In 1945, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in Notebook E, “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.” In some ways that applies to Duke Blue Devils Junior Shooting Guard Grayson Allen.
One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter is a phrase popularized by the James Bond movie franchise, but it was first written by Gerald Seymour in his 1975 book Harry’s Game. The expression certainly applies to the media coverage of Grayson Allen.
While Grayson is certainly not the guy you want taking your daughter to prom, and there’s not much, if anything warm and cuddly about him, ESPN has gone out of their way to make him a villain. There’s plenty to despise about Allen, but he has his admirable traits as well. He suffered a gruesome finger injury in the game over the weekend, but still came back in later to give his team the help they badly needed against Miami. Grayson played through the pain of a dislocated finger.
Remember, ESPN is much more show-business and marketing than it is news or journalism, and the show can only go on if there’s a good villain. Take it away Mr. Burns:
We’ve already covered the complexities of Grayson Allen, the good, the bad and the ugly, over at this link. He’s a dirty player, no doubt, but ESPN is no doubt doing everything they can to create a Christian Laettner 2.0 type villain out of the Blue Devils, blue chip backcourt man.
After all, “I hate Christian Laettner” is probably still the best 30 for 30 of all time.
During a recent media conference call (full transcript here), the second question was about Grayson Allen, and it’s just as likely that was a planted question, as it was a natural organic query. Either way, it led to Dick Vitale and Seth Greenberg going on and on and on and on and on. While they added momentum to the Allen vilification train, they also stated empathy and compassion.
They said they’re pulling for the kid, while also pointing out how people have just been piling on (while also piling on themselves).
The Grayson Allen talk, in which both pundits repeated themselves over and over and over again on multiple points, was over 1,200 words. Not sure anyone really cares that much about this guy at this point, given the already high level of coverage he’s received, so we chopped it down, to give you just the gist of what Greenberg and Vitale had to say.
DICK VITALE: “I think he has really created the problem. He created a problem. It’s not the first time, not the second, the third time. And right now he’s created a monster for himself. He’s put an incredible monster on his back that he’s going to have to deal with everywhere he goes, and unfortunately, some people get carried away.”
“I think sometimes people get a little carried away.”
“He’s made a mistake. He’s responsible. He’s accountable, and he should definitely be accountable for what he did, but he’s going to have to live with that.”
“I just really hope and pray that he turns the corner and that he understands that he can’t act in that manner because it’s going to be unbelievable what he’s going to have to live with, especially if he goes to the next level, the NBA.”
SETH GREENBERG: “Obviously he has an issue. I was most disturbed by his reaction when he was on the bench when he was taken out of the Elon game.”
“You saw a young man in pain.”
“You saw a kid that was hurting, and instead of discipline, look, what he did was wrong, but I think the one thing we’ve got to be cognizant of and aware of is that let’s help him, because in the game of basketball, you can react in that way when things don’t go your way or the pressure, but more importantly, what’s going to happen 10 years from now if something happens and unfortunately he reverts back to making a bad decision.”
That said, let’s see how Allen’s being forced to permanently wear the black hat (much of which he brought on himself) is affecting his NBA Draft stock.
Time to do some Grayson Allen mocksourcing.
Draft Express- Dallas #33 overall.
NBA Draft Room– Utah #44
Draft Site– Denver #22
Tankathon– Memphis #32
That’s all we saw for now, but Grayson Allen could be present in another NBA mock draft or two. For now, he’s looking like a mid-second rounder, early second round at best.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, Bold and the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication, appears regularly as a guest on CGTN America, WGN CLTV News and KOZN 1620 The Zone.
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