Apollo wrote:
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I hated him.
I was also a kid myself, mid to late 20's, had an idea, but not a clear understanding of how things in pro sports happen. How its a business, and its shady, and affected by business people who have no idea what they are doing, how it can affect players and how young men, coddled most their lives can sometimes crack under the stress, the exposure and deification. I wasn't completely able to see how ridiculous it was that the Raptors gave him so much say in who to sign after they had such a run.... and how the media can be so quick to turn on a young man who had made mistakes, and place a boatload of blame, and negativity upon shoulders that couldn't even handle the success, let alone the failure. I didn't quite understand. I just saw the result, and that result made me a little sick.
I was in my 20's then. I am 41 now. I know the business of sports very well now. I see how things work. I am not at all unable to separate my anger for a small sample of a young mans action on the basketball court from the much larger, and much more complicated web of complications, lies, and half truths that are released to the media, twisted to create stories to sell advertising, and used to either create gods, or tear down mortal men at their leisure. I am ell aware of what I was watching back then. I was mentally equipped to understand it a high level due to my own experience, and as a fan I was privy to the anger we get when our hero's fail us. I am proud to say I am not swayed too much by what I saw, I mean I certainly expected, or would have liked to see more, but I didn't. We didn't. Vince Carter failed. He failed because his franchise, and his management failed him. Together, they had forged a relationship doomed to fail and when it all happened, the media, and the fan base, as is the nature of humans in large crowds, needed a singular place in which to vent their anger, and that target was Vince Carter.
I notice that most people, if not all, who were raptor fans back then, remained Raptor fans. Where Vince shared in the problem that led to the unfortunate failure of the team in his time in Toronto, he did only SHARE in that. The larger source of the problem, the franchise and its MLSE management itself, got ZERO hate. All of us kept cheering, kept showing up, kept paying, kept watching. We picked sides, and logically, and locally, it made sense to pick the franchise as the righteous entity, and label Carter the nemesis.
And so, years later, people only half remembering, and as many had no idea then, and still have no idea today what really transpired, they only remember "Vince carter is bad, he is an evil, lazy, asshole of a man". The truth is much different. Instead, and more accurately, the truth is closer to this; Vince Carter is a good guy. As a young man, despite having physical abilities beyond many of his peers, he was not suited to role of Pro sports leader or superstar. He was never one with a killer instinct, never the guy to lead a franchise, and no matter how much we all desperately, HE desperately wanted to be that guy, it was always going to fail. What was left after his collapse, was hatred, and a lack of respect for a man who was anything but negative, anything but mean spirited, or dishonorable. What was left was a man who just wanted to play basketball and forget about the past. He was a guy that on many occasions apologized for his actions, and when pushed would never throw anyone under the bus. He accepted his role in his failure in Toronto, he has always endorsed the city and its inhabitants, and to this day still talks about how great a place the city is. Vince Carter is just a man. He isn't a hero, or a god. He didn't do wrong to one person in the Toronto fanbase personally, an dI would offer that whatever fans think they were cheated out of, Carter himself has paid for 1000 times over. Its time to let this stay in the past.
People will want to argue this. You can if you like but you will be wrong. Its not right to place hatred on professional athletes. It isn't right to sight a person for his failures, and to never forgive them (as if its ANYNOES right to judge). As a society we have a hard time separating reality form our "hero's". But if you are able to finally strip all the bullshit deification media and culture has placed upon these people, when you finally see them as equals, simply men and women who excelled at something we all liked to watch, but just people nonetheless, then, and only then will you begin to realize why its wrong to have hatred, negative thoughts or anger towards them when they don't meet our standards. When they are human, just like us. When you no longer place your hero's on pedestals, you will finally have no problem when they fall, and the fall will be a small one.
I am at that point in life and have been for a decade or so. I don't hold a grudge on any athlete, and I certainly don't dislike Vince Carter. He's fine by me. I think he'd be a cool guy to have dinner with, and I would gladly call him a friend if a met him.
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