Kevin Garnett And The Deconstruction Of The Severe Basketball Self On Area 21

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Kevin Garnett And The Deconstruction Of The Severe Basketball Self On Area 21 

Post#1 » by RealGM Articles » Thu Dec 8, 2016 11:15 pm

If one NBA fan asked another NBA fan whether Kevin Garnett is a mean guy, the immediate agreement between the two would probably be that he is. This future Hall of Famer is known as perhaps the most prolific trash talker in the history of the game, capable of hacking souls and brains with the sharpness of his tongue on the court, with the Occam-like cuts it makes toward whatever will most affront the men he plays against. Remember when Carmelo Anthony was waiting for KG after the game, by the Boston Celtics’ team bus at Madison Square Garden, to have a few clarifying words with the big man? That was the time that Garnett allegedly told Anthony, in the heat of action, that a certain body part of his wife “tastes like Honey Nut Cheerios.”


True or false, that little myth is consistent with what people understand to be the KG ethos. On his new NBA TV talk show, Area 21, Garnett is reinforcing what we know about the wantonness of his words, but also revealing a broad, warm, and relentlessly frank sensibility that may see Garnett and repeat co-host Rasheed Wallace raise above the considerable standard of realness set by the oft-maligned but ultimately indispensable discourse of Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal’s Inside the NBA. When Garnett does not have his hand pressed down on the hilarious “cuss button,” a device that mutes everything on his set, once used to lambast Mr. Barkley when he suggested that the retired 40-year-old Timberwolves mainstay could no longer guard anyone, KG and Sheed are loose, goofy, and boasting a mutual respect that might melt the heart of any banker.


This is as true during Wallace’s explanation of the current tragedy with the water in Flint, Michigan —a bit of reporting that rises above the sad standard set by much of cable news—as it is during a silly “hold me back” segment featuring Garnett’s blocking dummy, who he calls “Willie.” Willie is without face or arms and dressed in a Space Jam jersey (which is alternately Garnett’s high school Farragut jersey, another night), a long gold chain, black-rimmed glasses, and a hat that no one’s worn since the nineties. Garnett is developing a metatext in the early goings of his show, a richness of inside jokery. There is an eagerness and nuanced engagement with subject, whether it be whimsical or worldly. “It looks like a third-world country,” Wallace says of Flint. Garnett leans in with sincerity and curiosity, and the two pour pathos over a part of the country full of pain that many have forgotten. 


The gravity of the segment’s topic brings out the best in both Garnett and Wallace as they seek comfort in their new media jobs. Here they are candid, caring, and earnest, but still flashing their love for language with phrases like “yessir” and “wash your grill.” There are times when they are admittedly awkward in their fresh studio context, holding and fidgeting with basketballs for no real reason as they discuss game action on separate leather sofas, the show exhibiting a common dissonance in the calibration of sports show vibes. This sort of show is frequently torn to a strange associational space somewhere between the newsroom and the living room; Garnett and Wallace also seem unsure of whether to film their segments in Oxford shirts or Nike tearaway pants.


The largest revelation of these segments, though, might be that KG is definitely not mean. The most telling piece of evidence in this direction is perhaps the inclusion of one of Garnett’s other early co-hosts, Sam Mitchell. When Mitchell was Garnett’s coach in Minnesota, just a season ago—after being his teammate there some fourteen seasons earlier—KG was quick to throw Mitchell under the same ceaseless rhetorical bus that everyone near him during his career was subject to. “I don’t want to hear that s***,” he said sans cuss button during an September 2015 press conference, after doing a cartoonish impression of Mitchell telling his stories from when he coached the Toronto Raptors. On his show just some weeks ago, however, it becomes clear how much Garnett’s insulting intersects with his love. With Mitchell as his co-host, KG calls him his brother, and speaks to him as such.


In showing us the kindness that lies behind the savage smack talk Garnett takes to Area 21 the tradition of pulling back the NBA veil that's currently epitomized by Shaq and Chuck. Though becoming a talking head still leaves him many ways to hide his true self from the public, all that extra time speaking into cameras like they're friends will surely show us more of the well-meaning mind behind one of the game’s fiercest all-time villains. To hear the man known for saying things so spiky they could make a 250-pound person quit ask pointed questions about poverty, to see him hugging his professional friends, and talk to former foes like with the same drippy sentiment that us fans have had watching them, all of this is a bridge from the movie that Garnett’s been to us to an actual person. Kevin Garnett is a hell of a person for the NBA audience to enter that covenant with, and there is sure gold on the way as he deconstructs the severity of his sporting self to show us something more human.

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Re: Kevin Garnett And The Deconstruction Of The Severe Basketball Self On Area 21 

Post#2 » by theblk » Fri Dec 9, 2016 5:52 pm

I agree with everything you say in this article. I hated KG when he played my team, but he is great on TV. KG and Rasheed have great chemistry and provide valuable insight on the game (and are also hilarious).

I was really impressed with Rasheed's good work on the Flint Michigan crisis, I hope TNT gives them more time.

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