Okay, that last Era-ta was a bit weak, so let’s make this more of a journey. Pathways, as it were. Last week I was reading about great military leaders, and especially those Romans of eternal renown. Tangentially, I got to reading and consequently thinking (that’s why we read, write, right?) about the importance homoeroticism has played throughout history, or at least the largeness of its presence. What with the PC war (that’s politically correct, not vs. Mac) and homophobia and homophobia-phobia (which, by the way, is really silly when you break into the realm of etymology and see that homophobia means fear of sameness, which is actually good, but we’ve taken and made what?), we have willfully blinded ourselves to the underlying presence of homoeroticism in popular culture. Let me amend that. We’ve blinded ourselves to the presence of underlying homoeroticism in heterocentric popular culture.
What I mean is, I’m not talking about guys kissing guys as a gross out gag in the American Pie series (or a dance off in a night club followed by assless chaps). I’m talking about the relationship Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn have in Wedding Crashers (thank one of my history profs for pointing that one out). I’m talking about the weird love triangle between Harry Potter, his buddy Ron, and whoever that other person is always following them around. Be more sportsy, Sean. I know. I’m talking about professional wrestling, men slathered up to tussle with each other in skimpy outfits. I’m talking about the banter and towel snapping that any young man who’s been on an athletic team has been witness to. I’m talking about the man crushes we sports fans harbor and condone. And that makes them sound like criminals, like we’re merely tolerating these sentiments. Which I guess is my point. They shouldn’t be simply put up with; they should be celebrated!
Look, Shoals pointed out the latent homoerotic potential in fan-hood’s embrace of Dwight Howard. Watching the Cavs-Magic series and possibly our two most heralded physical specimens, with Roman emperors on my mind, I remembered this suggestion, and thought I’d expand a bit upon it. I want to use something else I watched on tv recently as a framework. I want to look at Good Will Hunting. Bear with me.
I’m not saying the movie is about homosexuality at all, so don’t get all in a huff. And I’m not saying the relationship Will and Sean was at all inappropriate. But if you weren’t made uncomfortable by that scene where Robin Williams pushes Matt Damon a bit too far, and it leads to a positive outpouring of emotion, if you didn’t think Williams was a bit too close for comfort, then you’re not human. And I think that’s part of the point of that scene, to show that people who care about you will go the extra step for you, even if it’s uncomfortable. But, digression. What I really want to use here is the tension that is built up towards eruption in this scene, because a good deal of that tension is homoerotic.
Okay, let’s get the players on this little stage I’ve set. Let’s look at Lebron as the Matt Damon figure. Endless potential. Perhaps untapped. And then you’ve got Kobe, who’s obviously the Ben Affleck character. Not nearly as gifted as Damon (in the movie or out of it), and notable for the scene where he makes it painfully obvious. Kobe and Lebron’s Olympic experience is like that scene. Can’t you just see it in Kobe’s actions, in his eyes, the constant, quiet message, the reminder that he worked to get where he is. The silent accusation (which Affleck makes un-silent) that says I would give my left nut to be able to do what you do. I would make so much out of it. I’m waiting for the day you just take off. You owe it to me.
This ties in with the homoerotic undertone, but first the other characters. Dwight must be the Casey Affleck character. A seeming bit player, he seems just glad to be there. In that last scene, he runs up gleefully to take Damon's place, and eventually he lands a few roles showing him to be just as talented as Damon, if not more so. (Gone Baby Gone, and even The Assassination of Jesse James, and let the record show that Jesse James was the role that saw Brad Pitt strike out for recognition as a solid actor, even reach towards greatness. In this, maybe he's like Kobe - see below - but for the record, I'm not buying it. I thoroughly enjoyed young Brad Pitt, when the thoughts he spooled out on screen were raw and seemingly uncut. Pre-The Mexican stuff, for sure. But he's trying too hard now. It lacks the effortlessness that true greatness holds. He'll never be able to get inside me and shake me up like Sean Penn. Look at Johnny Depp, or even Tom Cruise. Their performaces always show one thought, intense, a firebrand, and then the execute it again and again, perfectly. This you could see in Pitt's 12 Monkeys or Fight Club, but he's thinking too much now. It's a strategy that I think works for Russell Crowe, but Pitt's having a hard time pulling it off. Meryl Streep does it well too.) And then I guess Wade is that other guy, but what’s the point of this? It’s not to look at dispositional relationships. Who needs analogies for that? Rather, it’s to look at projections. Thus, it’s unimportant to call Jordan the math guy and Magic the Robin Williams character, though you could. You’d almost like to say it’s inappropriate to do so, but that’d be missing the point of this whole thought.
