Photos of Hakeem Olajuwon during the rededication of his Hall Of Fame jersey #34 at half time intermission.
pryuen, thank you so much! bobblehead and antisonic, you made my weekend. LOL. Love the monolith theme But honestly, I don't understand the criticism. It is classic and simple. You could have gotten "creative" by having him on the bench draped in towels or something, kind of like FDR's blanket in DC half hiding his wheelchair. Or you could have an abstract kinetic sculpture inspired by the Dreamshake. But it would probably injure unsuspecting fans loitering nearby.
Classic and simple is fine by me, but when I'm told that something has been 2 years in the making, I expect more from some hot shot designer. That's all.
In my dreams this was a statue of Hakeem half-way through a dream shake with 3 defenders looking on helplessly. Too bad it couldn't be something like that. I was a little like "That's it?" when I first saw it last night on TV, but looking at the photos now, it's grown on me. Plus it's probably cooler to see in person, since you get a sense of how big it is.
I would have had a large 3 and a 4 statue instead. When people see it, they know exactly who it's for, nevermind that other 34's have been retired. They know they are entering Dream's House. I like the simplicity and elegance of the statue though, just like Hakeem as he is today. I don't like the achievements clutter that someone else mentioned that would have been better.
you could be right, here's a video of the new days i made just for you Spoiler <object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/YnM1Ee_H2As&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/YnM1Ee_H2As&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>
How many other people from the board were at the ceremony before the game? Was trying to figure out if I could pick out who was a "clutchfan" or not haha
Match ups between such legends are rare indeed -- few realized how epic Hakeem vs. Shaq actually was at the time. Great thread.
The base that the 'statue' sits on is very nice. It lists his accomplishments year by year. It is very factual - "NBA all star, All NBA first team" - and very impressive. It makes you walk around the sculpture and the list is really impressive. That being said, I found myself being underwhelmed by the whole thing. It was nice, but I was hopeing for something that reminded me of his grace, power and class.
i agree with you. I bet the senior management group (sales guys, cpas, lawyers and arena operators) were sitting in a room discussing "we cant show him so what should we do???" some guy says "well, why dont we just show his jersey?" "cool, lets have some artists pitch the concept" they should have gotten a group of artists - specifically artist who are aware of houston/hakeem, and said "here are our limitations, pitch me your best idea and it will live outside of Toyota Center forever" again, i dont really think its bad, its just not very creative.
Somehow I doubt your first scenario happened...especially considering the articles written commenting on how they worked closely with Hakeem in designing a monument that was respectful of his religion. And I'd imagine if they go too far abstract people would look at it and think...wtf is that? Or they would say it's ugly, it's too busy, it's too artistic., some might not quite get it. I think in this case, simplicity was definitely the way to go.
