- In an interview with FanHouse, Dwyane Wade talks about how blogging impacts athletes and has some nice things to say about Gilbert’s blog:
WB: Cool. I noticed you’re, and I’m not sure if that’s Sun-Times nounage (Ed. Note: It is so a word) or not, avoiding the term “blogging”. Do you ever read other blogs out there or do you ever google yourself to see what rumors are floating around, just out of personal curiosity?
DW: Oh, no question. We all do. A lot of people, you know, look on different sites. Some people use if for motivation and some people just want to hear what’s been said, whether it’s been good or not.
If I read a blog, I probably read Gilbert [Arenas's blog, man, because you never know what that guy's gonna say. And I know he's one of the first ones, in terms of professional athletes, or NBA players, to start a blog. And so I...No question, in this world we live in today, gossip and rumors are a part of the world, so you've check out and see what's being said about not only you but others and go from there.
- Bounce Magazine caught up with the Bryon Sheng, the man behind the Undrcrwn - Gil II Zero collaboration.
- Finally, the legendary Elie Seckbach caught up with Gilbert Arenas and they talked about how Gilbert avoids D.C.'s cold weather in the winter:
For the first time in over two months, Gilbert has a new entry in his blog. Surprisingly, he doesn’t spend much time talking about his new contract. Instead, most of it focuses on his tour overseas, where he learned quite a bit. Here’s a sample of what he learned in the different places that he traveled to.
Shanghai & Beijing:
You know how when you’re on a plane for 13 hours and you start thinking about everything in the world? Well I was watching an episode of Dave Chappelle in Asia and he was like Godzilla compared to everybody so I was having the same little thought process like, Damn, am I going to be like four feet taller than everybody over there?
Wrong.
Everybody was tall.
Manila:
I was stunned.
They made me feel like an NBA star.
Any NBA players out there: If you’re having a bad day, or you’re having a bad career, go to Manila. They’ll bring your spirits up, trust me.
I felt like I just won the NBA championship, to be for real.
Berlin:
What was funny about Berlin is: 1) It’s a very clean city (that’s not the funny part, but it’s a very clean city) 2) The funny part is, their cabs were Beamers. So, NBA players, if you driver a Beamer, your swag is questionable because if you go to Berlin, that’s just a cab.
Another funny thing was that we landed at 10:30 at night and it was still light outside. It was still basically day time. Back in D.C. the sun is going down around 8:15 at this time of July. It’s crazy. So it was finally dark at 11 o’clock in Berlin and then at four o’clock the light was back on, the sun was up again. They have the shortest nights I’ve ever seen in my life. It was messing me up because I’m a dark person. I go to sleep when it’s dark. So I was wide awake a four o’clock and then I’m trying to make it through my interviews that morning.
Barcelona:
They were very knowledgeable fans about basketball out there. They were asking me questions that I haven’t heard since I was a rookie. They did their research on questions, I was very surprised. I thought I was going to get the same questions … “How does it feel to sign a $100 million deal? … How is your injury? … Can you get the Wizards out of the First Round? … How does it feel losing to Cleveland?” I thought I was going to get the same old questions that reporters say in the states. But, no, they were pulling out some great stuff.
At the end he covers some other subjects: Brandon Jennings going to Europe, The Wizards’ new acquisitions, his health and the big free agency moves this summer. Here’s what he had to say about his college teammate Richard Jefferson getting traded to Milwaukee:
Richard Jefferson going to Milwaukee …. HAHAHA! Oh man, now that is funny. When I heard that, I started laughing. Oh man, did I start laughing. You know why? Because every player hates Milwaukee. Nobody wants to live in Milwaukee. I’m sorry, Milwaukee, to come down hard on you, but no one in the NBA wants to play in Milwaukee. From him going from New Jersey, actually from New York (because he lives in New York), from New York to Milwaukee is like going … let’s just say it’s not going to sit well with you. That was a funny one when I heard that one. I know Yi is happy though
I guess this means we can add Milwaukee to the list of cities that hate Gilbert Arenas, along with Boston and Portland. When this year’s NBA schedule comes out, mark your calendars accordingly.
A lot of talk lately has centered around our struggling economy, as the value of the dollar drops below that of other countries. There have been more prosperous times, but things aren’t so bad right now. Take Gilbert Arenas for example. After making his way through Asia and Europe he comes to find $111 million waiting for him at home. Not bad, eh?
Now that Gilbert is officially a Wizard again, I can officially pull this video out from the archives from the first time Gilbert signed with the Wizards. Enjoy!
I was looking through some of my old magazines today and I dug up an issue of ESPN the Magazine from 2003 that has artice on none other than Gilbert Arenas, Boy Wonder (GABW). Sadly, I can’t seem to find an online version of the article for your consumption, so until then enjoy this passage from the article:
Now, although he still wears that zero on his chest, no number matters more to Arenas than 31. It is a searing reminder of wrongs perpetrated–and a portent of retribution to come. Arenas has never stopped thinking of himself as Boy Wonder, even over the past two years. But others continue to question his ability and maturity; clearly, to the world, he’ll always be 31. So he has adopted the new number, absorbed it: 31 is Arenas’ new touchstone.
Mentioning the number to him unleashes a storm, because the only thing more wicked than Boy Wonder’s first step is his memory. Sitting with his girlfriend, Laura Mendoza-Govan, he has some words for several teams that ignored him.
Celtics: With three first-round chances to pick a point guard, they drafted Joe Johnson, Kedrick Brown and Joe Forte. “If I could choose one team to score 100 points against,” says Arenas, “it would be Boston.”
Blazers: “They told me if I was there at 19, the wouldn’t hesitate to take me.” They took Zach Randolph.
Kings: “I heard they said I couldn’t shoot. They took Gerald Wallace. Have you seen him shoot? A monkey could shoot better.”
Magic: “Jeryl Sasser–He’s terrible.”
Why did Boy Wonder fall so far? Maybe because the 6′3″ guard was projected to be an undersized 2, his position in college. Or maybe because he was healing from a separated shoulder when he worked out for those teams.
Or not. “A–holes,” he says. “They don’t know talent.”
And you thought the stuff that he said nowadays was controversial!
Gilbert’s latest stop in his worldwide tour has him in Germany promoting the Wizards’ preseason match against the Hornets that will be taking place in Berlin this October. Normally when an athlete is out promoting something, he’ll stick to the general jockspeak about the event. But if you know anything about Gilbert then you already know that he’s not the one to do that. The only question was what would he say? Well, here’s your answer:
I don’t want to touch a basketball until August, after the last two seasons, I never really had time to recover. My knee is about 95 percent — it’s got to get stronger.
Now, I don’t have any problem with that. Last summer showed what happens if you push yourself too hard to get healthy. The only way you can get better is to let the knee heal by itself. The only problem is that the photo evidence doesn’t support his claims. Check out the promotional photos from his appearance today:
Obviously, I’m taking this to an extreme here, but it’s nice to see that Gil is going about his rehab the right way this time around. Let’s just hope that it gets him back to holding a basketball like this:
