Amare attempts to be Shaq, forgets to be funny

“Breaking News!Amar’e Stoudemire to the Lakers!! He might take less money to win a championship.”

This nugget of information didn’t come from ESPN’s Chad Ford, Marc Stein or John Hollinger. It didn’t come from the Republic’s Paul Coro or even Hoopshype.com. No this morsel of insanity came straight from the mouth, or rather the Twitter account, of the man himself, Amare Stoudemire. But why?

Has Stoudemire reached his breaking point when it comes to trade rumors? Does he really want to play with Kobe? Is his main focus actually on a championship? Does he want out of Phoenix or is the answer something simpler?

Over the past two seasons Amare had a chance to study at the feet of one of the best big man to ever step on a basketball court. It seems though that instead of studying his post skills, his rebounding and his post defensive skills he decided to focus on other aspect of Shaquille O’Neal. Stoudemire apparently focused on Shaq“>Shaq’s self promotion and attention grabbing skills. He had a front row seat to the rebirth of O’Neal’s relevance in the game but more importantly in the public eye. Through Twitter, business ventures and talking to the media Shaq was front and center once again in the public consciousness. Amare seems to want to follow suit.

This season Stoudemire launched his own online marketing for the All Star game. He rolled out a record company and even debuted a teen friendly debit card featuring his picture. This summer he, referring to himself as Sun Tzu (a nickname Shaq gave him), joined Shaq in the world of Twitter.

While Stoudemire followed the general blueprint of what Shaq has done over the years he forgot one key part. He’s not funny. As a matter of fact he comes of more smug and arrogant than he does entertaining. The reason Shaq’s personal publicity grabs were tolerated and embraced to a certain extent was because he was humorous and unpredictable. Stoudemire lacks both and the act has already worn thin.

The internet and the popularity of Twitter has changed the way athletes interact with their fans and remove the filter that was once there. It’s become abundantly clear that Amare Stoudemire is about the name on the back of his jersey rather than the name on the front of it. How fitting that his number, one, sits right under his name because that certainly is who he is looking out for. Novel concept but if he stopped talking maybe he wouldn’t have to accept less to try for a championship.

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