Every so often, I find myself glued to Netflix, watching ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries. They delve deep into the lives of sports personalities and reveal fascinating stories about the players. The one I recently watched was about Christian Laettner, standing tall at 6’11” and hailed as the great white hope at Duke University.
I’m not an aficionado of basketball but I did notice that whenever “Christian Laettner” was mentioned in a gathering, my friend (Duke alum) would have the biggest grin on his face as if he was proud to have gone to the same school as Laettner. I didn’t even know he played for the Minnesota T-Wolves till they mentioned it on the documentary. He must have been mediocre there because no one talked about him in Minnesota. They did, however, talk about Kevin Garnet – KG, the Big Ticket.
After watching I Hate Christian Laettner, I realized his notorious rep was paradoxically what made him successful. He thrived on the negativity and was known to have stepped on his rival, literally…on the chest. What an asshole, right? I couldn’t deny that his basketball IQ was insane and that he had a knack for getting into his opponents’ heads. People either loved him (if you were a Blue Devils fan) or hated him. With two national championships under his belt and a record of four consecutive Final Fours, he didn’t care what anyone thought. He just wanted to win and for that I could respect that cause I too love to win.
Other ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries I’ve seen:
The Life & Trials of Oscar Pistorius
Rodman For Better or Worse
Broke
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