For some reason, Dwight Howard has never quite sat well with me. Yes, he is a very good player, but the quality of a player never was a sole determining factor for whether the player is liked. Yes, he does have his flaws (I am a weak-armed, five-foot-two female, and I can shoot free throws at a better clip), but they aren’t the reason I never quite liked him.
It puzzles me why anyone would hate the guy. He plays well, works hard, is a good (enough) leader, seems to have a sense of humor, and is a nice, humble guy. And I don’t hate him. There’s just something about him that rubs me the wrong way, and I think maybe today I’ve figured it out.
It’s because there is a part of him that isn’t a nice guy.
It puzzles me why anyone would hate the guy. He plays well, works hard, is a good (enough) leader, seems to have a sense of humor, and is a nice, humble guy. And I don’t hate him. There’s just something about him that rubs me the wrong way, and I think maybe today I’ve figured it out.
It’s because there is a part of him that isn’t a nice guy.
"No, for the nth time, I'm not Superman!"
Now, I don’t necessarily like nice guys and dislike not-nice guys. I love Kevin Garnett, and he’s a punk. I have a soft spot for Allen Iverson, and although I’m not sure I’d call him a punk, he’s not exactly a model citizen either. In fact, I kind of like (some of) the badasses.
So what, then, is my problem with Howard?
My problem with him is that he’s on the fence.
For the most part, he is a nice guy. He gets along well with his teammates. He is a hard worker. He entertains the media. He apologizes when he’s made a mistake. He gave the fans a show during the 2008 and 2009 All-Star Weekend slam dunk contests. He even helped Nate Robinson take the slam dunk title from him in 2009.
However, sometimes, on the court, I see him start to turn into a beast. And I don’t mean an offensive or defensive or athletic beast. I’m talking about the personality of a beast (and no, you can’t use Beast from the X-men as an argument that beasts are sometimes gentle and kind). One hard foul or wrong call too many, and he starts to get angry, to scowl, to feel the need to lash out, to seem to want to use all his size and strength to really crush someone.
And when he does that, it annoys the hell out of me. Because, hey, aren’t you supposed to be a nice guy? You portray yourself as one. You better damn act like one.
And then he does. Before he even reaches the point of full transformation from Jekyll to Hyde, the monster part fades, and he becomes the nice guy again.
This is what bothers me about him.
I have no problem with players who are relentless as players but nice as people (i.e., Dwyane Wade). But the part of Howard that sometimes morphs on-court is not the player; it is the person. And it is this inconsistency in his personality that bugs the hell out of me.
It’s not that I don’t believe that he is genuinely a nice guy. I do. It’s also not that I don’t believe his monster side is genuine. I do. And it’s not that I don’t like either side of him. I like his nice guy side. I like his monster side. It’s the seesawing between the two that bothers me. It’s that he seems to try so hard to be just the nice guy when obviously he is a punk, too.
Now, I don’t really know what the guy should do to fix this. Should he completely ignore the monster and continue to be just the nice guy (even if the monster sometimes comes out of its own accord)? No. Should he just forget the nice guy and go full beast? No. And I don’t think he could, anyway. But I’ve also made it clear that I don’t like the back-and-forth between the two.
Maybe he can incorporate the two facets of his personality into one person who has the attributes of a nice guy and a beast, rather than morphing back and forth between the two.
In any case, it’s not my job to find a solution. As is the case with most fans and spectators (and, I guess, most people, really), what I really like to do is nitpick and complain about my problems. And my problem with Dwight Howard is that I don’t know who he is.
Hell, I don’t think I even know who I think he is.
So what, then, is my problem with Howard?
My problem with him is that he’s on the fence.
For the most part, he is a nice guy. He gets along well with his teammates. He is a hard worker. He entertains the media. He apologizes when he’s made a mistake. He gave the fans a show during the 2008 and 2009 All-Star Weekend slam dunk contests. He even helped Nate Robinson take the slam dunk title from him in 2009.
However, sometimes, on the court, I see him start to turn into a beast. And I don’t mean an offensive or defensive or athletic beast. I’m talking about the personality of a beast (and no, you can’t use Beast from the X-men as an argument that beasts are sometimes gentle and kind). One hard foul or wrong call too many, and he starts to get angry, to scowl, to feel the need to lash out, to seem to want to use all his size and strength to really crush someone.
And when he does that, it annoys the hell out of me. Because, hey, aren’t you supposed to be a nice guy? You portray yourself as one. You better damn act like one.
And then he does. Before he even reaches the point of full transformation from Jekyll to Hyde, the monster part fades, and he becomes the nice guy again.
This is what bothers me about him.
I have no problem with players who are relentless as players but nice as people (i.e., Dwyane Wade). But the part of Howard that sometimes morphs on-court is not the player; it is the person. And it is this inconsistency in his personality that bugs the hell out of me.
It’s not that I don’t believe that he is genuinely a nice guy. I do. It’s also not that I don’t believe his monster side is genuine. I do. And it’s not that I don’t like either side of him. I like his nice guy side. I like his monster side. It’s the seesawing between the two that bothers me. It’s that he seems to try so hard to be just the nice guy when obviously he is a punk, too.
Now, I don’t really know what the guy should do to fix this. Should he completely ignore the monster and continue to be just the nice guy (even if the monster sometimes comes out of its own accord)? No. Should he just forget the nice guy and go full beast? No. And I don’t think he could, anyway. But I’ve also made it clear that I don’t like the back-and-forth between the two.
Maybe he can incorporate the two facets of his personality into one person who has the attributes of a nice guy and a beast, rather than morphing back and forth between the two.
In any case, it’s not my job to find a solution. As is the case with most fans and spectators (and, I guess, most people, really), what I really like to do is nitpick and complain about my problems. And my problem with Dwight Howard is that I don’t know who he is.
Hell, I don’t think I even know who I think he is.
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