...Or should we say, "Ellis' Tiretracks?" Photo cribbed from the Seattle Times.
Less than two weeks after he passed Dale Ellis on the all-time Sonics 3-pointers list, Rashard Lewis seems poised to mimic his predecessor's spotty legal history as well.
Late Monday came the news that Shard was charged for driving under the influence, two months (?) after getting pulled over on I-90 and hitting 0.132 on the Breathalyzer.
Longtime Sonics fans will be forgiven for feeling some deja vu. The Quiet Man's incident no doubt stirred up echoes of the original Silent Assassin wrecking his Benz and breaking some ribs while driving drunk way back in 1990. This is before Dale further sullied his image with, among other things, a much-publicized domestic dispute with his wife and an ugly legal battle with his neighbors. Dale Ellis, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come? Let's hope not...
Cynical types might now wonder if Lewis' recent charity event was a pre-emptive public relations move. If that's the case, hey, so what. At least he's done one smart thing since doing a very, very dumb and potentially life-threatening thing.
We tend to focus on the non-serious around here at the 'Soul, but I truly, sincerely hope to God that Number 7 takes a much different path from Ol' Number 3. Thankfully he's still young and has time to make up for such a boneheaded stunt.
17 comments:
i totally agree with you, lance. sometimes, life's like that. ^_^; i just hope that this isn't like, a sign of things to come for shardy and stuff. he's a stand up, quality guy and should remain that way.
*shudders at the ghosts of kemp and ellis* O____O please, not them!
Yeah, I wouldn't burn the guy at the stake over this. It's just sad and disappointing, especially with so much negative pub swirling around our sports heroes now. Incidents like this don't help the NBA's standing with say, my mom, or "Red-States."
Something else that contributes to people's disenchantment with sports is when athletes misbehave and then pay their way out with little penalty. I'd hate to see him go to jail (he won't, who are we kidding), but he should do some kind of penance. I-90 could use a 6-foot-10 litter crew memeber. Think of the reach!
I don't know about the rest of you, but I was curious to see just how many drinks Lewis had to have to reach a .132 on the BAC meter. Here's a link:
http://www.health.org/nongovpubs/bac-chart/
Basically, for his weight (about 215), he probably had around 6 drinks, an amount that I would guess at least half of the male population in North America has had before driving at least once in their lives. Fortunately, Lewis didn't hurt anyone and he has now - undoubtedly - learned his lesson.
It's worth wondering, too, if the Sonics plan to take any action against Lewis. For the moment they can hide behind the "continuing investigation" mantra, but eventually they'll have to make a call.
I'd recommend a unique solution: force him to forego his pay for one game, while still playing with the team. Suspending Lewis doesn't just penalize Lewis, it penalizes the Sonics and their fans for his misdeed. By withholding his pay for a game, you get the same effect as the suspension without the concurrent pain to his teammates.
The Red Staters can't get too up in arms about DUI's, at least not without sounding hypocritical, since George W. has got one of his own.
From what I understand the team is not going to take any disciplinary action against Lewis, mainly because it happened in the off-season.
Side note, tonight is throw back night, i.e. retro-jerseys. Anyone seen our retros this year? Hoping they're not the same as last year (or was that 2 years ago already?)
Re: Punishment
I like that solution, Nuss. It's so creative that I'd be surprised if the team policy allowed for it.
Re: throwbacks
This is the one shown on the NBA Store site today. Can't remember which ones they rocked before. Hopefully not the champagne-colored numbers. Yuck...
those retros look totally HOT! :D i wanna get me one of those. hopefully, they'll come out wiht other numbers besides lenny's...but if not, i'll definitely buy his. ^____^
are the knicks gonna be rocking retros too? would be great to watch. and a WIN would be GREAT! :D *prays*
Thanks for the link, I went and looked at the Knick's too, I didn't think to surf the online team stores. I think the Knicks will be sporting them, the league is billing them as NBA Hardwood Classic nights, which seems to imply participation from both teams.
I happened to watch some of the Clippers/Heat game last night (the Hawk game was over in the 3rd quarter, so there wasn't much else to choose from), and LAC had on retro Buffalo Braves jerseys.
I've got to ask: Why? Is there anyone in Buffalo who will go to the mall and get on of these monstrositities? Is there anyone who looks back fondly upon the Braves era? I know it's marketing and all, but why couldn't they go with an old SD Clipper jersey?
By the way, those Sonic jerseys look pretty sweet.
*thumbs up* cool, then. :) just as long as we win this game, that is. :D i mean, COME ON! pleaaaaaaaase. let's not flub up this one. ^__^
I don't think the Sonics will punish Rashard but David Stern will likely lay the hammer.
Unrelated:
I caught my first MNF telecast in several years last night. That singing halftime highlight package with Tim McGraw was brutal. Cheese factor 10!
Amen to that. Cosell could do a much better job, and he's been dead for more than 10 years.
I have to say, I love the local KOMO post-MNF show they do. It's nice to see some original local programming for a change, insted of packaged network crap. A couple of weeks ago, they had Shard toss a basketball off the top of Fisher Plaza into a hoop (and he nailed it!). Now that's entertainment folks!
Also, even though it's a great idea, there's no way the Player's Union would let Shard play for free, even for one night.
Also, I've driven high and drunk before, but that was before I found Jebus, so it doesn't count.
He should get the same treatment any of us would get. He won't, but he should. If Kemp could spend the night in jail, so can Ra. "cause, being the softy he is, he'll have to play bitch for the night.
We actually had a link to that a while back. McSweeneys rawks.
omg your the sexist man alive oh my gosh marry me leave your girlfriend ahhhh your so mother cracking hottttt! heyyyyyy
-rashard's wifey dhany
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