The Media's Love Affair with Gilbert Arenas

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First he loved the attention; now he hates it. For those media fools who have tried to make Gilbert Arenas out to be more than a funny Valentine for quotes and sound bytes, the best advice is to love him and leave him alone.

We all embraced the hot shooting, wildly honest point guard who came to make us love NBA basketball again. He was the prototype; an honest man with perspectives worth diamonds and pearls in a city of tarnished political brass. Yes, we egged him on in his efforts to be a blog star and yes, we were the ones that cast celebrity on the things that came to matter more than winning and losing.

And when his knee rejected the overtures of his game like a scorned lover, we’ll admitted he became a distant lover to us.

And now that he’s back, is there any surprise that he wants us to cry him a river? The reporters and bloggers, those he never dreamed would leave in summer, those who once wrote him daily love letters and posts, lavishing praise on his fame and his game to no end have returned. We want him back; not just the game, but the same smile that used to light up the arena.

But the guy who wanted to be always in our hearts, is now cold as ice. We didn’t really treat him right, but it’s not all of our fault. It’s not like he didn’t threaten to step out on us,or avoided saying what he felt about his injury getting in the way of what we were feeling; Neither of us were perfect.

But we all were and still are, willing to try.

We’ll try to be more patient, he’ll try to be more mature. We’ll be loyal , he’ll do his best to win; love will keep us together.

Even if it means we get the silent treatment for a while.

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