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In this post, I will discuss the relationship between two great pairings, that at once looked amazing, but then had a time when they started to slide, and eventually they were separated. In Othello, this wonderful pairing would be the marriage between Othello and Desdemona. In sports, the greatest pairing out there, that was separated by drama and off and on the court issues, would be the pairing of Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal when they played together for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Othello and Desdemona were a great couple. In the play it describes their love in detail, and some of the things they did as well. First off, I think it's pretty awesome that Desdemona and Othello were still in love, even though it wasn't looked at very favorable at the time. Despite the racial tensions, and the disapproval of a lot of people, this couple still stayed together and loved each other, and continued with their relationship. Also, early in the play, it shows how deeply they are in love, and their dialogue mixed with their trust in each other, makes this appear as a relationship, in which everything is going right. It just seems like the perfect pairing, and that nothing could go wrong between them, and it seemed like this couple would go down as one of the great couples in history.
A similar thing appeared to be true between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal joined the Lakers in 1996, the same year that Kobe Bryant was drafted. Kobe wasn't a major contributor in his first two seasons, and so Shaq dominated by himself for a little while. Kobe was steadily improving though, and when year 2000 came, Kobe Bryant was one of the best shooting guards in the NBA, and at that Shaq was the best big man in the NBA. This made for an incredible pairing! This pairing actually won three straight NBA championships, and was being talked about as possibly becoming the best pairing in the history of basketball, and they were drawing comparisons to the greatest pairing ever, that being Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. It just seemed like this pairing would go down as one of the best, and would continue to build off their 3 championships in a row, and with both of them still being young players, nobody could even imagine what was ahead for them two.
Now, back to Othello, despite this couple looking like they had the potential of becoming a great couple, this actually wound up not happening. This couple was deceived by things outside of the relationship. What I mean by this, is that this couple was negatively affected by what Iago said to Othello, and with all the accusations Iago said to Othello, Othello never actually went to the actual source to ask her anything. Othello just continued to be tricked by Iago, and the relationship between Desdemona and Othello obviously was not strong enough to sustain these accusations, discuss them and move past them. This could of been a problem that could have easily been resolved if Othello had more faith and trust in the love of his life, but unfortunately he was deceived by Iago, and didn't have enough faith to believe his wife was telling the truth. Othello being deceived and his lack of faith in his love was what spelled disaster for this couple, and is what wound up ending the relationship. This couple went from one with the potential to be a great couple of history, to being one of the greatest relational tragedies in history.
Kobe and Shaq looked like they had potential to be the best one-two pairings in the history of basketball. This didn't wind up working out though. The Lakers like I said, won three straight NBA titles from 1999-2002. In 2003, the problems began to arise. To start, Shaq wanted more money, and the Lakers could not supply that. This constant need for higher pay, made Shaq more focused on the money than his play on the court. The Lakers wound up losing in the NBA title that season, and the feuds between Kobe and Shaq began to become worse and worse. Shaq was mad because he felt that since he was not getting paid, that the Lakers were more focused, and cared more about Kobe Bryant, than they did about him. With growing focus off the court, Shaq's attention continued to decrease. Kobe, in an interview, called out Shaq as a bad leader, out of shape, and said that he only cared about the money. The Lakers wound up losing in the NBA title game again the following year, and the feud between Kobe and Shaq off and on the court, continued to grow with constant talk about each other in the media, fighting and constant anger towards each other on the court, with them even sometimes not wanting to play with each other at the same time. Shaq was then traded to Miami, and Kobe and Shaq were then separated. This pairing, with potential to be the greatest pairing ever, were broken up for something that was irrelevant to their success. This turned from a great pairing, to a pairing destroyed by the distraction of money, that distracted them from a common goal they shared.
Could you imagine if, in both of these stories, the people involved in the two relationships had trusted each other more, and had more respect for each other? There were ways to avoid both of these tragedies, and if they were avoided, Othello and Desdemona could of been one of the great couples of history, and Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant could of been the greatest pairing in the history of the NBA.
