Newsgroup: it.sport.americani
Titolo: [NBA] Rasheed, che tipo

Scusate se posto senza tradurre ma non ho tempo causa lavoro. Però mi
sembrava interessante, più che altro per capire certi soggetti. Che poi la
reazione della madre del bambino sia stata eccessiva non c'è dubbio, però
Sheed secondo me (e tutti quelli come lui) avrebbe bisogno di un bel bagno
di umiltà, tipo campionato con i Grizzlies a vedere gli altri vincere o
peggio..
Leave the loser alone to suffer in silence
08/12/03
STEVE DUIN
He's a sullen jerk. He has no class, no grace, no empathy. He represents
almost everything that's wrong in pro sports, the details of which have been
chronicled in these pages for years.
Yet for all that, people still march up to the Trail Blazers' Rasheed
Wallace with pens, hearts and expectations in hand, begging him for a small
piece of his miserable self.
 
While Wallace and his wife were waiting in the Honolulu airport for a flight
to Portland on July 26, at least two parents and their children approached
him, asking for an autograph.
Wallace blew them off, they said. What a surprise. That's what Wallace does.
That's who Wallace is.
I say "at least two parents" because two have written letters to The
Oregonian. One was printed July 30. Christy Pulley's letter is next to my
keyboard. Hers is a more compelling story, although she and I may have
reached different conclusions on what it says about Wallace and the rest of
us.
The Pulley family was returning from vacation that Saturday. Pulley's
11-year-old son, Chris, glimpsed Wallace when they checked in. Because the
Hawaiian Air flight was delayed, the boy had three hours to get psyched. He
even bought a special permanent marker.
If her son recognized Wallace, Pulley didn't. Oh, she recognized the name,
but she couldn't have pinpointed his transgressions. She didn't know whether
he was the Blazer who is forever smoking dope or the Blazer who threatens
referees or the Blazer with the domestic abuse rap.
She saw only an NBA player. She saw only the stars in her child's eyes.
When the 11-year-old approached Wallace, she said, Wallace shook his head
and waved the kid away. The boy was disappointed. A nearby flight attendant,
Pulley said, was "incredulous."
And Mom? "I lose it," Pulley wrote. "I can't believe how insensitive, how
arrogant, how spoiled this man is whom my son has walked around and thought
of exclusively for an entire afternoon. How dare he hurt my little boy's
feelings when all my son did was adore him and want a simple autograph to
show all his friends and keep forever."
As Pulley admitted Monday, she was reacting emotionally, not thoughtfully.
"The funny thing about this," she said, "is he (Chris) wasn't as affected as
I was. I think I projected my feelings onto him. My adrenalin was running so
high."
Which explains, I suppose, what happened next. Pulley confronted Wallace in
the gate area, telling him, "You just broke my little boy's heart." ("I'm on
vacation," she said Wallace replied. "If I'm going to do that, I'm going to
break my wife's heart.")
And she got "right in his face" on the plane, throwing a crumpled photo and
the black marker at his feet and yelling, "Shame on you."
At that point, Hawaiian Air escorted Pulley off the plane, leaving her
family to fly home without her. "While Ms. Pulley may believe that she did
not act in a threatening manner," the airline's Rose Harman wrote in a
letter to the family, "the other passenger felt threatened, and the flight
attendants believed her actions to be abusive."
Let's sort through the wreckage. At least two families approached Wallace as
he returned from vacation. If you are of a mind to be charitable, you could
argue he decided that he'd have another two dozen in his face if he signed
even a single autograph.
But why is anyone still asking for one? Wallace is bad news, and that's old
news. Why are any parents still allowing their kids to approach him, thus
giving Wallace permission to dismiss them?
He may be traded, but Wallace isn't going to change. Because he refuses to
grow up, his "fans" have to. They have to stop chasing him around airports.
They have to stop treating the guy's signature like a keepsake.
Wallace hasn't earned our respect, much less our adoration. Accept it. Get
over it. Share this stunning revelation with your child. It will be a lot
easier if the poor kid figures it out now, rather than standing embarrassed
and disappointed in an airport with a permanent marker and a lasting stain.
Reach Steve Duin at 
503-221-8597
, 
Stev...@aol.com
 or 1320 S.W. Broadway,
Portland OR 97201.
--------------------------------
Inviato via 
http://usenet.libero.it

("I'm on vacation," she said Wallace replied. "If I'm going to do that, > I'm
going to break my wife's heart.")
mmmmhhhh...dev'essere una moglie permalosa se si inca**a per un
autografo...mica gli ha chiesto di giocare 1 on 1 per 25 minuti...
mah...
Piter
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