The great John Wooden once said, “Don’t measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability”. As a person who loves great quotes (Just go to any social media site and look up #Jimspiration), this quote always comes to mind when discussing two NBA players. These two players are Wilton Norman Chamberlain and Shaquille Rashaun O’neal. These legendary giants of the game seemed to be judged on a curve when it comes to their legacy.
As a native Philadelphian I can attest to the many stories passed down from generations about Wilt as not only a great basketball player but as a great overall athlete and lover. In fact these stories are so beyond belief that my brother B. Austin says “Wilt never existed because his feats just aren’t possible.” The legendary Philadelphia basketball icon Sonny Hill just looks at what Wilt has done and says “No Human Being Can Do That!”.
Wilt was a polarizing figure and this book gives details as to why he was and remains that way. The book also does a tremendous job of providing context. Many Wilt detractors look at his lack of success (or should I say his TEAMS’ lack of success) against Bill Russell and the great Boston Celtics teams of that era and label Wilt a loser or act as if he was a selfish player who played against inferior talent. Both of those assessments would be incorrect. People tend to make judgments based on bad information that is just spewed over and over, or they speak on facts without giving context. This book goes through each series and gives context to Wilt the player as well as context to Wilt the ladies’ man. Many players of his day hated Wilt because of his success in hoops, financially, and with the ladies. They were upset Wilt got to practice “Yam Farming” while they lived the life of an uxorious man. Speaking facts without context is sometimes deplorable. The Sixers just finished the 2014 season by beating the Miami Heat and I actually heard a Sixers fan bragging about beating the Heat. Well let’s give that game context. LeBron nor Bosh played. Now was that game really something to brag about after the season the team had? Yet when you look back 30 years from now all you will see is a W in the column for the Sixers. This is what I mean by context. And for you Sixers fans bragging about that win, I hate you more than Joffrey Baratheon. You bragging about beating the Heat without their best players is the equivalent of a man bragging about sleeping with a beautiful woman that gave him A.I.D.S. Maybe that’s extreme but you get the point.
This book does a great job of painting a picture of Wilt the athlete and also Wilt Chamberlain the man. What I appreciated most about the book was it seemed to be fair but also critical. Sometimes biographies on star athletes read like a blumpkin in the narrative. I would definitely recommend this book, especially for anyone who loves the history of hoops.
Jimmy “The Blueprint” Williams of The War Room, for War Room Sports
Tags: All's Fair in Sports and War, Basketball, Jimmy "The Blueprint" Williams, NBA, The War Room, War Room Sports, Wilt Chamberlain, Wilt: Larger Than Life, WRS Book Review