I’m tired of professional athletes, particularly, Jahlil Okafor getting crap for standing up for themselves. For to long have hecklers been given the free-reign to ridicule and belittle these athletes without repercussion. Jahlil Okafor has hopefully brought things into perspective. Given today’s society, more people will blame Okafor and say that the he should know better, although he’s only 19. I get it, he’s professional NBA player, there are some rules that don’t apply to the regular public. However, this doesn’t alleviate common decency. This is what gets lost completely because your fandom overtakes all rationale. We forget they are people, human beings with feelings and there are certain trigger words that’ll unleash the inner savage they have keep dormant.
Conversely, having been placed in such a position where his name and face is plastered all over a city, there’s comes a greater sense of maturity and responsibility. Players Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony — who’ve had their own questionable situations in the past — offered some advice to the budding Sixers’ star.
Carmelo: I wish I could reach out to (Okafor). I had to learn the hard way. Unfortunately. I had to figure out that I had control of my own career and which direction I wanted to go in.
There comes a time you sit down with yourself, have some ‘me’ time and figure out what you want out of your life and career. There was some people I was able to get advice (from) and vent to, but a lot of my experiences I had to deal with on my own.
And on having veterans on the team.
“You can’t hold guys hands and walk them through day-to-day life. (Kristaps Porzingis) is fortunate enough to have veterans and guys in this locker room that can talk to him and teach him. That situation with Okafor, it’s an unfortunate situation. That could’ve been anybody. It happened to be him. He’s dealing with that. I feel bad for him. I know those situations. Sometimes you can’t control those situations.”
Here is Kobe’s take on Okafor: “I talked to him a little bit on the court, briefly in the weight room and a little bit after the game,” Bryant said. “I wish him all the best. It’s important for him to stay focused and to continue to work on his game, and he’ll be just fine.”
And the effects of social media.
“Everybody has a camera with a camera phone,” he said. “You pick up on mistakes a lot more now than you would in the past. Not to say some of the heroes that have played here before haven’t made those same mistakes, but it’s just now the content gets captured so quickly.”
Even Coach K weighed in: “Jah is one of the greatest kids ever. Ever, ever, ever, ever. He did a couple of stupid things, and so knock him for it. Suspend him, but let’s move on. Make him learn from it, but don’t characterize him based on that. He’s a special, special kid.”
He also added: “He got into a situation, and he made a mistake, but they also need to have security. When we are with the U.S. team, everybody has security because they’re targets. But he’s got to be smart, and he was not.”
Both Melo and Kobe are spot on with the assessment, and a cosign from the legendary Coach K doesn’t hurt. Times are different and everyone is damn near a media outlet, as long as they have a phone. However, that shouldn’t give these crusaders of cowardly banter the right to get in the face or put their hands on these players. Perfect example: The Malice In The Palace. One would think that tossing a beer on a psychotic Ron Artest would be a wonderful idea deserved each and every fist that came his way. Acts like this should have been a clear warning to the fans that just because you pay to watch the games doesn’t mean you can’t be susceptible to catching those hands.
Fans, hecklers, whatever, do not think just because you can get drunk and spout out anything to the athletes without consequence, take heed to the past events involving Okafor. You’re that tough, you look and sound like a fool, and you’re 5’8″ financial adviser trying to battle a 6’11” NBA center. Please use logic, or face the humbling of your life.
