As our good friend Samuel has pointed out, and as Casey at Oregonlive has posted, the Portland Tribune has published another article this morning saying Zach Randolph was at a local strip club Tuesday night...a night he was on bereavement leave because of the death of his friend and also a night when the Blazers had a game. Reaction seems to be subdued so far, but varied.
My initial thought is that this guy is a genius at finding these "tweener" issues that you can't exactly let slide unmentioned but that also aren't enough for most folks to outright condemn him for...at least not to the extent of demanding a suspension or a trade. He's on bereavement leave and unwinding in a strip club? OK...people need some outlet when they're grieving. You can't just sit and think about it 24/7. It's not the venue I'd choose but I wouldn't think it strange if somebody who was grieving went to see a movie or something. Maybe this is just Zach's outlet. (Of course the venue does add to the shock factor...he couldn't just go and rent a movie, right? See? Genius.) On the other hand he does it on a GAME NIGHT in the same town where his team is playing. I can see where a lot of folks are going to have a problem with that. Although if I took bereavement leave I guess I'd also be seen around the town I live in, so maybe that's not entirely fair.
So is it a Big Deal or Much Ado About Nothing? As always with Z-Bo, right in between. This is what frustrates you about Zach sometimes.
Make that a lot of the time.
--Dave (blazersub@yahoo.com)
P.S. Had Jason Quick or John Canzano broken this story the "witch hunt/biased media" accusations would have been flying fast and thick. I wonder if the same thing will happen to Kerry Eggers?