The veiling shadow that glowers in the West takes shape. There is a union now between the Two All-Stars, Payton and Malone. I love the Glove, but, for the League’s sake, at this point I have to hope that one of these two mercenaries turns out to be a locker-room cancer. And, while I’m on the subject of the Lake Show, perhaps I should be glad that the media has taken innocent-until-proven-guilty to heart. Nevertheless, I find it somewhat troubling how the press has circled the wagons around Kobe before all the facts get out. These are the same writers who jump all over Sprewell, Kidd, and/or Iverson, to take just three examples, whenever the rumor mill starts a-churning. What’s good for the gangsta is good for the golden boy.
2 thoughts on “Return to Sender.”
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Hmmm, has any team with Payton ever not choked? Let me think…
And sorry, but shouldn’t past record count for something? Like Sprewell: there was never the slightest reasonable doubt about the strangling incident. If anything, Carlesimo did his best to downplay it (albeit in a raspy voice) — despite the likes of Willy Brown commenting that he “may have needed choking”. Kidd, to his credit he stood up pretty fast — and as I recall, a lot of people were willing to cut him some slack. Iverson… OK, you may have a point there. Just because somebody has a thugged-out image doesn’t mean he necessarily roughed up his wife, threw her out the house naked, threatened people with a gun while he searched for her, and gave a big party while he was waiting to be arrested. All charges WERE dropped when the various parties refused to testify and/or press charges, so I guess in that case he might have been the victim of a media rush to judgment. But are you saying that the fact that he’s been arrested twice before, convicted once and pled out once, as well as deliberately cultivating a rebellious image — should have meant nothing? That’s not human nature, much less sports journalism, and I’m not sure it should be.