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Sports Media’s Latest Victim: Gilbert Arenas

Oytun — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:06:02 +0000

The sports media has seen a dramatic evolution over the last several decades – to a point where today, it is out of control and Gilbert Arenas has become the latest tragic casualty.

There was a time when obscene events in the sporting world would see brief mention in a local paper, and disappear from memory soon thereafter – but that is now in the distant past. The 80’s was the start of the movement towards the increased importance of sports media in pop culture. Legendary players like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson were defining what it meant to be a superstar and were gracing covers of magazines from Sports Illustrated to Time Magazine. The 90’s were all about Michal Jordan, and he single-handedly transformed the industry from being a sport to a form of entertainment. During this time, ESPN became a brand deeply imbedded within the DNA of sports with its highlights and opinions often becoming the apparent judge of success. The new millennium brought with it wide use of the internet, and thousands of Blogs were born everyday dissecting every small little topic humanly thinkable.

This rapid development of the sporting world and the way it has been covered has spiraled out of control – with plenty of reasons to explain how we have come where we are. Take the state of the media today: unprecedented competition with everyone having relatively equal access to finding and sharing information, the slow death of traditional media and its gasping effort to survive, and a fast drop in ethical standards. This landscape has resulted in everyone in the business blowing stories out of proportion and resorting to anything from lies to sensationalism, non factual rumors to biased opinions – in hopes of securing a piece of the pie.

If you’ve read this far down and are not sure what is wrong with the media today, perhaps a short recount of some recent stories might shed better light on the issue.

For example, Michael Vick went to jail and had his whole life destroyed because…he engaged in dog fighting. This isn’t exactly the right place to discuss the degree of severity of dog fighting – but I would personally place fighting (physically) with your wife on a higher level of evil. If you put together the suspensions of all these players with assault and battery histories (and believe me, there’s plenty), it wouldn’t come close to adding up to the losses both financially and emotionally that Vick has had to endure for his distasteful hobby.

Then you have Tiger Woods – his story probably received more media coverage than anything since 9/11. At the end of the day he was cheating on his wife – but last time I checked, the USA is not part of Saudi Arabia where such an act can be considered a crime worthy of being stoned. The amount of destruction the sheer amount of press coverage brought onto this previously angel of a human being resulted in an insurmountable and irrecoverable situation with his wife and family. The lost sponsorships were deserved, but complete loss of privacy and sensitivity in these private matters at times of crisis was a casualty of today’s media.

And this bring us to Gilbert Arenas – everything that could potentially have been written about him has been written. All his words have been published, his tweets followed, his list of pranks revealed, his interviews broadcasted, his thoughts and dreams shared, and everything you could ever want to know has been shoved down our throat by the media up to this point like it’s humanity’s shared child and we all need to know more about him than we know about our own family members. The same people who laughed at his jokes and wrote about how great he was now are using his pranks against him in explaining how he was a psycho megalomaniac bully.It wasn’t too long ago, the NBA even employed this guy themselves on their official website to write about all the crazy things going on in his mind – but following the gun incident Agent Zero, much like a spy who has gone offstray, got terminated.

What bothers me most is the breaking point came not as a result of his breaking the law but during a pre game huddle: the few seconds before a game where the leader of a team makes a final attempt to bond with his comrades before they go off to battle, like Spartacus in ancient times, like a King before his disciples, like a coach during a huddle. These speeches can be offensive, vulgar, downright offensive at times… but at the end of the day it’s none of our business what a core of individuals need to do to bond with each other. If you’re really looking for a punishment to teach a a lesson, you need to do it at the right time, right place, and right manner – and David Stern along with the Wizards organization dropped the ball on this one. If you’re going to completely break ties with someone, throw him off to the media wolves, do it correctly (that means doing something about Javaris Crittenton too).

Don’t get me wrong, what Gilbert Arenas did was wrong of course, and he needs to be punished. But his punishment should not be graver than the likes of Stephen Jackson, Laterell Sprewell, Delonte Jones, and Ron Artest. At the end of the day, guns don’t kill people, people kill people, and Gilbert Arenas is not a killer. The United States’ recent gun problem, and the mentality of its people towards highly paid celebrities and investment bankers following the financial crisis made this an easy home run for the media to escalate the situation to its current heights. Now Arenas is facing 5 years in prison, a loss of 80 million dollars, completely abandonment from his long time sponsors and NBA team, and a life where tags like ‘thug’, ‘bully, ‘criminal’, ‘maniac’ will follow him and haunt him for the rest of his life. Does he really deserve this?

