You would think that Michael Beasley murdered a church full of honor students. You would think he kidnapped the Lindburgh baby or drove OJ's white Bronco down the LA Freeway. With the media questioning his character and proclaiming him the bad boy of the 2008 NBA Draft, you would think Michael Beasley was the Antichrist. He's not.
Leave it to the media to find a line to blur between being a thug and being a 19 year-old kid. Beasley is hardly the first and every bit the latter. His "criminal acts" are limited to a few slashed tires and a dead
rat in a teacher's desk - when he was 12 years old! The other acts in question, his high school antics, are limited to wearing pajamas in class and forging a graffiti contest with a friend, during which he wrote his name on the principal's car. I'm not condoning these actions; they were stupid, childish acts. But that's the whole point, isn't it? These were the acts of a child, a high school kid who did some things he thought were funny. They weren't, and in the end they cost him his reputation and the honor of being the first pick in the NBA Draft. But these acts, and this kid, are hardly evil, despite how the media has portrayed him. "Stink" Brown, who has coached Beasley since the player was eleven, said, "Look, people don't talk about him stealing or robbing or cursing out or harming anybody. He listens. Whatever coach says to him, he will do. On the court, he's all business. Off the court, he's still young and will learn what he can and can't do in order to be a man." Isn't that all we can ask of him?
Beasley seems like a goofy, immature kid whose sense of humor may not come with an off switch and whose social life may be a bit active for the taste of NBA executives. But these issues have less to do with character than they do with personality. Beasley has the personality of a fun-loving, 19-year old. But ask any of his coaches, or the players who fought alongside him, and they'll tell you his character is unimpeachable. Bill Barton, his high school coach, said, ""He's a great kid who's respectful to everybody, polite to staff members and kids of the community alike. Yes, he showed age-appropriate behavior at times, but I had him when he was 17 and he was a heck of a lot more mature than I was at 17. He has lived away from home for so long that he's more mature than most kids his age. I'm not sure I ever got mad at him the entire year except once or twice when he didn't get a rebound. If I live to 110, I'll never say a bad word about this kid." This is the guy whose character cost him the top overall selection?
In sports, the word "character" goes a long way. We think about bad character and we think, undoubtedly, of Ron Artest, who charged into the stands to attack a fan. We think about Pacman 
Jones, whose actions left a Vegas bouncer paralyzed. We think, now, of Shawn Chacon, who grabbed his GM, Ed Wade, by the neck and threw him to the ground. Michael Beasley wrote his name on a car. Seriously. He doesn't belong on this list. To group him into the "character issues" crowd with the likes of Ron Artest and Co. is to do nothing more than irresponsibly slander a kid before he even enters the world of professional sports.
These characterizations already cost Beasley a spot on the Bulls roster and will likely cost him millions of dollars in endorsements (Nike tends not to endorse guys labeled as criminals). More importantly, though, they have cost him his reputation. Before David Stern even called Beasley's name, the world knew him as a thug. Yet if his teammates and coaches were given the airtime of those who labeled him, Beasley may have been given a fair shake - and the kid they call B-Easy might be entering the league favored by fans instead of feared. Most fans don't know the details of Beasley's past. They don't know that he has been well-liked everywhere he has played, and that he is generally considered hard-working and well-mannered. Fans only latch onto the "character issues" phrase that has been so carelessly tossed around and come to identify Beasley with the other athletes who fit into that group.
Michael Beasley is the surest thing basketball has seen in a while. He is a prolific scorer and rebounder who looks to be a major offensive presence in the league for years to come. For basketball fans, Beasley will be a part of our lives for the immediate future whether we like him or not. And even though we have been predisposed by the media not to like him, let us as fans do what the media has not had the decency to do: Let's give Michael Beasley a chance.
i went to the same school as patrick. i remeber those girls from my school who wrote in. they were white trash...i always felt so bad for them.
Posted by: Timberland Outlets | December 29, 2011 at 07:14 AM