At what point do we admit athletes have no real interest in being our role models and little chance of executing the facade of role modeling in today’s media environment?
We owe Charles Barkley an apology. Two decades ago, he rejected the responsibility of being our role model. Now we need to return the favor and reject athletes. Let them entertain us, and let us ignore their irresponsible behavior.
It is alleged/rumored that two NBA teammates — Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton — drew guns on each other in the Wizards’ locker room after arguing over a gambling debt.
It sounds shocking. The New York Post described the Christmas Eve showdown as “unprecedented.”
I’m not so sure. Nothing is unprecedented in this world. There are only things that have never been reported.
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I spent Friday and Saturday contemplating the significance of an NBA All-Star (Arenas) getting in a six-shooter showdown with a teammate. It would be easy for me, a longtime critic of the gangsta, hip-hop culture seemingly embraced by NBA players, to blast the Arenas-Crittenton dispute as another example of hip-hop’s negative influence on basketball culture.
But this doesn’t feel like that. Yeah, I’d probably feel different if shots had been fired. I might feel different if someone other than Arenas had been involved. For lack of a better description, Arenas is eccentric, a real loon. He channels Dennis Rodman far more than 50 Cent.
Arenas claims that the New York Post story alleging a pistol standoff is exaggerated. Earlier, Arenas had said he brought unloaded weapons to the Wizards’ locker room because he wanted them out of his house, where he has three young children.
Whatever the cause, I don’t believe Arenas is the first pro athlete to bring a gun to work. Kids bring guns to school. It is not all that surprising that a spoiled, immature athlete would bring his guns to work.
Is it stupid? Absolutely. Should NBA Commissioner David Stern suspend Arenas for the rest of the season? I would if I were Stern.
The NBA has an image problem with its fan base and corporate America. This alleged gun battle feeds every negative stereotype the league has been fighting. The NBA is battling a perception. As a columnist, I get to deal in reality.
So while Stern combats an image, I want to bring you into reality. Athletes have never been role models. They’ve been idealistic symbols, best worshipped from afar. We can romanticize Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Joe Namath, Bart Starr and all the rest.
We didn’t know them. We still don’t.
We have no idea how they would’ve responded to being showered with lifetime financial security at age 20, and a 24-hour television network dedicated to stroking their egos and exposing their professional and personal failures.
Would they take steroids? Yes. Would blogs reveal their extramarital activities? Yes. Would their embarrassing locker-room disputes find their way to the back page of New York tabloids? Yes.
Forty years ago, we would’ve never learned that Arenas owed a bench-warmer on his team a gambling debt and settled his debt by showing off his artillery. We might hear of the story long after Arenas retired, perhaps in a tell-all book.
Now we get to examine athletes as they are. They pass along TMI on Twitter and Facebook. What they don’t self-report, TMZ and Deadspin unearth.
I’m tired of feigning shock and outrage.