To play professional sports, you need a certain arrogance, a confidence in your own ability, an ego. It's this mindset that you are unbeatable and unstoppable that allows the greatest athletes to accomplish what they strive to achieve.
However, individuality means different egos can reflect different personalities and those can be absorbed differently by the public; hence why each star has their own fanbase.
A great example of this is that Kobe Bryant is loved by millions despite giving up the opportunity to win by running the best teammate he ever had out of town simply because he refused to share the spotlight, while LeBron James is hated by millions because chose to share the spotlight for the next six years simply in order to win.
The athlete with the biggest ego was Muhammad Ali, a man who proclaimed himself "The Greatest," yet Ali is now seen as a charismatic, iconic figure in the history of sports rather than an ultra-talented, egotistical narcissist.
In the world we live in today, the general perception is that a big ego is bad and unpopular, but this is generally the opposite. You tend to find that the bigger and more tale...
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