Recently, when I was watching a Polo Ralph Lauren commercial, I realized I couldn’t relate to a single image that flashed on the screen. The montage of success begins with a man ten times more attractive than I will ever be proudly riding across the screen, on a horse, apparently in the middle of a riveting game of polo. After this, the camera switches to a shot of the same man running across the deck of his sixty-foot sailboat, hair flowing effortlessly through the wind, decked out from head to toe in Ralph Lauren gear. Then finally we see him at nighttime driving his 500 thousand dollar sports car with a look of determination on his face, you know, the type of look that says, “Yes, I will leave the bar tonight with the same girl that you after ten shots of liquid courage still couldn’t even say, ‘hi’ to.”
The point of this commercial: Buy Polo Ralph Lauren cologne and this will instantly become your life. Suddenly when I bring a girl out to my parent’s thirty foot sailboat she won’t even notice that they’re even there, since she will be too deeply engaged at watching my formerly non flowing hair (put a Chia Pet in front of a fan for visual) now transformed into Ashton Kutcher locks. How about a follow up commercial released with a man who buys the Polo Ralph Lauren cologne, but unknowingly when applying his Speedstick deodorant to armpits leaves a trail of white stripes down the side of his black Polo t-shirt. Now that is relatable.
Nor can I relate to the life of LeBron James. I don’t look back at my high school years and remember the time my mom bought me a brand new Hummer, instead I remember my 2001 Red Ford Focus and the bond I shared with 1 in 10 sophomore girls across the country that had the same exact car. Nor do I remember the time I played high school basketball games on ESPN or the time that I announced I would be taking my college talents to West Michigan on national television. I can’t relate to Kobe Bryant or Kevin Garnett’s jump from high school to superstardom in the NBA and I can’t relate to being a 7’2 enormous black man like Shaquille O’Neal or Dwight Howard. For most of us, we can’t relate our lives to the NBA’s superstars. That is until Kevin Durant came along.
Two years ago, Kevin Durant was one of the last two players to be cut from the Olympic basketball team. This never happened to Lebron James, Dwyane Wade, or Carmelo Anthony, because superstars are simply never cut from teams. Now granted there is the “supposedly” true story of Michael Jordan being cut from his high school basketball team, but that is one of those mythical sports tales like Paul Pierce’s triumphant comebacks after “injuries” or Mark McGwire only using protein shakes during his 70 home run season. Being cut from a team is something us regular people feel, not the NBA elite. I remember not making the 7th grade baseball team at Northeast Middle School or even the time that I didn’t make it into a production of Alice and Wonderland. We all remember the sting of not making a team/show/election/job probably better than the times we actually did make the squad. Even now that a gold medal hangs around Kevin Durant’s neck, he will always be motivated by the time two years ago when he was told that he wasn’t quite good enough.
If the NBA were a high school hallway I imagine LeBron, Kobe, D-Wade strutting down the halls in their varsity jackets as Kevin Durant quietly shoots hoops in the gym hoping the coach will one day give him a chance. Kevin Durant is the guy who asks the head cheerleader to prom only to hear her say, “Aww I really would love to go with you, but I just see you as a really good friend.” Kevin Durant is the guy you cheer for in the romantic comedy.
Eight out of ten romantic comedies have either a girl with the glasses/braces combo who also covers their perfect body under ratty sweaters hoping that someday the dreamy boy in their class will one day notice them, or the movie centers around an unattractive and/or nerdy guy who chases a girl who is far out of his league. From Mandy Moore in “A Walk To Remember” to Seth Rogen in “Knocked Up”, Taylor Swift in music video “You Belong To Me” to the Beast in “Beauty in the Beast”, Cinderella to “Revenge of the Nerds,” this theme continues to work because most people can identify with the feeling of being overlooked rather than being the ultra cool stud that can land whoever they want, whenever they want (think Polo Ralph Lauren commercial).
But Kevin Durant is comfortable in his own skin. Think about it, LeBron was named after a King, D-Wade after a super-hero, Durant after a spider. He doesn’t want to be the center of attention, nor does he mind that LeBron seems to be. When asked his opinion on, “The Decision” Durant responded as follows:
"I keep telling people my situation was a little different than the other guys. It was just re-upping my contract, and I'm a quiet guy, a low-key guy, so I chose that way," Durant said. "LeBron James is the biggest name in sports, nothing he does is ever going to be quiet, so you can't blame him for what happened and how he made his decision."
Kevin Durant is humble. Kevin Durant also lived with his mom in the summer after his first NBA season just like all the rest of us did at 19 years old. Kevin Durant even continued to go to school to earn his degree after being named NBA Rookie of The Year. This Durant quote from June 30, 2009 sounds like it could be any other twenty-year old college student:
“It’s a little tough on me but I’m getting through it. It’s a child adolescence and adult health class. It’s tough. I’ve got a 20-page paper due in a couple of weeks. It’s a book report.”
Kevin Durant is the kid who just went through a growth spurt and feels awkward in his new height. Kevin Durant is the kid who spends hours in the weight room, does two hundred push-ups a day, eats peanut butter sandwiches before going to bed, only to still be called a “bean pole” and feel discouraged that he isn’t putting on visible weight. How many of us can honestly say when we look into a mirror that, “Wow, my body looks like Dwight Howard’s today!” The girl who feels awkward in her gangly body, the teenage boy who would do anything to gain a single pound, this is the mutual feeling we normal people share growing up, something Kobe never felt, something Shaq definitely never felt, but something Durant still feels.
So too did we all feel the pain in different ways and varying amounts on September 11, 2001. Nearly a decade after that devastating day, the news is now being filled with stories like Reverend Terry Jones attempting to organize Quran burnings and groups angrily protesting the building of a mosque in New York City. While all this chaos filled the airwaves in the United States, thousands of miles away in Istanbul, Turkey, Kevin Durant quietly marked the numbers, “9-11-2001” on his basketball shoes before playing the Quarterfinals game. Then he tweeted the following message:
“May God bless those who were effected by the events on Sept 11, 2001....9-11-01 on my shoes tonight..you guys will watch over us.”
Kevin Durant is the every man who hoisted the American flag at half-mast over the weekend. Kevin Durant embodies the millions of Americans who aren’t Reverend Terry Jones and continue to love their country without attempting to spread hate of an entire religion. Kevin Durant on September 12, 2010 was also the way we felt on September 12, 2001, proudly beating the USA letters across his chest displaying to everyone in the world watching that we would come together stronger than ever before.
"I just want to remember everybody back in the states and everybody who was affected by 9/11,'' Durant said. "To play on this day is a great honor. We just tried to do our best to play hard for our country and our families and everybody that was lost on 9/11. It was kind of emotional to take the court on this day, and I'm glad we got the job done.''
The only thing un-relatable about Kevin Durant is probably just how incredibly successful he’s been in this short amount of time. At 21 years old, he recently celebrated a World Championship as the team’s Go-To guy. I’m only a year younger than Durant, but my most recent accomplishment was hitting a game winning shot in beer pong (it was actually pretty impressive, the ping pong ball rolled back, I shot it behind my back for the win!). I’m not sure when I’ll be receiving my gold medal for that one.
One thing is for sure, Kevin Durant will never be cut from a basketball team again in his life. He is the man now, arguably as good, if not better than Kobe and Lebron. But don’t expect this success to change who he is on the inside, Durant will continue to be the same humble, relatable superstar.
"I doubt I'm the next face; I'm just another guy helping to bring a gold back to the U.S. It's been a dream of mine since I was a little kid," Durant said.
Well Durant, mission accomplished. I pledge my allegiance to the United States of Durantula.
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