Arman is contemplative.
Halloween always reminds me of basketball, due solely to the fact that when I owned NBA Courtside 2002 for Gamecube, the NBA season would always start on Halloween. Before NBA Courtside I had NBA Live for Playstation – and I would play that a lot as a kid. I remember I would go out of my way to ensure Ruben Patterson, a player for the Sonics who I met in 5th grade, would get a lot of points. Then he sexually assaulted his kids’ nanny and was traded away along with a part of my innocence. His career was never quite the same. As blog “Can Danny?” (a reference to Danny Ainge’s skill as a general manager) puts it, “Ruben Patterson is a registered sex offender, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t make a great 6th man.” No one else in the world agreed with that statement and Ruben Patterson became the second most important Reuben in delis across America. And then, whether you were in a deli or not, no one gave a shit about Ruben Patterson.
I saw Ruben years later at a Sonics game, buried on the bench of the Denver Nuggets. A fan in front of me yelled, “Ruben, you suck.” I think the literal words were different, but it was the same intent. Ruben turns around, game still going on, and says, “That’s why we’re in the playoffs and you aren’t?”
Yeah Ruben, that’s why your one and done Denver Nuggets are in the playoffs, and the 5’6” unathletic white guy sitting in front of me isn’t. It’s because you suck. Like Ben Wallace. Get off his back, by the way.
I’m contemplative.
And starting to get angry.
This is only Day Two.
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