Manute Bol, a 7-foot 7-inch Sudanese native who played professionally in the NBA for 10 years, died on Saturday at the age of 47 as a result of kidney issues and a rare but serious skin disorder. After John Wooden, that makes two quiet basketball legends that we've lost in the month of June.He wasn't the most capable offensive threat, but his defensive presence speaks for itself. Naturally, at such a ridiculous height (tallest in NBA history) and with an 8'6" wingspan, it was difficult for even the most gifted athletes to loft a jump shot or layup over his outstretched hand. He averaged 8.6 blocks per 48 minutes, an NBA record that far outpaces any other freakishly tall player.
Sure, before Saturday, Manute Bol was simply the answer to a trivia question to me. But he was so much more than that to so many other people. Kevin Blackistone recounts his charitable efforts to help save his homeland from the evils of war, building schools, donating money, and giving hope to millions:
"Bol, mostly alone, was using his spare time away from his day job -- blocking shots and shooting three-pointers as a 7-feet-7-inch NBA center -- trying to save the young people in his native war-torn Sudan. He was a Dinka tribesman, a people in southern Sudan that in the early 1980s suffered displacement and massacre not unlike what the people of Darfur have gone through the past several years. ..."Bol supported the rebel movement by giving it an estimated $3.5 million. He lobbied members of Congress for U.S. intervention against what he thought were northern Sudan extremists. In 1996, a cease-fire was achieved."
Obviously, these were his most important contributions as a human being, but Bol apparently changed the world of linguistics, of all things, by unofficially coining the colloquial phrase, "My bad". The earliest sources in 1989 credit Bol with saying the phrase as a substitute for "My fault", or something of the like. I suppose this sort of grammatical quirk is natural, coming from a man whose first language was certainly not English.
That was over twenty years ago, and here we are today. "My bad" is heard all over the country (world?) on asphalt slabs that host pickup basketball games, and it certainly has permeated our language beyond the basketball courts. But does it have staying power, like the word "cool"? Dr. Larry Horn, a linguistic professor from Yale University, explores:
"It's hard to predict which words or phrases will stick. 'Cool' is one example of a word that filled a need. It's been around since at least the 1940s--it probably began with jazz musicians. It filled a slot that no other word really filled. But 'My bad'? We already have 'My fault,' so I don't know if there's a real need for it."
I disagree. But get back to me in 2050.
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