Not to mention, he's always stepped up and spoken about when he's had a bad game or let the team down.
Take it for what it was worth, from the whole series for either team only Josh Howard needed a real beat down. And I am glad Sura did something, but I was looking for the kind of payback Rick Mahorn and Charles Oakley used to do. The Rockets should find someone who when opponents throws cheap shots on Yao or Tmac they are countered with major PAIN. I am serious here, there has to be a real disincentive for that kind of crap.
I miss the days of taunting and trash-talking and stare downs and all that...c'mon, we all do on the play-ground....being cocky is part of the game, being humble is just an act. You can't be "successful" being humble in life....humble people become ministers, teachers, and such. Cocky people become stars and ceo's.
Hakeem was humble in real life, I think he carried himself with a certain swagger on the court. Again, if you are a star (and Charles Barkley says that ALL the time, and he just reiterated it today on TNT) you MUST always think that you are the best and no one is better than you or can stop you. T-Mac has that mentality, Hakeem had that mentality )although he might not have been outspoken about it), Kobe and Shaq and Iverson and countless other players in this league think the same way. Part of being great is believing that the sky is the limit, that no one can limit you but yourself. I think some players might just be more talkative about their abilities/confidence level than others. But make no mistake about it, they ALL possess that "nobody can stop me" mentality.
I don't have a problem with a little cockiness in basketball. But I find it interesting that you consider stars and CEOs more admirable than ministers and teachers.
That is self-confidence, not cockiness. Cockiness is when you talk/act about how great you are try to show up opponents for the sake of showing them up. Never seen "cockiness" in Hakeem. Self-confidence, sure. Also you said Hakeem was "humble in real life"--didn't you just before say it was incompatible with success, stardom, achievement, etc (opps--sorry that was NewYorker)
I don't buy this "if you are humble, you can't be successful" business school crap. What Barkey said was wrong, you always believe you are the best and no one can beat you, how do you motivate yourself to get better? Of course, you try your best in every game, but why do you have to "think" you are the best? Barkley had lots of trash talks with MJ, when they played together. Maybe he acted like he was the best, better than MJ. But in reality, in his deep sense, in his head, did he really believe he's the best? I highly doubt it. Then what's the point to act? If there is no TV live game, I guess lots of game faces would be saved. What's the point? Just play the game, save those signs, whoever you might be. Cockiness won't get your anything, but hunger and humbleness will.
Just like I-got-rejected-many-times-but-I-kept-going-against-him Amare? He didn't think Yao can beat him, he truly believe that he's the best. What's the benefit of that? What did it bring him or his team? If you are cocky and act like you are the best (e.g. 2nd-best-center-after-Shaq Dampier), you can't be rational and keep clear mind. That's why once you really get beat, you can't accept it, you can't adjust, you either give up (Dampier), or being stubborn (Amare). Dream, MJ and bunch of other greats won, not because they were cocky, whether they acted or not, but because they were talented and worked hard and had the desire to win.
Not necessarily admirable...more "successful". I'm talking about power. But lets face it, most people admire celebrities then their teacher...our society can pay a celebrity a 1,000 times more then a teacher. Is that a horrible thing? No, because you don't because a teacher if you want to make a ton of money. But if you are going to be a star...if you are going to be successful in the American way - then you got to have that cocky swagger. It may be a cliche, but nice guys finish last for a reason.
Hakeem was respectful and courtesy to people in general...but when it came to his profession, I think he was pretty cocky. Yeah, he had his team lift that trophy up, because he's a smart guy, and he really appreciates his teammates and knows he needs them to win. That's not humility, that's see the world correctly in my eyes. You know when Hakeem didn't get the ball passed to him, he ripped his teammates apart. The ball got passed to him. He didn't take this soft humble approach. He fought with bill fitch quite a bit. He didn't take this "humble" approach and say, hmmm, I must respect my coach. C'mon, I love Hakeem and think very well of him....but he wasn't humble. You think Gandhi was humble? You think MLK was humble? No Way! Get it, it's just an act - it's part of their charisma. They know it....geez.
T-mac did say even in this series something he said earlier in the year...something to the effect: When I get it going, there is nothing my defender can do; he is at my mercy. Although it may be true, I can't think of one elite athlete who would toot his own horn like that. T-mac doesn't understand that there is something a man can't ever do himself and needs others to do it for him. And that is praise. Just leave it to others.
I never said every successful one is humble. I just don't see any correlation between cockiness and success. I believe cockiness is describing one's attitude towards opponents, right? Hakeem was very aggressive and determined. But you didn't show me how he was cocky. Your conclusion was if you are humble, you can't be successful. I don't buy that, and you didn't prove it. Giving me two examples is not going to prove that. Besides, your first example in Hakeem was wrong. Cockiness is just showmanship, has nothing to do with excellence or self-confidence, it's just a bad example of "wrestling culture". Can't you see that tons of garbage players in NBA were cocky as hell? Do you seriously believe that they will be successful, or they have something real to be cocky about?
Exactly! Good post. I knew enough about Hakeem and came in contact with him enough to know that he REALLY is a humble person in his personal life, not looking to stand out or "be a celebrity", yet when he was playing basketball, he would NEVER think that anyone is better than him. He, like fews can, had the ability to make that "switch" mentally depending on the situation he was in. I think people are forgetting the young Akeem, who was quiet fiery and an in-your-face competitor. That Hakeem never went anywhere, he was just toned down a bit as Hakeem got older and wiser. Anyways, the difficulty in having this debate is that we are probably not going to agree on a concrete definition of "cocky", as opposed to "self-confidence". Would you define cockiness as an "extreme self-confidence"? Would you say that a person who has an unshakeable confidence in themselves are "cocky" people? I think it is entirely based on individual perception, as someone here indicated earlier. So it is really a debate based on perception, and not on factual ground.
Some amount of cockiness is needed. There's a big difference between guys who think they are good and aren't and guys that are so good they don't even have to try to be cocky, they just can't help themselves in their own way. It's like one person is cocky in a playful way...while the other is cocky is a very insecure way. Totally different things. One based on self-confidence, the other based on the complete lack of. I don't mean outright arrogance and self-indulgent over-confidence. Hakeem once said "there's no way Boston will come in here and win 2 out of 3 on our home floor" - that's not humilty, that's cockiness, and that was based on his believes - on who he is.... A little trashing talking and showmanship is part of the entertainment - it's part of the fun. I never understood why people get so upset by it.
Let me say this much: you will be hard pressed to find a CEO in this country who is not full of himself. IT is just human nature, it is very difficult for men to remain humble when they reach the top. That is why people are not surprised/offended when they see big time people ACT like they are "big time". Usually the "bottom layer" people don't like that, and feel like the people at the top are "taunting" them or are "full of themselevs", then when/if they reach the top themselves, they become cocky and full of themselves as well, they join the predominant "culture". Get it?
Totally agree, but as I said, some people are offended by it because they are "jealous" of the people at the top who have had/experienced success, and thus they feel like that cockiness amounts to "rubbing it in my face". It's an inferiority complex more or less
