H20: “I wanted my Legacy to be about INTEGRITY”
Just got finished watching the Allan Houston #20 tribute on MSG and let me say it was very well done.
For those loyal Gym Rats, you guys know that I’m a big Allan fan as a person and as a Knick.
Towards the end of the piece Allan talked about how cerebral he was in terms of how he would be remembered, and that he wanted the focus to be on his “integrity.”
The most painful thing for me is that it seems for a large group of Knick fans Houston is thought about first as the 1999 season and second as “overpaid.”
That’s a shame.
For those who think of Allan in the following light, good for you. Every Knick should emote the same class that Houston did here. Period.
Now, I’m no dummy, I understand NY and the “results” mindset and that a guy who made $100 million dollars should make the playoffs. But the organization around him let him down. You want to talk Glen Rice when Sprewell and Houston were already here? How about Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley?
You guys remember. But do you remember thinking you preferred Sprewell at the two? Or that John Starks was your guy?
It seems that Allan’s lack of emotion, as Jeff Van Gundy said in the piece “was misinterpreted” as it related to Starks and I agree. I wonder if fans ever embraced him. And I wonder if the passionate “know it all” younger generation have a clue about how good a man he is. I wonder if they care.
Sure, Allan had his flaws, and yes this post has strange timing, I just think it’s important to stress the same thing Allan personified:
Integrity is transcendent.
Because at the end of the day basketball is a game, but you can really learn a lot about an athlete you look up to if you look a little deeper.
They can impact you in a positive way off the court as much as they can on it.
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belikmike23
