Remember how I joked that Gilbert wouldn’t be late for his media events in New York because he wouldn’t lose his passport? Well, he’s found a new way to be late for events according to Dime Magazine:
Meanwhile in New York, some of us got to spend a time at the W Hotel in Midtown with Gilbert Arenas while getting a sneak preview of his Gil II Zero signature sneakers. There are gonna be 20 versions of his signature adidas kicks released this season, at various dates in various cities where the Wizards play: from a Washington Redskins “Chocolate City” pair to a customize-able mostly white version that is basically a dry-erase board on your feet. All of the shoes on display yesterday had some crazy presentations — the “Mr. Hibachi” kicks came complete with chopsticks and a Benihana restaurant menu; the “Channel Zero” kicks were laid out amongst issues of TV Guide; and the “MVP” shoes were set up next to a ballot box …
Gilbert had actually missed his first scheduled flight into NYC yesterday morning because while driving to the D.C. airport in the morning, he told us he got pulled over for driving in the HOV lane. Gil couldn’t get over how hybrid cars are allowed to use the HOV lane even if there’s just one person in it. He also found out his tabs were expired. “It was my Dad’s car. I didn’t know,” he told us. “I just got in it and started driving. I didn’t give it an inspection first.”
When he finally made it to New York, they managed to get a quick interview with him:
Dime: What is the main focus for that first week of training camp?
Arenas: Truthfully we’re trying to get our rookies in line, because our team is always in shape. We never have to do the suicides and all that because we’re already fit. Other than that, we’re just trying to understand the offense and understand each other. My job in training camp is to figure out what the other players like to do –- where they like the ball.
Dime: When your feet touch the court on Day 1, what’s the game plan?
Arenas: We get right into it. We’re not one of those teams who try to do line drills and do this and don’t touch the basketball. Touching the basketball is what this game is about. We’re on the court, we’re there early, we’re shooting, getting shots up. We got so many competitors shooting-wise. We’re just sitting there shooting thousands of shots figuring out who can out-shoot who.
In other news, DC Optimist has name Arenas his MAO of the Week for his bold prediction:
Determined to rampen up the image of his oft-overlooked franchise, Agent Zero has taken to the airwaves to proclaim the Wiz as a powerhouse of a team, predicting to reporters that an Eastern Conference finals appearance is imminent in 2008. For this strong ’tism-boosting backslapping of the city, Gilbert has been rewarded his first Manny Acta Optimist of the Week award. The award is named after Nationals Manager Manny Acta, who, like Gilbert, had strong predictions for his first season as Nationals manager, and, like the DC Optimst, he was positively correct.
Finally, Gilbert reveals to the DC Sports Bog that he wants to buy Barry Bonds record breaking home run ball:
“It’s history,” Gil began. “It’s still history. I mean, the guy’s a man before he’s some big slugger. I mean, how you just going to take what this man’s done for his career and, as another man, say ‘Hey, you were accused of this, you allegedly did this, I want to take this away from you.’ I mean, what if we took away your Ecko company?
“I mean, why graffiti the ball when, in everybody’s mind, they think he’s done it. So no matter what, when they look at the ball, they’re gonna be like, ‘Oh, he allegedly….You don’t have to mark it in history. Like, who are you? Are you Superman? You’re sitting here throwing all the rockets into space: ‘I want to send it to space?’ Are you serious? Like, come on.”
Someone asked whether Gilbert thought Ecko was just a hater.
“I don’t know what his relationship is to Bonds, but I just didn’t understand it,” Gilbert said. “Like, as an athlete, I don’t want nobody to say, ‘He was in the hyperbaric chamber, we’re gonna ban that tomorrow, now the 60 points he scored last year, I’m going to dot those shoes up.’ Let’s be for real.”
