Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparky
I don't think anyone else has ever brought up this comparison before but when you mentioned using the teeth to hold things...well it's just that sometimes I compare Wilt with Creb, the deformed, one-armed one-eyed holy man from Clan of the Cave Bear (he developed severe dental problems late in life because he held things in his teeth so often). Of course, Creb was born deformed (though he lost his arm and eye in a cave bear attack) so he always had to deal with that part. In fact he would have been Clan leader if he hadn't been born deformed, so instead his younger brother Brun took over. But *becuase* of his deformity and later his loss of limb and eye, Creb concentrated on his spiritual studies and later became the greatest Mog-ur (holy man) ever known to *any* Clan. His initial deformity was caused by the fact that his head was unnaturally large and it was that superior brain that made it possible for him to the greatest Mog-ur...but he wouldn't have studied so hard if he wasn't crippled.
What I'm saying of course is that Wilt was imagined to be a great basketball player, he was created that way. But his injuries probably spurred him on to be an even *better* basketball player...and person. He probably never would have been as good as he is now if he hadn't been in the accident. I'm just saying that all that reminds me of Creb. Sorry if I'm way out there.  |
No, it's not "way out there"; I'd completely forgotten that movie and book, since I have not seen the movie, or read the book it was based on, since college, and THAT was a looooooong time ago! Now that you mention it, of course, the comparison makes total sense. Wilt's skills as a basketball player, to the point that he can easily defeat even his now-famous pro basketball-playing creator, have not so much to do with his height, or the fact that he was created to play basketball, as the obstacles he's had to overcome. I know everyone has heard the old saying that "that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger", and there are many references in literature, including most religious books, about steel being weak and useless until it has been forged in fire, an analogy to a person not really gaining strength until they've faced and overcome severe adversity. Wilt certainly comes to mind when I see or read any of those passages. He's not only developed physical skills, but mental ones as well. Wilt has far more in the way of old-fashioned common sense than just about any person you'll meet in real life. He's just kept most of his intellect under wraps, probably so as not to annoy others, or instigate a conflict, but his speech patterns in
Good Wilt Hunting indicate that there's a pretty sharp mind in that rather oddly-shaped head of his, even though he is lacking in any formal sort of education.
pitbulllady