a reporter's reporter

How is the blonde an "issue"? If she's in the room consensually, there's no story.

Young, rich athletes (both single and married) having lots and lots and lots of consensual sex? Stop the presses.

 

The issue is the slippery slope many players live on, one that sometimes leads to the sort of accusations Randolph and Kobe faced. It's a window into the way they view women _ and how some women view them.

 

henry,

Sorry, just don't agree. Save it for a book, if that's important.

playthrough,

It's not the culture we're in. It's the culture we made. The question is: why?

 

playthrough -

You're in troubling territory if you're trying to draw some causal line from "up late having sex" to "lost by 30". How does the story play in the paper if, instead, it's "up late at ecstatic pentecostal bible study", so "lost by 30"? The answer is, it doesn't. And just because Jimmy Cannon wasn't cataloging Paul Hornung's sexcapades back in the day doesn't mean we should be peeping at keyholes now. A $200 ticket has never guaranteed a win, or even a reasonable performance - then or now.

awriter -

The problem with the slippery slope you describe, is that it's slippery for us, as well. Young, sexually vigorous men have always viewed women as targets of opportunity. To say otherwise is to deny the most basic impulse of the species. And young women, happily for equal rights, are now free to view men the same way. That there's going to be lots of sex in any sports environment, pro or not, is thus a given. And to refer to this sort of behavior as "twisted" reveals more about the speaker than about the behavior.

If these appetites rise to the level of the Vikings' sex cruise, or Kobe's Colorado problem - in other words, a violation of the law - then it's news and worthy of our attentions. Until then, though, it's really none of our business. We're not nannies.

I understand that different arguments can be made when talking about drug or alcohol abuse. At least insofar as those problems reach a dangerous public or private threshhold.

And I likewise understand that all pro sports would benefit greatly from a sharper women's perspective. It's an issue that very much deserves to be written more about. I would guess there are plenty of college professors one could interview if that's the column you're writing.

But the blonde wandering the hotel hallways looking for another open door reaches only the level of prurience.

And I'll append one last thought for you both, largely rhetorical, and hope that perhaps Mr. Whitlock can check in at some point later with his no doubt avid thoughts.

While I'm aware of the special circumstances in Portland given its history, does it bother anyone else that stories of this kind are so often written by white journalists about black players?

 

way too existential. the question is how do we report it, and what interpretation does a columnist provide readers and fans.

 

jcmacg - you are the first to play the race card in this discussion - i guess it was inevitable - every discussion about the NBA comes back to race. when most of the players are black, and most of the writers are white, most of the time white guys will be writing about black guys. law of probability.

 

I'm hardly playing the "race card." I'm asking whether or not these specific kinds of stories bother anyone but me given the demographic you describe.

Consider this though - there are plenty of white serial philanderers in the big leagues. How much and how often do we hear about them?

 

Third topic down is W.C. Heinz, who reported on war and peace with dignity, grace, and ineffable skill.

Fourth down is "a reporter's reporter," a man who believes he's doing community service by reporting on the late-night movements of a blonde vixen.

Such a culture we've made.

 

Neither Canzano nor anyone on this thread said anything about black athletes. Could someone let jmac know that there are a bunch of white guys in big-time sports (as well as the NBA), and they like blondes too.

 

I'm sure this sentence simply escaped your notice.