Raw 'Sheed: Rasheed Wallace cares, just not about fans' feelings or the NBA
I'm definitely happy with who I am, my personality, my lifestyle. I'm definitely pleased with it. I won't change it. Not one bit. Not for any amount of money.
- Rasheed Wallace
Man, you know you're going to be dealing with a true DUMASS when the story begins with a disclaimer like this:
Editor's note: Portland Trail Blazer Rasheed Wallace sat down recently for an exclusive interview with The Oregonian's Geoffrey C. Arnold. Wallace was direct and emphatic in his opinions and occasionally graphic in his language. Although we understand some readers will find his use of a racial epithet offensive, we chose to leave it intact in the story to convey the strength of the opinion and the manner in which he expressed it. -- Dennis Peck, Sports Editor
No one will ever accuse Rasheed Wallace of being grateful for his lot in life. He is abundant talented, fabulously wealthy, and a complete and total DUMASS. Millions of American would love to be blessed with the athletic prowess and the material wealth Wallace has achieved; Wallace, sadly, seems to see it as his birthright:
I know I'm Public Enemy No. 1. Fifty percent (of the fans) hate me and 50 percent love me no matter what I do. I can't worry about that. If you're not part of my inner circle of family, it don't matter....
I ain't no dumb-ass nigger out here. I'm not like a whole bunch of these young boys out here who get caught up and captivated into the league," Wallace, 29, said. "No. I see behind the lines. I see behind the false screens. I know what this business is all about. I know the commissioner of this league makes more than three-quarters of the players in this league.
There's a whole lot of crunching numbers that, quote-unquote, me as an athlete and me as an NBA player should know. In my opinion, they just want to draft niggers who are dumb and dumber -- straight out of high school. That's why they're drafting all these high school cats, because they come into the league and they don't know no better. They don't know no better, and they don't know the real business, and they don't see behind the charade.
They look at black athletes like we're dumb-ass niggers. It's as if we're just going to shut up, sign for the money and do what they tell us.
OK, OK...we get it, Rasheed; you're a DUMASS. I suppose that, on some level, it's refreshing that an athlete would give a reporter his unvarnished opinions. Still, there is something to be said for not biting the hands that feed you and your family. Without the Portland Trailblazers fans who pay his salary, Rasheed Wallace would be just another hyperglandular African-American male with an attitude problem. He is incredibly fortunate to be blessed with the lifestyle he is living. Would it kill the man to show some gratitude for being in a place few Americans will ever see?
I've been a Trailblazers fan for years, but I would dearly love to see Wallace exiled to basketball Siberia- say, the LA Clippers? Or Toronto? Hell, trade him to Memphis; I'm sure former DUMASS AWARS wiener Bonzi Wells misses him. Many Trailblazers fans have threatened not to renew their season tickets unless Wallace is traded. I may no longer live in Portland, but I'm with those fans. They deserve better- and they're not going to get it from this DUMASS.
