Sooo... I may have made a teensy error in judgement. As you may recall, it was not so long ago that I was extolling the greatness of the Mr. Kardashian-takes-Dallas saga. Oh, he took Dallas, all right.
I let my admiration of the kurviest Kardashian and her affable man impede upon my impeccable sports judgement. I believed that the introduction of a sportslebrity offering of such current relevance could only bring good to our fine metroplex. Not to mention, he was supposed to be, in the words of Dottie Henson (by way of Geena Davis), "a damn fine ballplayer."
The aforementioned man was not the one who slunked into the heart of Big D. Lam-lam instead lived up to his recently given moniker and grazed lifelessly around the court and the town like a lost sheep for 3 agonizing months. At first I was his big defender-- he wasn't acclimating to a new place, he just needed some time, blah, blah blah.
In hearing the breadth of his apathy (perpetual tardiness, bogus excuse-making, etc), anyone of sound mind and character should find his inaction indefensible. As we zoom further out on the picture, we see more clearly that this man just did not care. Even if you can't dig down within, or look up to divine inspiration, you'd think a paycheck worth millions of dollars would help you figure out a way to fake it, or at least contribute in some pseudo-meaningful way. I understand why Mavs fans are livid. A guy was given a free pass for months to waste roster space and poison a locker room. That's infuriating.
I'm going to make a terrible comparison that Romo apologists are going to hate, but stay with me, here. After the abysmal effort in the make-or-break 2008 season finale against the loathsome Philadelphia Eagles, Tony Romo more or less verbally shrugged off the loss and essentially said that football is just a game. Now, in isolation that statement is not much of anything. But against the backdrop of his mid-season Cancun vacay and Jessica Simpson sportslebrity frollicking, it's unacceptable. To me, it said that he was more interested (at that time) in enjoying the sportslebrity lifestyle rather than focusing on the game and giving a crap about the job he is paid millions of dollars to do. I still really haven't gotten over that, even though he is a far cry from the boy who stood by 'Mom Jeans Simpson' for so long. If that was enough to set me off, how much of an impact would a Lamar Odom have?
As a side tangent, thank goodness Romo was freed of Jessica's manicured talons in the nick (Lachey) of time. What would his career be right now if he was forced to stand by her as she spouts off on late night television about the anomalies of pregnancy, which apparently include incessant gas and something known only to J Simp as "swamp ass"? I shudder at the very thought. Still, we have "You're my Sunday" as both cruel reminder and cautionary tale of sportslebrity romance gone so very wrong.
The point is, behavior speaks volumes. And Lamar's behavior from the moment he set foot in our great state has been nothing short of pitiful, and he played this team and city for a fool. I truly do think had he come in with a better attitude, he could have been very well received by people and his stay here, for however long, could have been a lot of fun. Instead, he's the town pariah, forcing those of us who backed his arrival to sheepishly admit we were dead wrong.
So long, Khloe and Lam Lam. We barely knew ya. But I think we've seen enough.
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