posted by David Friedman @ 11:39 PM
"A work of art contains its verification in itself: artificial, strained concepts do not withstand the test of being turned into images; they fall to pieces, turn out to be sickly and pale, convince no one. Works which draw on truth and present it to us in live and concentrated form grip us, compellingly involve us, and no one ever, not even ages hence, will come forth to refute them."--Alexander Solzhenitsyn (Nobel Lecture)
"The most 'popular,' the most 'successful' writers among us (for a brief period, at least) are, 99 times out of a hundred, persons of mere effrontery--in a word, busy-bodies, toadies, quacks."--Edgar Allan Poe
"In chess what counts is what you know, not whom you know. It's the way life is supposed to be, democratic and just."--Grandmaster Larry Evans
"It's not nuclear physics. You always remember that. But if you write about sports long enough, you're constantly coming back to the point that something buoys people; something makes you feel better for having been there. Something of value is at work there...Something is hallowed here. I think that something is excellence."--Tom Callahan
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2 Comments:
This is an aside, but I did live in DC for awhile and went to Bullets games. If the ball went to Hayes in the corner, you knew it was goin' up! I thought Elvin was a pretty selfish player, personally, who could have been much better if he'd had more of a team focus. We are talking about a big man who shot 45% from the field and averaged 1.8 assists for his career! I would consider Hayes to be closer to a Zach Randolph than a genuine superstar like Tim Duncan.
Elvin Hayes was a player who fans and members of the media either loved or hated. He came into the league burdened with a lot of high expectations and had a successful career overall. He was amazingly durable, at one time holding the career record for minutes played, and for most of his career he ranked among the league leaders in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots. As you note, passing was not among his strong suits, and his love of the turnaround jump shot did take a toll on his field goal percentage. Still, as you can see by Chenier's comments, which are echoed by many other people who played with or against him, Hayes is viewed by his peers as a great and highly productive player.
I would definitely take Duncan over Hayes and, in fact, I think that a serious case can already be made that Duncan is the greatest power forward of all-time. I disagree completely, though, with comparing Hayes to Randolph. Hayes was a much more dominant college player and was a better scorer, rebounder and shot blocker than Randolph. Hayes made 12 All-Star teams, six All-NBA teams and two All-Defensive teams, elevating his resume to a level that Randolph can only dream about.
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