How can I be this sleepy when I've done so little?
I did wake up early. Worked on the curriculum for a couple of hours and then went for a run. Even in the dark this is a nice place to run.
We went to a photography studio this afternoon and had some pictures taken.
But mostly we've eaten.
The Dallas Cowboys are the NFL equivalent of the NY Yankees.
The evil empire.
Charles Barkley on SNL tonight. Wish I could stay awake that long.
I'm going to try to explain my response to a couple of related news stories but I'm not sure I can. So consider this a caveat and - if you think I'm crazy - a disavowal. How's that for equivocation?
Gilbert Arenas is in all kinds of trouble for taking four unloaded handguns into the Washington Wizards locker room. He sealed his fate when he jokingly made a gesture with his hands like they were pistols during pregame introductions a few days later. NBA commissioner David Stern has suspended Arenas indefinitely and lots of people are calling for a lifetime ban.
Everyone agrees Gilbert Arenas is a joker who people find funny. He's one of those guys who lacks a check valve when it comes to his humor. If it strikes him funny he'll do it, like putting four unloaded guns at the locker of a teammate who had threatened to do him harm. The note read, "Here, choose one."
I am NOT saying Arenas should have had guns in the locker room. It's against NBA regs and just generally a dumb move. I don't like guns. I've owned guns but only when we had animals and I needed them for that purpose. The Second Amendment gives you the right to bear arms but that doesn't make it smart. Few people need to have a gun and too many people who do shouldn't. I wonder what would be the result if we listed the number of people each year who successfully and appropriately used a gun in self defense and measured it against the number of accidental shootings each year.
That said, nobody is suggesting Arenas's guns were loaded or that he even had any ammunition for them. It was stoopid and showed a total lack of common sense. But the lifetime ban that some are calling for seems like an overkill that, IMHO, smacks of a certain self-righteousness.
I think it's interesting that this situation comes at the same time people are also talking about Tiger Wood's return to the PGA tour. No doubt, Tiger has taken a beating over his now publicly known behavior. But no one has suggested he should be suspended. The talk, instead, is about how soon he'll come back and the effect this will have on his game.
It seems to me that Gilbert Arenas, who did something foolish from a totally unchecked sense of humor is getting the book thrown at him, whereas Tiger, who did something totally immoral is paying only a PR price. Arenas did no harm to anyone. Tiger hurt his wife, his children and the PGA from top to bottom.
Maybe that's the way it has to be, but something about it doesn't sit right.
Or am I missing something?
1 comment:
Yes it's a clear double standard and no I don't think you are missing anything. Contributing to the clear double standard may be that Pro Golf is a game of, by, and for cultural elites, whereas the modern NBA has roots lower on the socio-economic ladder. The double standard comes from elitism at best, bigotry at worst.
Mike H.
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