Arenas as a kid had a rough upbringing, being raised by his father in one of the most dangerous communities in the United States. He had to battle adversity, failure, being a complete nobody. He made himself a somebody, and there are countless stories of Arenas having a generous and kind soul and helping others. A few years ago, people in Washington would scoff at the idea of trading Gilbert Arenas for Kobe Bryant but today, the word on the street (hint: the media tells us) is that the Wizards have the worst contract in the league.

In fact there is some truth to that, but it is Arenas who has the worst contract in the league. You bring revolution to an age old industry by popularizing the idea of celebrity blogging, you take a battered team to their first playoff series win in years, you donate your time and money to the community, you give your heart and soul and spend 2 years trying to get back to form to help your team and in the snap of a second, a slip-up in judgment, you find yourself the biggest enemy in the nation after Osama bin Laden, and you’re threatened to have your livelihood taken away from you forever.

I urge those in the media to reconsider their approach and demeanor in this story. At times I have also been mad and frustrated with the behavior of Gilbert Arenas – but it is time for the media to step in and do the opposite of what it is normally trained and shaped to do: it must make as little of this story as possible. The media, even if it is against all its interests, needs to kill this story, focus on the positives, and welcome him back to his rightful place in the NBA once he has served the punishment sentenced to him by the law.

Stephon Marbury Going to China

General — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:22:10 +0000

Stephon Marbury has become somewhat of a character in recent years with his outlandish statements, silly quarrels, atrocious play, and crazy character. People were disappointed to learn earlier this year that the 32 year old free agent wasn’t returning to the NBA. However, news has broken out that instead Marbury will play for the Shanxi Zongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association. The Zongyu are the same team that signed Bonzi Wells sometime ago and are hoping that Marbury will provide the much needed spark to get their season back in order being 3rd from the bottom, and attendance at a all time low.

The Chinese Basketball Association did recently introduce a salary cap however, that limits the number of foreign players per team to two, and their salaries to very humble figures. Having said that, Marbury is not in this for basketball glory or for a big salary. Stephon Marbury, also nicknamed Starbury, is along with Ben Wallace promoting his Starbury brand which produces ultra cheap shoes that see a retail price of 15$.

Stephon the Entrepreneur is no slouch either – he even stood toe to toe with LeBron James recently when the King himself mocked fun at Marbury’s cheap line of basketball shoes saying that he and Nike would never have a shoe that cheap, due to ‘having higher standards’. Stephon Marbury responded by sayings: “I rather own, than be owned”.

So it will be interesting to see how Stephon the basketball player and Stephon the businessman cope in the Middle Kingdom. This makes him the most famous foreign player to have ever played in the CBA – and many will be keeping a close eye on him and how he performs on and off the court. We hope all goes well for Stephon Marbury in China.

Blake Griffin out for the Rest of the Season

General — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:13:27 +0000

Blake Griffin, the number 1 pick in the 2009 draft suffered an injury during the 2009 preseason and was expected to be out until December. However, it was recently announced that he will miss the remainder of the season as well. This will mean that he will not have played any minutes in the NBA this season, qualifying him to be a rookie again next season.

Blake Griffin injury

One of the major talking points for this Blake Griffin injury is whether it was a Clippers curse or a #1 draft pick curse. We know already that the Clippers have had a lot of bad luck in the past with their high draft picks. Their was Shaun Livingston who was a highly coveted guard with great expectations, but ever since being drafted by the LA Clippers, he has not managed to stay healthy. Also you will remember, the 1996 #1 pick of the Clippers: Michael Olowakandi. He was a huge disappointment that never even got close to the expectations set by him from the Clippers organization.

Then at the same time you have the newly developing #1 pick curse. Greg Oden was selected number 1 overall in the 2007 draft, but has troubled staying healthy. He has just shutdown for the season as well, and it begs the question: why is it that number 1 picks seem to suffer so much. Is it the pressure? Is it the fact that usual #1 picks are usually big men who are agile (a special combination).

It’s uncertain the exact cause of Blake Griffin’s injury, but it would be wise to take his time for a comeback so as to not have a repeat injury like Greg Oden did.

Gilbert Arenas: Prison or Jail Next?

General — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 19:15:13 +0000

Washington Wizards all-star guard Gilbert Arenas pleaded guilty on Friday to carrying a gun without a license in the District of Columbia, a felony conviction that could see him face jail time. The prosecutors in the case have agreed not to seek a sentence longer than the lower end of sentencing guidelines, which calls for six months to two years of prison time. It is possible that he could be on probation, serve community service, or serve prison time of up to 5 years under Washington’s laws.

gilbert arenas jail

To make matters worse for Arenas, he hasn’t received a lot of support from those that at one point in his career were deeply relying on him. The Wizards organization has let it be known that they were extremely disappointed with Arenas’ actions and they have taken all advertising related to their team which included Arenas, including a giant billboard of Gilbert Arenas at the entrance of the stadium.

