I've been listening to Dale and Holley this morning. They are a local Boston sports station radio show that I enjoy. (they work well together and it's a fun show).

Today they've been talking about an incident last night at the United Center in Chicago.

CHICAGO -- Antonio Davis thought his wife was in danger, so the New York Knicks forward dashed over the scorer's table and into the stands during a timeout in overtime.

Of course the controversy is - should he have gone into the stands or not? In other words should he have called Security over to take care of the situation. There are a few things I find interesting in reading the article and listening to Dale (he's for Antonio protecting his wife even if it means entering the stands) and Holley (he's against a player entering the stands because of the volatility of the situation at that point).

First of all - this man is a professional athlete, he's being paid HUGE dollars to play a game. What he's supposed to be doing is concentrating on playing. Why in the world is he looking at the stands and his family when the game is on the line? This screams to me that his mind was not on the game at all, he was more interested in the peripherals... his family in the stands. If your mind is not on the court, you can NOT possibly play your best.

Second - and here is where I part company with the guys out there. His wife is a grown woman. She is in a public arena with Security available. She should be able to take care of herself! Good grief this is ridiculous. From everything I'm hearing and reading from the men out there - you'd think she was a drooling idiot who must be coddled and protected from every wind blowing. If the man was being obnoxious, why wasn't she calling security to complain? I'm very sure he didn't just stand up and suddenly decide to attack her. From what I heard on the radio - apparently words were flying fast and furious before it got to the point of physical confrontation.

I know the guys out there are all going to start sputtering and telling me how they would jump to the rescue if they thought their wife was being threatened... but I think we have to put it into context. She wasn't being accosted in a dark alley, she wasn't in a place where help was unavailable, she wasn't tied to the seats she was sitting in! For heaven sake... she could have taken off and gotten away from the guy if she felt he was a menace. Why are her actions or lack thereof being completely ignored?

Third - as I said, this guy is a highly paid athlete. He did play for Chicago in the past, but he is currently on a different team. His wife and supposedly his kids were in the stands (although the fact that the kids are there is barely mentioned at the end of the article)... if he is that worried about them, to the point that he can't concentrate on the job at hand, why didn't he buy and extra seat and hire a bodyguard to take care of them for a few hours?

I have to believe he thought something might happen between his wife and one of the local fans, because he seemed to be looking for it. This would be a prime reason for watching the stands during a timeout in overtime. A time when he should be evaluating the opposing team and thinking about his moves in various situations - not looking to see if the wife and (supposedly) kids are okay.

I guess what galls me the most about this episode is the way that Antonio's wife is given a complete pass on any responsibility in this matter. All the guys can think of to discuss is their protective instincts. She is like a cardboard cut out with no ability to do anything but stand there and be attacked.

While I understand the discussion about protecting your wife and kids, I find it maddening that his wife and her ability to avoid trouble are never given any credit or blame at all.

Posted by: Teresa in Sports at 07:51 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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