Le Basketbawl

One thing that has always ticked New York Vinnie off big time is when Pro Athletes blame the media for the Frickin problems that they brought on themselves. One of the reasons that New York Vinnie has such a low Frickin opinion of Stephen Jackson was him calling the media “Vultures” on Media Day. Jackson had caused a firestorm by telling a reporter he wanted to be traded from the Golden State Warriors. No one put a Frickin gun to his head or printed something off the Frickin record. He had no one but himself to blame yet still blamed the media.

There is another situation going on right now in Washington D.C. in which the media is blaming the player for their problems and New York Vinnie is just as ticked off at that as he is at Jackson. The NBA press corp that covers the Washington Wizards is all bent out of shape at Gilbert Arenas. Why you ask? Because Arenas is no longer the boisterous talkative guy that he was through last season. So now the reporters who cover the Wizards are not guaranteed a great quote by the man formerly known as “Agent Zero.”

The “Washington Post” NBA beat writer Michael Lee seems to be taking Arenas not talking as a personal slap in the face. This dude seems Frickin obsessed that Arenas is no longer the guy who was such a showman before this season. Lee is trying to come up with the “real reason” that the Wizards veteran has stopped being so Frickin accessible.

Lee spoke with Dallas Mavericks Team Owner Mark Cuban before the Tuesday game between Dallas and the Wizards. Cuban has an interesting theory; although New York Vinnie does not agree with it. The Mavericks team owner told Lee “What a better marketing route could he have made? He started a blog and he started talking, and when you talk a lot and you shut up, people (reporters) want to know, ‘Ok, Am I going to be the guy who makes him talk?’ I’ll ask him all these questions and I’ll write all about the questions I asked and how he refused to answer, and I’ll write three stories a day on when Gilbert Arenas will talk and what I think he should be saying and what he’s thinking. You guys will do all the talking for him and he’ll save all his breath.

 He’s recognized by having dealt with the media so much and playing the media to his advantage that the best way to get media attention is to have gone from talking a lot to not saying a word. I never thought that about Dennis Rodman until I talked to him a bunch of times and realized the guy was just a master media player. The guy knew what he was doing . . . He’s obviously doing it the right way.”

Cubes as New York Vinnie wrote; that is an interesting theory but I totally disagree. The bottom Frickin line is this; Gilbert Arenas wants to focus on what is going on on the floor right now. Not being the social animal he was in the past. That proved to be a distraction for him; this year he is healthy and focused and the reporters covering the Wizards are all ticked off.

It is time to move on guys and girls; this issue just makes you look bad not Arenas. You just may have to work a little harder in the locker room this year than you have in the past. Most folks would feel extremely lucky to have your gigs so stop crying.