In a story that only gets funnier as time goes by, Shaq—after winning the Championship with the Heat—described his career as having three eras: his time with Fredo (Penny Hardaway), with Sonny (Kobe), and with Michael (D-Wade).  Say what you want about the Big Aristotle (that he’s fat, lazy, egotistical, etc) but that analogy might be as astute an observation as the Regular Aristotle ever made.  Even to the point that Shaq circa 2006 was clearly Brando from The Godfather—there may have been a time in his career when he was Brando in On The Waterfront, but Shaq in ’06 was overweight, yet not fully washed up; he mumbled but you could still understand him; he wasn’t in a every scene but when he was, his presence was felt.  In other words he was clearly the Don.  

And that’s the thing about Brando/Shaq—no matter how talented everyone around them was, everything still revolved around them.  And thus, Kobe, no matter what he does in the rest of his career, will never be able to escape Shaq’s shadow.  But while the Sonny Corleone analogy seems to work for Kobe personality-wise (hot-tempered and impulsive), I’ve got a better comparison for his career: Dave Grohl. 

Picture someone who was a role player when they were younger.  Overshadowed by a once-in-a-generation talent.  The first few years, they were (slightly) under the radar (although anyone in-the-know could see great things for them), and eventually that first group broke through to become the best in the world for a solid 3 years…before it all fell apart.  (This by no means is meant to compare Shaq’s departure from the Lakers with Kurt Cobain’s suicide but bear with me here…)  Our guy then goes on to form a one-man band so to speak.  Eventually he finds the right support cast—although let’s be honest there was quite a bit of turnover for years while our guy was figuring it all out.  But now he, and his supporting cast, have to be in the conversation for best in the world.  There have been lots of awards and acclaim but there is a valid concern among the fans that our guy will never be fully appreciated for his own talents because he will always have this massive figure overshadow him. 

I’ll be the first to admit that the analogy isn’t perfect, but I honestly believe that Kobe’s career will always be about 2000-2002.  It will always, in some way, be about his time with Shaq.  Can Kobe win a Championship without Shaq?  What if he and the Big Fella could have just gotten along?  How many more could they have won?  Unless something drastically changes, the first line of Kobe’s sports obituary will have to involve Shaq.  Similarly Dave Grohl’s career will always be defined by Nirvana.  The Foo Fighters will continue to sell records, win Grammys, and generally be one of the biggest rock bands in the world, but in the minds of many, the Foo FIghters will always be his plan-B. 

Probably the most fun thing about this game is flushing out the analogy further.  Is Derek Fisher the Pat Smears of this story? (Smears toured with Nirvana, just as Fish was key on the Championship teams.  Smears joined the Foos just as Fish stayed with Kobe.  Each of them left.  But both of them are now back.)  Is Dave Grohl’s time with Queens of the Stone Age the equivalent of Kobe’s time at the Olympics or are the Olympics more like Grohl’s time with Tenacious D?  Is Led Zeppelin the equivalent of Michael Jordan- influences that have meant a lot but frankly have just set the bar too high?  Further adding to the comparison is 2004—when the Lakers went to the Finals, the Foo Fighters won the Best Rock Album Grammy; 2008—again Lakers go to Finals, again the Foos win Best Rock Album.  Meanwhile in 2005 the Foo Fighters’ album In Your Honor didn’t win a thing while the Lakers didn’t even make the playoffs. 

Athletes and musicians are more similar to each other than they probably realize.  They both live their lives on the road, they both make for great episodes of Cribs, and they both peak at the age of 27.  Most athletes/musicians fade away without ever making a historical dent, while other ones can last for years, and some are that rare few that encompass a generation.  But we fans get to see even more similarities. 

As outsiders and appreciators, we can see traits that our favorite sports stars and rock stars share.  We get to discuss if Guns and Roses were the Detroit Pistons of late 80s—both were the ‘bad boys’ of the era.  I personally believe that Ricky Williams is the Phish of the NFL (NPhL if you will).  We see the comparisons between San Antonio Spurs teams and M. Night Shyamalan movies- namely that they were once likeable but now you can’t stand ‘em (yeah, you thought I was gonna go with the ‘they’re only good every other time’- which is true- but I like my reason more). 

We get to wonder aloud if Derek Jeter or Brett Favre is more like Bruce Springsteen—personally I think Jeter might be Springsteen but clearly Favre is becoming more like the Rolling Stones every day.  These debates are the background of our culture, the conversations we have in a bar, and the great thing about them is that they always lead to more debates.  For instance: if Penny is Fredo, Kobe is Sonny, and D-Wade is Michael, would that make Steve Nash like Tom Hagen?  Quick, someone get Shaq on the phone, we need to discuss this.