The 5th JerkishBehavior Hall of Fame inductee is Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway of the Orlando Magic. I had a love-hate-love relationship with Penny. When Penny entered the league, he was a breath of fresh air in that he was a big point guard in the mode of Magic Johnson except he was way more athletic. Penny Hardaway had vision out of this world and made passes that made you say wow. Penny Hardaway was the true essence of a point guard where he would get everyone involved early but when it came crunch time he turned into clutch scorer and did whatever it took for his team to win. I began to hate Penny whenever he went against Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and my hometown Chicago Bulls because he would give us fits and embarrass two of the best defenders in the world. Penny had some of his best highlights against the Bulls and always brought his A+ game playing against Michael and Scottie. I went back to loving Penny as one of my favorite players in the game when Jordan retired. When Jordan retired, Penny Hardaway was seen as the heir apparent to the throne as the best and most popular player in the game. Penny didn’t disappoint because his game did start to resemble Mike’s game but with a lot more flair and he was a dunking machine whether it was catching two-hand backwards oops or banging on the head of a 7-footer. Penny was so smooth that he made things look easy on the court. He was also the first player to make wearing number #1 popular and used to have a sleeve on his finger with his name & number on it. Everybody wanted that but couldn’t so they had to use tape and a marker instead. Penny Hardaway’s jersey was a best seller where everybody wanted all his Orlando Magic jerseys especially the alternate blue jersey with the white pinstripes that was so exclusive at the time (I had it but let my boy borrow it which led to me never seeing it again, still upset with myself about that one). Penny Hardaway was the man where most of the players in the NBA today patterned their game after him like Tracy McGrady and Lebron James.
Penny Hardaway was more than the truth on the court because he might have had a bigger phenomenon off the court also known as his “Air Penny” signature shoe. The “Air Penny”’ was one of the most popular shoe out in the 90’s and is one of the only signature line that gave Jordan’s competition where cats had a hard time deciding on which one’s to cop (I chose Penny for a couple of years). Penny always had the rawest black colorway in shoes in the game that were an instant best-seller and his shoes always added something new to the game whether it be air bubbles, ankle straps, or reflective outline so people can see your kicks in the dark as well as having one of the tightest bottom soles. Penny’s shoes were at Jordanesque level and what took them even closer were his commercials. Penny Hardaway has some of the tightest and funniest shoe commercials in history and even his sidekick Lil’ Penny was more famous than most NBA players. Penny even had Tyra Banks, world-class supermodel and one of the hottest babes out, in his commercials, straight Bananas!!! Penny Hardaway’s basketball and shoe game reached a swine flu pitch when it came playoff time. Penny turned into a scoring beast and even more unstoppable when came down to championship season. Case in point during the 96-97 playoffs against the Miami Heat and down 0-2 in the series, Penny Hardaway went on an unbelievable tear rarely seen before where he scored 40 points in back to back playoffs and led his team to victory along with wearing the what the FUCK are those kicks also known as the Foamposites. Cats were going bonkers after this and like Lil’ Penny said big Penny had mad skillz. Unfortunately after his Orlando Magic days, Penny Hardaway’s career was derailed by devastating knee injuries that took away his amazing athleticism and one of a kind quickness that he was never able to regain. Penny Hardaway didn’t get a chance to reach his true Hall of Fame potential but millions still rooted for him heavily and for that reason Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway is the newest JerkishBehavior Hall of Fame inductee.
5 JerkishBehavior Moments
1. Penny Hardaway had back-to-back 40-point games in the playoffs while wearing the first pair of $200 kicks to ever hit the market in the Nike Foamposite, what a JERK!!!
2. During the ’95 NBA All-Star game, Penny Hardaway wore a band-aid over his eye and for the next couple of months everybody on the playgrounds wore band-aids over their eyes trying to be like him.
3. In 2008, for the shoe release of the ½ cent (a fusion of all the Penny’s combined into one), Lil’ Penny went on a club tour to promote the shoe, who does that?
4. During the ’94-95, Penny Hardaway’s made of one his best posters in when he took off from the wing and banged on Patrick Ewing’s head, Disgusting.
5. Penny Hardaway was a member of the USA Basketball development team that not only competed against but was the only team to ever beat one of the greatest teams ever assembled in the 1992 Dream Team,
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