Pride and Humility

First I'll start with his top 10 Sports Humility Examples

10: David Robinson's Deferral to Tim Duncan. Up to that Point Robinson had done most everything in the league including being MVP. But he'd never won a championship. After that point he won 2, including retiring as a champion.

9: Tournament MVP gives award back. Don't know much about this situation, but I'd be willing to bet that Gathers' team had won the tournament, where as the player he gave the award to didn't. Either way, very cool moment.

8: Lance Armstrong gives up the yellow. I've talked about this before. I still say it's a shame he was forced to put on the jersey that day. Besides the only day Lance really cared about wearing the yellow Jersey was on July 24th in Paris. At the end of the race. For the 7th consecutive year. His podium speech was pretty cool and humble as well.

7: Shaq foots the funeral bill for George Mikan. Now Shaq has show both pride and humility. But he is a man who knows the history of the game, and the history of Centers. A truly Classy move.

6: Troy Brown Plays three ways. Later that year won his Third Superbowl Ring, playing for a team that is all about selflessness. Sure he was cut due to his large salary cap number in the offseason, he was then promptly resigned for not too much less money, but a more manageable contract for all involved.

5: Borque Changes Jerseys. Borque was a truly class act in hockey. He was such a class act to the Bruin organization that when Borque was entering his final years, and the organization knew they wouldn't be able to get him a championship, they gratefully traded him to a contender. The next year he raised the Stanley Cup after his first championship.

4: Barry Sanders Sits Out. He also retired rather than be the NFL's posterboy on his chase for the All-Time rushing record. It's too bad he never had a good enough team around him to win it all.

3: Pat Tillman Enlists. Not once but twice. This after passing up 9 million dollars two years prior for 3 million to stay with the Cardinals. A true hero, much like all men and women serving our country.

2: Jim Valvano's speech. It inspired many people. There's also a Jim Valvano foundation teaching people to fight. Just like Valvano's NC State Wolfpack fought and beat the Phi Slamma Jamma of Houston.

1: Lou Gehrig's speech. It's been made into a movie. The guy was a great player who never missed any work.

So for all this humility there were 7 Tour De France Championships. A 2000 Yard season. 1 NCAA Championship. 1 Stanley Cup. 3 Superbowl Rings, 5 NBA Championships. This doesn't count the possible Tournament win, and whichever MLB Championships Gehrig won. That's some pretty good success. Let's compare the Sports Pride Lineup shall we?


10: Carmelo Thanks himself at the Espy's. Then later appears in a drug dealers home video. gets caught with marijuana in his backpack, has a substandard season, and is on the verge of being dropped from the LeBron vs. 'Melo debate.

9: Fred-Ex Thanks his hands, dissapears in the Superbowl as his team loses, is asked to by his team not to come to offseason activities, is later cut, and is still looking for a job.

8: Keyshawn Johnson writes a book. Is later run out of not one but two teams, and is now mainly a third down/possession receiver for the Cowboys. He did manage to win a Super Bowl in 2002 with Bucs, despite not reaching the end zone in the game.

7: President Pitino. Those two words still scare the living bejeezus out of true Celtic Fans. Most of them are still in therapy after that disaster.

6: Reggie Jackson. One of the True success stories on the Pride list. I'm sure it didn't help that the Media was handing him everything and labeling him Mr. October during many of his World Series runs.

5: Wilt the Stilt Chamberlain and his ladies. Most of the times I see a reference to his remarks about how many ladies he slept with, it's usually at the tail end of a joke.

4: Scottie Pippen Sits Out. And his team won the game anyways. Pippen was a more humble player through the rest of his career, including being a team leader on a Portland team filled with head cases. He's the proof that pride can get just about anybody for a little bit.

3: Rickey Henderson is a man who took Sports Pride to a whole new level. Last I heard he's in either A, or AA ball looking for a job still. The guy was fast though when he was young.

2: T.O. The Messiah. The Patriots were so worried about T.O. in the Superbowl they left him single covered while the Eagles lost the game. He's yet to get any dialogue from the Eagles. This one has yet to play out, but so far it's reshaping how teams, media, and fans think of contract holdouts, and not in a favorable light for T.O.

1: Muhammed Ali. 3 Time Heavyweight Champion. His pride was only equaled by his mouth, but for him, it's what let him get inside his opponents heads.

So on the Pride list there are a some success stories, but mainly it's people who are considered to be punchlines, or people who followed up there prideful acts with little success afterwords. Sure there's Reggie Jackson who won 3 world Series, or Muhammed Ali who was Heavyweight Champion, but the overall battle between humility and pride doesn't quite seem so one sided as Hruby made it out to be. Sure Sports Pride gets the most attention in the media, but Sports Humility seems to have just as much success.