Obligatory Sports Post

Karl Malone is retiring. 19 seasons in the NBA with 18 in one place, the number-2 scorer of all-time yet he will most likely go down as one of the best-to-never-win-an-NBA-title. I hated that man.

As a Laker fan, I think back to the 1986 playoffs and Malone's trademark fist-clenching-and-pump after every successful play no matter how routine. How annoying, I thought.

Fast forward a decade to the mid-90's and the annual playoff thumping he and Stockton would dispense to Shaq and Kobe every year. Being beaten all night long by such a wonderfully simple play as the pick-and-roll is maddening. I hated it as much for it's relentless application as for it's lethal precision.

Jump ahead another few years to 2003 when Karl joins the Lakers along with Gary Payton as a free-agent in pursuit of the elusive championship. First-hand appreciation for the discipline, tenacity and toughness that was Malone's game came quickly. I think it a compliment of an athlete to say that you loved him when he played for your team but that you hated him when he played against your team; you don't say such things about inconsequential players. In that sense, Malone always mattered when he played even if his team lost.

I was frustrated to see him sit out 39 games last year with a bum knee, and saddened to see it hobble him in the NBA finals. Had he been healthier, perhaps the Laker's season goes differently though completely dismissing Detroit in the finals with a healthy Laker roster is foolish. Maybe it ends differently though...just maybe.

Congratulations Karl on a career that will always be considered one of the best-ever at Power Forward.