The "Dwightmare" Continues (yawn)

Dwight Howard still wants out of Orlando. He wants as much money as he can possibly get. He wants to go on a team where he might have a chance at a championship, presumably. He wants recognition for his talents, a fact that has become overly obvious over the course of these last months, when he spent much of last season as a distraction for Orlando and other franchises interested in him, as he flirted with the possibility of finding another team, only to eventually decide to stay in Orlando, smiling broadly before  a wildly enthusiastic home crowd. He has a famous smile, and it almost makes him seem likable. The folks in Orlando must have felt happy.

Well, it did not last long. It seemed that as soon as the basketball season was over and summer began, he once again began the long drama of his wanting out, making a very public spectacle of the whole thing.

It seems that he finally caught on that this whole show and dance surrounding him is not pleasing to the public, or particularly to fans. not just Orlando fans, but fans of the NBA. Just yesterday, he called it a "Dwightmare" for fans. But, he made sure to point out, it was a "dream" for the NBA.

Yeah. Right.

He seems just to be all ego at this point, and I am not sure why he thinks he is worth as much fuss as he evidently believes himself to be.

In fact, right now, he is closer to being the poster child of spoiled, childlike athletes who feel entitled to enormous, outrageous, obscene sums of money and publicity. Because he is huge, and can play basketball, he apparently deserves as much press as he gets. We, the gracious public, should be happy to see his face every single night, and to hear rumors that his deal to the Nets is just about complete. No, wait! He's staying in Orlando for the rest of this season. Okay, it's summer, and the season is over, and he is on the verge of being a Brooklyn Net! Just about a done deal....and.....no! The Nets are completely out of the running. Now, he's going to the Lakers! Umm...hold, on a second! He may go to Houston, or to the Mavericks. Maybe the Clippers should pick him up? Now, the Nets are back in the picture? Hmmm...

How he must be enjoying this. This is exactly what he wanted. Also, the NBA franchises that are interested are playing right into it, and probably superficially inflating his monetary value far more than he is actually worth.

Now, I like the Nets. If he goes there, I will root for them, but I will not gain more respect for him, specifically.

In fact, I think he's an egotistical, narcissistic, overgrown child. Indeed, he is the symbol of everything that is wrong with team sports these days. because guys like him make you wonder why they are even called team sports. For Dwight Howard, it is all about Dwight Howard. he reminds me of Shaq, who seemed ridiculously egotistical in his day as well. Even Dwight Howard's use of his own name to create a new word, the "Dwightmare", reminds me of Shaq, and not in a good way.

The fact of the matter is that better basketball players have had more of an impact while remaining far more modest. Talent and class should not necessarily be opposing values, as the "Dwightmare" evidently believes.

I do not, and cannot, profess to know where Dwight Howard will end up. Unless he winds up with the Nets, I will actively root against him. In fact, as the next season's schedule was just announced and looms, I will say here that my two least favorite teams are the Lakers, and whoever Dwight Howard winds up playing for.  This is the type of thing that has been a big turnoff to me, and why basketball these days does not feel as exciting as it did back in the 90's, when there were personalities, sure, but they were in relation to teams, and had loyalty to their teams. That seems to be a lost art form these days.