The Ego Of Omar Samhan

During the March Madness tournament, I've been rooting for St. Mary's College to pull off the upsets. I like to see mid-major teams out-shoot, out-rebound, and out-hustle the favorites. However, I'm not sure how to feel about the Gaels' star center, Omar Samhan.

He talks about himself in the third person and has a self-proclaimed nickname - "The Beast." The nickname is tattooed on the inside of his lower lip (?). Samhan reminds me a little of Shaquille O'Neal, minus the comedic value. On a Gonzaga fan board, one hater evaluated Samhan like so: "Start with Charles Barkley. Add a few inches and a lot of weight. Remove 70% talent and 80% cleverness."

One of the reasons he annoys me is that he doesn't try to hide his cockiness, nor his pleasure at beating opponents. After St. Mary's beat Gonzaga in the WCC tournament, he said, "I always said I wanted to get the last laugh against the Zags...and I'm laughing now." In a recent blog video, Samhan mocks his friend's bracket for picking Villanova in the Sweet Sixteen. He holds up the piece of paper in front of the camera and throws it in the air, saying, "doesn't look like that's going to be happening." He's even trash-talked bracketologist Joe Lunardi. In all of the video clips, Samham comes off as a braggart with his toothy smile.

I have to remind myself that he's only 22 years old and still has some growing up to do. I also have to remember that he's scored 30 points a game in the first two rounds. So he has the talent to back up his talk. On top of that, he has praised the efforts of his teammates, for their shooting ability and for making him a better player.
But now that I know he's going to be a 2nd round draft pick in the NBA, I hope he goes to a team I don't like. I'm a fan of players who are modest and let their playing speak for itself, like Ray Allen and Stephen Curry. I could easily see Samhan in a Lakers jersey. Wherever he goes, I will love hating his chin facial hair.
Seeing how much he loves the big stage and promoting himself, I fear that someday he'll become an ESPN basketball analyst.
For now, I hope that Baylor beats St. Mary's and puts an end to Samhan's press conferences.

If you have opposite feelings about the "Beast" - if you absolutely love his personality - you can keep track of him on Twitter, of course. And girls, I'm sorry. His Facebook status indicates he's in a relationship.