Gilbert Arenas

I'm sure most of you heard a week or two ago when Gilbert Arenas called out Marc Ecko for tainting the Bonds ball with an astericks, but I doubt many of you actually went to his blog to read the post. Gilbert isn't the best writer (very prone to tangents, as he actually admits in this post), but at the very least it should get a little discussion going and give Kool and Gov mega huge raging bonors. I'll hold my own opinions for the comments section. Here is the transcript, and before the Marc Ecko part begins, I've included a short post by Gilbert calling out the celtics, which is great.

Prediction Time

Oh man, everybody is jumping on this Celtics band wagon. You know what? I was going to go prediction-free for the whole year, but I guess I’m going to break that now.
Now, if anybody remembers back when I got drafted, I got a report back that the reason I dropped so far in the draft was that Jim O’Brien of the Celtics said that I was too immature and that I wasn’t ready for the NBA. What really happened was that I had an Achilles injury and I went back to L.A. to go get it healed when I was supposed to have a two-day workout in Boston with O’Brien. He didn’t like that. So word came back to me that he was trashing me and it put this knife through my chest about the Boston Celtics.
Back in the day when I would day dream I thought that if I could score 100 points against any team it would be the Boston Celtics. Now, I knew it would never happen, but if I could do one thing in the NBA it would be to score 100 against Boston. So anyway, since everybody is back on the Boston bandwagon it brought back old memories. So listen here. On November 2nd, we’re going to go into that building, we’re opening up Boston. Right now I’m telling the Boston fans: You guys are going to lose. It’s not going to be a victory for Boston. You might as well just cheer for me, because Boston isn’t winning in Boston for the season opener. I’m sorry.

Marc Ecko, I Have an Offer for You

I normally don’t get into conversations like this, but this kind of hit a nerve in my body as an athlete. This whole Marc Ecko buying the Barry Bonds ball to put an asterisk over it:
I just think it’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of.
Who are you as a person to take away somebody’s legacy because you don’t like him as a person? Forget that he is Barry Bonds and forget his records. He was “alleged” of doing steroids. This is America, just because you’re “alleged” of doing something doesn’t mean he actually did it and until he is proven guilty, you shouldn’t have the right to be the judge and jury.
Just because you have the money don’t go buying up people’s history to destroy it. If you’re going to get Barry Bonds’ ball, why don’t you go get Mark McGwire’s homerun balls that got put into the Hall of Fame and Sammy Sosa’s corked bat too?
He was “alleged” of doing steroids. I don’t think as a fan of sports that you have the right to taint this man’s legacy.
This man has a kid. When his kid grows up he’s going to hate you as a person because you decided to be this super, superhero to go put an asterisk sign over his dad’s legacy.
I just felt appalled by it because, what if somebody decides to ban the hyperbaric chambers tomorrow? Everybody knows that I used the hyperbaric tent last year and I scored 60 points against the Lakers during the season I was using the tent. Now, the Hall of Fame has my shoes from that game. What if somebody decides to take my shoes and put an asterisk sign on them now?
I think it’s just drawing graffiti on somebody else’s legacy. Before you go and destroy another man’s career, I’d rather buy the ball back from you and give it to somebody who really, truly wants the ball for what it is.
So, Marc Ecko, I want the ball to give it to a real fan. As a human, you should be ashamed of yourself for outbidding somebody just to do wrong to somebody’s property.
If people don’t understand what I’m talking about, this is the easiest way I can explain it. Anybody out there that has ever taken Creatine, that’s a popular substance, if they all of the sudden consider Creatine to be a steroid that means all you guys that took it are dirty so if you ever do anything in life, you’re tainted. Anything you do in life you’re going to have somebody like Marc Ecko wanting to buy whatever you do in life to put an asterisk sign by it. So if you get a promotion and he decides he wants this guy fired because he did Creatine back in 2001, that’s how you should feel.
Just because he is one of the most hated guys in the world because of “allegedly” doing steroids, I don’t think you should take away his legacy.
The day he broke the record, he wasn’t on steroids. That’s how I look at it. People say that he’s dirty, but the last time I checked anything out I saw that corked bats, spitting on balls, Vaseline on balls and stealing signals, that’s all cheating too.
If they’re doing steroids, I mean there have been plenty of players who I thought have done steroids, but I’m not going to buy their stuff up just to put an asterisk on it. I think it’s giving the wrong idea to people. The fans that voted for the asterisk, I think they’re representing sports wrong because at the time that he broke these records, he wasn’t on steroids.
If you want to buy some records that were broken by somebody who was accused of steroids and admitted to using steroids, go buy Arnold Schwarzenegger’s. Go buy back his trophies and medals and put asterisks on them. That’s a man who actually admitted to using steroids.
I just think it’s wrong. In sports, what people don’t realize is, you’re trying to do everything you can to get that extra advantage. By me using the hyperbaric chamber, I’m using it as an advantage. If they ban it tomorrow, will people be looking at me as a dirty player?
I’m not saying steroids are good or bad here. I mean, I think it’s a cowardly way to enhance your performance don’t get me wrong, but my issue is that if the guy hasn’t been proven guilty, you shouldn’t taint him.
You’re not Superman. You can’t go around trying to save the world from this ball. Give me a break. What if I buy your company and throw it in the trash because I say it's tainted? How stupid would you feel?
And for people who still aren’t feeling me; What if a kid comes and graffiti’s your house. How would you feel?
You worked your butt off to live in the place you live in and some not-so-smart people come and graffiti your house. How would you feel? That’s what I feel about that ball. You’re just tagging it up.
Let a fan, somebody who appreciates the game still, no matter what, accept that ball.
I’ll buy the ball from you Ecko for $800,000. If Barry Bonds is found guilty, I’ll give it back to you. I’m not going to let you go around like some little superhero.
I’ll put it in my hall of fame. The Gilbert Hall of Fame for Athletes no matter what you did.
I know I got off on a little tangent, but Marc, who are you to discredit Barry Bonds' legacy? He is a man first before being a seven-time MVP. Marc, what if someone tried to take away what you did in this world as a fashion pioneer? How would that make you feel as a man?
I would love to buy the ball away from you before you destroy history. I'm a collector of basketball jerseys and I would be honored to have the 756 ball in my personal hall of fame and I know there are real fans out there who both are and aren't Barry Bonds supporters who don't want to see history getting marked up.
I'm not defending steroids users by any means. I'm defending sports in history.