AchillesHeel
10-21-2013, 04:05 AM
Superman takes up Batman mantra
HOUSTON — Dwight Howard might be known as "Superman," but he'll be drawing inspiration from another superhero during his debut season with the Houston Rockets: Batman.
And isn't that ironic? The 27-year-old whose physical feats in his early NBA years were like something out of a comic — the bounding leaps, bulging muscles and extraordinary feats — is now using its stories for spiritual guidance.
As he sits on a couch inside Toyota Center, which he now calls his basketball home, discussing his decision to leave the Los Angeles Lakers that was so hard to make but so easy to understand, he recalls the words that rang so true.
"I actually wrote them down and can tell it to you — it's from Batman," Howard tells USA TODAY Sports. "Batman and Alfred were having a discussion (in the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises), and Batman didn't like what was going on and he felt like the best thing he could do was just hide.
"Alfred told him, 'You have to endure it. You have to take it. People will hate you for it, but that's the point of being a legend. You can be that outcast. You can make the choice that no one else can make, and that's the right choice.' "
The choice to leave the Lakres, one of the NBA's most storied franchises.
"I kind of took that with me in this situation in L.A.," he continues. "It was hard, something that most people wouldn't have done, because they're looking at the whole situation and people are going to think that I'm running (from the pressure), and people are going to think this or that.
"But I'm like, 'Man, I want to be this legend, I want to be at the top. So I have to endure all that hate, all that criticism. I have to take it, and that's what's going to make me the person and the player I am.' "
Much like the Rockets themselves, Howard sees that scene as a perfect fit for his story. The protagonist plays the part of antagonist for the good of the masses — in this case Rockets fans who are so hopeful that they can enjoy a championship for the first time since back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/rockets/2013/10/18/dwight-howard-superman-batman-james-harden-houston/3006891/
HOUSTON — Dwight Howard might be known as "Superman," but he'll be drawing inspiration from another superhero during his debut season with the Houston Rockets: Batman.
And isn't that ironic? The 27-year-old whose physical feats in his early NBA years were like something out of a comic — the bounding leaps, bulging muscles and extraordinary feats — is now using its stories for spiritual guidance.
As he sits on a couch inside Toyota Center, which he now calls his basketball home, discussing his decision to leave the Los Angeles Lakers that was so hard to make but so easy to understand, he recalls the words that rang so true.
"I actually wrote them down and can tell it to you — it's from Batman," Howard tells USA TODAY Sports. "Batman and Alfred were having a discussion (in the Batman movie The Dark Knight Rises), and Batman didn't like what was going on and he felt like the best thing he could do was just hide.
"Alfred told him, 'You have to endure it. You have to take it. People will hate you for it, but that's the point of being a legend. You can be that outcast. You can make the choice that no one else can make, and that's the right choice.' "
The choice to leave the Lakres, one of the NBA's most storied franchises.
"I kind of took that with me in this situation in L.A.," he continues. "It was hard, something that most people wouldn't have done, because they're looking at the whole situation and people are going to think that I'm running (from the pressure), and people are going to think this or that.
"But I'm like, 'Man, I want to be this legend, I want to be at the top. So I have to endure all that hate, all that criticism. I have to take it, and that's what's going to make me the person and the player I am.' "
Much like the Rockets themselves, Howard sees that scene as a perfect fit for his story. The protagonist plays the part of antagonist for the good of the masses — in this case Rockets fans who are so hopeful that they can enjoy a championship for the first time since back-to-back titles in 1994 and 1995.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/rockets/2013/10/18/dwight-howard-superman-batman-james-harden-houston/3006891/