Built up for years, Garnett now being torn down

Welcome to society, Kevin Garnett. 

For more than a decade in Minnesota, you were beloved.  People marveled at your ability.  People loved your intensity.  People used your loyalty as an example.  You had everything.  Why else would someone stuck on mediocre teams in a small market become a marketing God?  Your intense emotions on the court were tempered by an infectious smile and polite demeanor off the court.  Perfect.

Then you came to Boston.  And you didn't notice it right away, but that's when people started to tear you down.  Sure, people were happy to see you get your ring, but some people suddenly started scratching their heads about you.

"Did KG really get down on all fours?"

"Does KG really need to yell like that?"

"Does KG shut up at all on the court?"

What has changed about Garnett?  Nothing but his address, really.  On the court, he's still the same guy.  But he's the same guy on a team that gets more attention.  Celtics games are on national TV all the time.  They're the champs, so their highlight packages are a little longer.  There are more opportunities for people to see what KG does and how he acts.  He's doing nothing different, it's just more people are finally seeing the things he's always done.

And that's part of the problem with humanity.  People react to something they've never seen before as if it's something new that's happening.  The treatment of KG is like someone coming out of a locked room after 30 years, seeing his first ever sunrise, and then writing 500 words about a giant fireball that will surely kill us all.  To the people who have seen it forever, this person comes off as a kook.  But the people who have also never seen it think "maybe he's got something there." 

Many words are being written about Kevin Garnett lately.  Fewer of them are positive.  The phenomenon was broken down by ESPN's True Hoop and mocked by Dime's re-writing of a classic Chapelle's show skit to include Garnett.  Some of the shots at Garnett are pretty funny and harmless.  Some of them are downright advocating hatred.  And while I won't sit here and defend everything he does (chasing Jose Calderon down the court probably should have been a technical foul), I will defend the things people don't understand (Glen Davis' reaction aside, an emotional outburst on the bench helps his teammates).

I never knew the full extent of Garnett's emotions and intensity until he joined the Celtics.  It's his fuel.  He can't turn it off.  Not only that, it feeds his teammates and makes them raise their games (exhibit A: Kendrick Perkins).  But human nature being what it is, people will at the same time criticize Tim Duncan for not having enough emotion and KG for having too much.  The masses, sadly, are never happy.  Kevin Garnett may be exceptional on the court, but off the court, he's no exception to the rules of fame.  He was built up for years in Minnesota.  Now that he's reached the top in Boston, he's being torn down.