As Kevingiard1 has cited in his diary to the right news outlets are reporting that police are investigating an incident in a bar that reportedly happened while Darius Miles was present. Thus far we know this:
--The establishment's management is confirming Darius was in the bar but is not saying he was involved in the incident
--Police were not called at the time of the incident but are investigating now
--A complaint is being filed by a man whose leg was broken in the incident
--We don't know of anybody except that man who is claiming that Darius was actually involved
--The man's story involves Darius leaping behind the bar and throwing a bottle
I am not one to defend Blazers who screw up in public and anybody who's read me for more than ten seconds will confirm that. I have no problem calling out stupidity when I see it. But at this point unless more info comes out this smells fishy. First of all, if Darius was directly involved you'd think this would have made news instantly, as it would have been the talk of the bar. Secondly, leaping behind the bar and throwing a bottle sounds more like an old coot sidekick in a John Wayne movie than somebody with a beef. Third, as we all know players are often targets for dollar-sign dreams in incidents like this. It seems like a non-issue at this point.
However, let's just pretend the worst happened and Darius got involved in a scuffle, leaped behind a bar, and broke somebody's leg by flinging a fifth of Southern Comfort into the fray. In past years it would have been one more tally mark on the chart of reasons to dislike and dismiss the team. This year it doesn't feel like anything but an aberration. Darius is so far from defining this team he might as well not exist at this point. In fact if you asked people to list off every Blazer they could remember right now Taurean Green would get more mentions. He's a non-factor off the court as well as on. It's a tribute to how far the team has come that we don't have to wring hands over this.
Some will talk about the potential influence on young teammates, but I don't see it. I believe we saw the real nature of this squad in Jason Quick's spontaneous-team-dinner-together story a couple weeks ago. It's hard to imagine Brandon, Lamarcus, Oden, Jack, Travis, Martell, Sergio, and company hearing about the police investigation and all of a sudden deciding it was a good idea to hang around in bars late at night tossing bottles and breaking limbs. They've got too much else going for them. I'm not assuming they will all behave perfectly all the days of their lives but if they do make mistakes they won't be of this variety.
In any case, from my point of view this is a completely non-worrisome situation. It's probably nothing at all. In the worst case it's a minor irritant which will be swept away quickly by the ongoing revival.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)