's MVP trophy is still in my den. Orlando's Shaquille O'Neal felt the same way after going down in a Finals sweep . "He's got about five moves, then four countermoves," said a stunned O'Neal. " That gives him 20 moves." http://www.nba.com/history/players/olajuwon_bio.html
I don't know if anybody else did, but I had written in about Calvin Murphey's big second half in the game where Rudy T got nailed by Kermit. Happy to see it made mention, if not in the way I expected. Can't argue with Simmons' take on it though. Evan
Given the love for Sopranos shown by Simmons in previous articles, how did Tony going nuts on Ralph after the horse incident not make it?
Wow, I thought I was a pop culture geek, but this guy's got me beat. He even had a Children of the Corn reference in there.
So when Rockets and Heat face off in the Finals this season do we get a picture of Yao holding Shaq?!
Yao hold SHAQ ...thats funny, Yao would crumble trying to do that....how bout Shaq stands on a small ladder so he's the same height as Yao!
Brilliant list! A couple of edits, though. - At 0.7 the author has "Robin Ventura charging the mound against Nolan Ryan." I have to add Nolan's revenge against Ventura for charging him should be be at about a 6.2. It's got everything good, quick vengeance should have: a headlock, numerous blasts to the opponent's face, and the national humiliation of getting the living crap kicked out of you by a man twenty years older than you are. The moral: no matter how old he is, don't ever charge the mound on a genuine badass like Nolan Ryan. - At 4.3, they have "Lance Armstrong vs. the French." This one should be at least two points higher. Plus, they should have had Lance Armstrong vs. cancer at about 9.3 ... he kicked cancer's ass and then went on to become one of the most incredible performers in sports history. - At 7.8, they have "Cartman's revenge on Scott Tenorman (from "South Park")". This deserves a 9.5 at the very least. For God's sake, Cartman fed Scott chili made with the dismembered corpses of Scott's own parents ... then told him about it in front of the whole town. That's like Ghengis Khan-style revenge, and far better than that weak-assed Rocky bit. - Why was the raped-and-left-for-dead girl who tracks down her attackers and kills them one by one in "I Spit on your Grave" not on the list? She was the proto-Kill Bill heroine, driven by nothing but an insatiable bloodlust. Rates an 8.2 in my book. - Uhhhh, hello McFly? What about "The Crow"? That darkly beautiful bit of goth-flavored vengeance that should rate at 7.5 or better, and get a few haunting extra credit points because Brandon Lee died while filming it. - Also missing were "A Clockwork Orange", "9 to 5", "Diabolique", "Heathers", "Frankenstein", "Dirty Harry" and "The War of the Roses", just off the top of my head. L8r
That was a great read. I was at that Nolan / Ventura game. Arlington Stadium was literally vibrating. Nolan was on the front page of the Dallas and Ft. Worth papers for 2 or 3 days. And what was the gripe between Zeek and Jordan?