Look, there’s that scene. Damon’s in bed with Minnie Driver, and he doesn’t want to let her meet his boys. What’s that uneasiness? Yeah, it’s about him being closed off and uncomfortable with letting her into his world. But it’s also about the dissonance between a male-female relationship, the accepting disconnect that occurs there, and the easy, we all come from one-and-the-same existential cloth (that’s Spinoza, if you want to educate yourself) fraternity of male youthfulness. Even when Damon’s in bed with her, he’s still got his boys right there. If anything, the movie’s about stepping out of your comfort zones (but not as simple as that), realizing your potential and applying it (but not as trite as that), and allowing yourself to do the things that really matter to you (there you go, you could’ve thrown a “but most importantly on there”, keep it going), allowing yourself to open up to the world and be vulnerable and be hurt, allowing yourself to be seen hurting. It’s about differentiating between success and happiness, and knowing what to hold on to. It’s about going out on a limb, even though the limb might snap. Because people, it’s all about that limb. Without it, you’re just a trunk, and how sad is that?
But back to basketball. You could say what limb does Lebron have yet to go out on? But you’d be missing the moment. The greatness of right now, the thing people wear shirts to witness, is the phenomenal extent to which Lebron’s potential potentially reaches. Sobering thought, though. I think it’s almost capped. Which is fine. It’s not to say ten more years of this would be a let down by any reach of the mind. But I think, if something doesn’t change, Lebron’s legacy loses a bit of the breathless quality with which it is currently imbued. See, there’s a reason Michael Jordan will always be regarded as the best athlete ever. And there’s a reason Muhammad Ali is right up there with him. They were performers. They understood the dual nature of modern sports. Yes, it’s about athletic ability and accomplishment. But it’s also entertainment. Some people, like Shaq and, to a lesser extent, Kobe seem too ably aware of this. They cater to the lime light. And sometimes it results in brilliant moments of honesty (Shaq) or at least a burgeoning openness that we seem to be gifted with (the other guy). But it doesn’t necessarily equate to greatness. It’s why Magic and Kareem, I think, were so great at showtime. They were innate performers, albeit on opposite ends of the loquacious-energy spectrum. But they didn’t have to think about it. The big moment was the big moment. Bang! They hit you with it right between the eyes. Unconscious. (Them or you, you’re not sure). In the same line of thinking, it’s why I will always remember the lob dunk over the Jail Blazers as the crowning achievement of that Lakers three-peat team. Shaq ran down the court, too ecstatic to pose, and sought out the man responsible for his glee. They embraced. End scene. (and I think in that pairing, Shaq is the Matt Damon character. The three championships were really like Kobe saying, “It’s not your fault,” over and over again, forgiving Shaq for his less than workmanlike work-ethic. Too bad the hug came too early. Damn that enthusiasm, Diesel.
Anyway, I’ve digressed. The crowning support (can that which holds up also exist as any kind of zenith?) in my idea structure is Jordan’s last shot. Supreme showmanship. And yet, not calculated as showmanship. Calculated as greatness. Every moment of MJ’s reign of terror was an instance of him saying, “You WILL remember me for this. And this. And this.” With too many other athletes, it’s too often, “What will you think of this? What will you think of this? What will you think of this?”It’s an opening up and a buckling down all in the same, fluid movement. Once Lebron learns it, learns to dictate the moment into greatness, then he’ll have achieved his true potential. He’s too focused on the business side right now. I’ve said that before, and I still really hope that dissipates soon. Maybe he has to lose again to learn. Hungry in a different way. After game 2, I thought maybe he’s already learnt, and it’s just waiting to come to fruition. After tonight, it looks like he’s still not quite there (don’t get me wrong, amazing performance, but still lacking something).
Perhaps part of it, too, is that it’s hard to be unconscious when you have to be aware of the rest of your team. Jordan could trust that his shooters were where he needed them to be. And he had Pippen to do all the things that required actual cogitation. Kobe has Pau, and of course he was the thinking man to Shaq’s juggernaut swath of early 2000s greatness. I almost think Kobe is too unconscious right now. Like he’s spent so many hours pre-programming himself that he’s not in full control of which attack sequences play out when. With him it’s hard to tell if he’s the example of greatness gone over the greatness line to approach parody, or if he’s the ultimate thinker, and he’s simply taught himself to think unconsciousness.
Lebron is often compared to a linebacker, but this season he’s looked more and more like a quarterback out there. He’s perpetually barking orders at his teammates, and they love him for it because he’s probably never wrong. I never got it before, but those pre-game rituals were like a post-touchdown celebration. And they showed a type of unconsciousness that I thought had signaled Lebron’s imminent eminence. But we haven’t seen those so much now, have we?I think this Orlando series has really proved that Lebron has another step to take. And, in retrospect, I think Dwight has shown himself to be truly unconscious, and thus able to step into greatness almost more seamlessly (of course, James is trying to get himself a new cloth). The Moses comparisons came right away. There’s been no looking back and there’s been no hamstringing at the expense of what MIGHT BE there. No, Dwight’s here and now. He’s so goofy, so unrestrained. How did I not see this sooner? Oh man, whoever comes out of the West is in trouble.
