The All Ego Team

GM for the All Ego Team

In the middle of the second hour today Bo came up for air from talking about Alabama/LSU and NFL playoffs to talk about a handful of athletes that have been in the news for off the field comments. 

Bo was spurred on to this half-formed thought by comments made by Todd Blackledge, Lavarr Arrington and Delonte West. His whole premise was that athletes should keep their mouth shut, because “at the end of the day coaches and athletes are just not that smart.” Probably true, but soon enough Bo left that track and went in a very different direction.

To recap, Blackledge and Arrington were in the news because both publicly came out (with several other former Paterno players) against the new Penn State head coach hire. Understandable, I guess. I’d just rather Blackledge stick to talking about hometown eateries and does anyone really give a fuck what Lavarr Arrington is saying. 

But it was the Delonte West news item that really sent Bo off the rails today. West was in the news cycle for comments he made about the Dallas Mavericks championship visit to the White House today.

"I'm banned from going to the White House, so I'm not going to make it. That's what happens when you make bad decisions in your life. You can't go to the White House.I've been there 100 times in my lifetime," said West, who was born in D.C. "I live right around the corner."I live in D.C. It's going to be a shame the president isn't going to get a chance to meet me. I'm the president of my house.”

Starting point guard for Bo's "All Ego Team?"

Bo seemed to really to take West at face value, mocking him by saying “how will President Obama manage to go on being the President without meeting West.” Bo kept on saying that this comment alone had earned Delonte West a place on the all-ego team, apparently replacing Rickey Henderson. (sidebar: how fucking perfect is it, that Bo Bounds, the man that POSED for the banner picture above, suggest the idea of an all-ego team).

He even put out a call for email and tweets for nominations to toe the all ego team. I didn’t hear the rest of the show, but I’ve listened to enough OOB to know that he never worked his way back around to this All Ego Team idea. It’s these little moments that make Out of Bounds just so *kisses fingertips* perfect. It’s really the reason started this blog.

Just a few things about Delonte’s comments

• I feel like West joking a little bit with the reporter here. This felt like a classic self deprecating move that Bo obviously just whiffed on.
• There’s a solid lesson in there for the kids: you make bad decisions, miss out on cool stuff that your friends are doing. No need for an ego-check there.
•  West has been diagnosed with a severe bipolar disorder. I’m sure Bo didn’t realize this when he was picking on him, but…still. It’s a special kind of asshole to equate mental illness with egotism
•  Lastly, and this is just more of a news item update, later in the day it was discovered, that West was never officially banned from the White House. Do with that what you will.