Just because Lebron’s stupefying levels of fame and fortune insulate him (for now) from karma, it doesn’t mean that everyone else’s arrogance or ignorance goes unpunished. For every Lebron James or ESPN, there’s someone like Pete Rose, a guy who treated people like crap and wound up bathing in his own disgrace, selling autographs like some washed up pro wrestler, and giving bitter interviews to whoever will listen. And you know what? That’s awesome. He deserves every ounce of the indignity.
9. Captain Jack, The Bobcat: Sometimes You Get What You Deserve
Same goes for Stephen Jackson. Ordinarily, I’d side with just about anyone on the other side of a feud with Golden State management, but Captain Jack had this coming. He deserves Charlotte. If he wanted to leave Golden State, then he should have done it before he signed a $30+ million extension. The writing was on the wall back when he signed the contract; Baron Davis had left, Don Nelson was as boorish as ever, and the team was headed to disaster. To be clear, this was OBVIOUS when he signed his contract. So why sign it?
Because he wanted the money. And that’s fine. But if someone is dumb enough to reward a declining player an extension that lucrative so late in his year, the least that player can do is be loyal to the idiots that gave it to him. Instead, Jackson basically decided he wanted to leave, and was going to be as disruptive as possible until the Warriors sent him packing. Can you say Charlotte Bobcats?!
Which brings me to other side… Larry Brown was pretty much the toast of the basketball universe in 2004. His Pistons won the title playing team basketball and were being looked upon as the model for young kids all over the country. See? When 5 guys play together, you can beat Kobe and Shaq, went the rhetoric. The next year, he lost in the NBA finals and bolted for the New York Knicks.
What ensued in New York may as well have been the basketball apocalypse. It should not be spoken of again unless one of the pertinent characters finds himself in a confessional booth (Truck Party!). But suffice to say, Larry Brown ditched basketball valhalla in search of more money and another knotch on his basketball belt. His ego demanded that he take the Knicks job, regardless of whether it meant leaving a great situation and a group of guys that’d given him his first ever NBA title. He wanted the job, and he took it.
No harm done, but it meant going from a symbol for doing it the right way to a cautionary tale. Overnight, he became karma’s cruel joke. That Knicks team lost 59 games, and now with Charlotte, he’s got the most offensively inept team in the entire league. It hurts to watch Bobcats games on a nightly basis. Will Stephen Jackson help solve some of those woes? Maybe, but since he’s… ah, impetuous (and due to make $27 million), the cost almost certainly outweighs any benefits.
Does that sound like a fun coaching job? Well Larry Brown, you earned it.
Another famous person that’s about to get absolutely HAMMERED by karma? Jon Gosselin. For so many different reasons, he represents the very worst of human potential. He’s also far too satisfied with himself for anyone’s comfort. And thankfully, he’s not rich or talented enough to keep himself from fading into oblivion. In about three years, he’s going to be walking around with a briefcase full of headshots, saying his name really loudly in the middle of other people’s conversations, and making unsolicited offers to sign copies of US Weekly at Barnes and Noble, before being quietly escorted out by security. Again.
Either that, or he’ll have a number one pop record, Sarah Palin will be President, and I’ll be spending my days eating cigarettes and huffing paint thinner. Time will tell, ya know?
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