Why must Wilt Chamberlain never receive any respect?
He gets respect from me. His whole career– his whole life– he was villified and ignored for having a physical edge on the competition. He was actively rooted against his entire career by casual fans and is criticized for “only” winnning two championships. Not by me. I rooted for him and don’t think it was his fault that his teams didn’t win more titles. At least, not in the years I know a lot about, which were his Lakers years. And now that he’s gone, the media insists on using Kobe’s 81 point (2 assist) game to attack him once again. I don’t know who attacked him. I didn’t. I just said I think 81 points today is a greater achievement than 100 in 1962. They’re both silly stunts, but I’m more impressed with the 81 than with the 100, given the competition. It’s a statement about the competition. It’s like saying I’m more impressed with the Steelers’ win over the Broncos Sunday than I am with the Seahawks’ win over the Panthers. That’s not a disparagement of the Seahawks. It’s a stateme
