I'm Punchy From Basketball, Baby, And Tired Of Being A Villain

Boy, I don't know. How does a guy get to be a villain in the first place? Not all at once, I promise you. It is a cumulative series of little things—like little jabs from sportswriters—that have a way of adding up over the years to make the total picture of a bad guy. They have a way of slowly filling in an image that seems to stick in people's minds. I don't know of any athlete in the world who has had to prove himself so many times. Over and over again, fighting off the image. I'll give you an example:

"That Wilt. He just stands there and dunks the ball," says one writer.

So I work hard and perfect a jump shot.

"That Wilt. He shouldn't fade away from the basket when he's shooting the jumper," they say.

So I try some other shots. And I concentrate on defense.

"That Wilt," they say this time. "He just plays one end of the court."

So I dash around and hustle down to the other end of the court.

"He's hogging all the action."

So I try more team play, and I feed the ball off like mad.

"That Wilt," they say, fresh out of criticism. "He's a fink."