The world's sports pages are littered with stories of professional athletes professing their addiction to victory and of the not-always-legal lengths they'll go to stave off defeat.įew, though, have gone about doing so the way Horford has.Įverywhere Al Horford goes, his teams win. Of course, this narrative- Star Player Is So Great Because He's So Competitive-isn't exactly an exceptional one. "He's super competitive, the kind of guy that will do anything to win." Thanks to Al's sticky fingers, chunks of cash were missing from the bank. Underneath it was one of the family's spare Monopoly boards. Then, toward the end of the game, Jon caught Al sliding his hand beneath an adjacent couch. It didn't matter how many hotels Jon built, or how many of those spots Al landed on. The battle raged on for a while, a s Monopoly games tend to do, with this cycle repeating itself over and over. There he was, the younger brother finally keeping up with the older sibling, getting every roll he needed, racking up the cash and assets, and yet, somehow, Al's stack of green and pink and yellow paper bills remained intact. Jon, who plays in the D-League now, was around nine at the time, five years younger than Al, and he says he remembers the scene vividly. After all, there were four children in the Horford household-a perfect amount to fight over ownership of various Atlantic City properties.Īs Jon tells it, one day he, Al and a cousin were sitting around the living room playing Monopoly. Dominoes and cards were frequent family pastimes, but Monopoly was a particular favorite. Al's father, Tito, a former NBA player himself, had imparted his competitive spirit onto his offspring, and Al, who was born in the Dominican Republic before joining Tito and Tito's second wife in Lansing for high school, was a quick learner. "Nothing ruffles his feathers." This might actually be one of the few things fans know about the reserved 30-year-old and four-time All-Star, which is why the following story, courtesy of Al's younger half-brother, Jon, might surprise you.īack when he was a high school kid in Lansing, Michigan, Al's family loved sitting around the house and playing games. "He's just easy, man," says Charlotte Hornets forward Marvin Williams, who played five seasons alongside Horford on the Atlanta Hawks. BOSTON - Al Horford is a pretty even-keeled guy.
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