Adidas were also quick to terminate their contract with Gilbert Arenas, ending their partnership as soon as Arenas pleaded guilty of gun possession.

David Stern had already suspended the Arizona native indefinitely without pay after the pregame huddle in Philadelphia where he mimicked shooting a gun with his fingers.

gilbert arenas prison

It will be interesting to see what kind of sentence awaits Agent Zero, and the judge in the case has said that a decision will be reached near 8 weeks with a March 26 decision being estimated, but the lawyers of Gilbert Arenas requested a decision as soon as possible.

Gilbert Arenas’ Gun

General — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:55:42 +0000

Gilbert Arenas, once the posterchild of the NBA, has just been suspended indefinitely from the NBA due to ‘not being fit to take court in the NBA’. Commisioner David Stern had previously not suspended the All-Star guard after finding out about the gun possession ordeal due to wanting to wait for criminal investigations to clear.

However Gilbert Arenas has been acting irresponsibly since the news broke out that he laid 4 unloaded guns in the locker room of teammate Javaris Critentton after a verbal exchange stemming from a disagreement in a gambling card game. He has been on tweeting tilt, making numerous tweets that made light of his very serious situation. Also in interviews witht he media he kept making jokes and saying that he didn’t feel he had done anything really wrong and joked that David Stern was ‘mean’.

Gilbert Arenas Guns

However the breaking point occured when Gilbert Arenas, during a pregame huddle against the Philadelphia 76ers started gun slinging with his fingers ‘shooting’ his teammates. The picture displayed above was so controversial that the NBA tried to have it removed. The Wizards even went as far as fining 4 of its player 10,000$ for seemingly enjoying Gilbert’s antics.

How long Gilbert Arenas will be suspended for the guns brought into an NBA facility and his subsequent irresponsible actions is unclear, some say in the vicinity of 30 games, while others say he is done at least for the remainder of the season. Whatever the length of Gilbert Arenas’ suspension, one thing is for sure: he’s finally learned his lesson.

Ersan Ilyasova

General — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:46:57 +0000

Ersan Ilyasova Milwaukee Bucks

Ersan Ilyasova Biography

Ersan Ilyasova is a 6’10 small forward playing for the Milwaukee Bucks. He was born on May 15 1987 in Eskisehir Turkey, is of Turkish Nationality and Bosnian descent. His career began in Ulkerspor and was subsequently drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in the second round 36th overall in the 2005 NBA draft. He didn’t play during the 2005-2006 season and instead played for the Tulsa 66ers where he played 46 games and averaged 12.5 points and 7 rebounds per game. In the 2006-2007 seasons he played 66 games for the Bucks and averaged 6 points and 3 rebounds per game in 15 minutes of action. He spend the next 2 season with Barcelona where he was the first Turkish player in the team’s history. In July 2009, he returned to play for the Bucks for a 3 year contract worth 7 million Dollars.

Ersan Ilyasova’s Game

Ersan is 6’10 and weighs 107 kilograms, and can play 4 positions (1-4). Much like his Turkish counterpart in the NBA,Hedo Turkoglu, he is extremely versatile and can play many different roles on a team. His ball handling skills along with big height enable him to have better court vision than most and can be a good passer. He also is a great jumpshooter and can knock it down from anywhere both spot up and off the dribble. One of his signature moves is a step back 3 pointer with his feet kicking out that goes in more often than not. Unlike most versatile European bigs, Ersan Ilyasova is not afraid to bang down low and receive contact. He plays with great hustle and passion, allowing him to defend shooting guards and power forwards equally well. He also is very active on both sides of the floor and this results him in getting charges and steals on defense and offensive boards on offense.

The only criticism of Ersan Ilysova at this young age is that he is known to hog the ball at times and take some unadvised + contested shots. However, he has already proven that he will be a force to be reckoned with in this league as he has had multiple 20-10 games in his first season really playing in the NBA.

Ersan Ilyasova Future Outlook

Ersan Ilyasova can be as successful as Hidayet Turkoglu, but his upside is higher than that. While having the same offensive potential as stars like Nowitzki and Turkoglu, its the addition of his defensive game that can really elevate his stock. He is a true rebounder capable of average double digit boards and hence he can be a dominant force on both sides of the court. The great advantage of him compared to other lengthy European stars is that he can also affect the game when he’s not near the basketball, a role that is usually taken up by hustle players. His game is complete and once he knows how to use his large skillset, he should be a regular stats stuffer and All-Star player.

More Ersan Ilyasova information and news will be available here so stay tuned.