Qualitypie's fanpost about the 07 lottery reminded me about something. He quotes this article from sports illustrated, which I shall quote part of as well:

"...earned the sobriquet of Jail Blazers through the on-court and off-court misadventures of players such as Rasheed Wallace, Isaiah Rider, Damon Stoudamire, Bonzi Wells, Ruben Patterson, Zach Randolph, Qyntel Woods and Darius Miles."

Even though Damon is always in these media lists of jailblazers, and deserves to be after the incidents with the weed on I-5 with Rasheed, trying to take weed through the airport, and maybe even more stuff that I have forgotten about, there is a more complete picture of him that I feel like people don't know. Which is why seeing him on these lists always makes me sad.

He came and spoke at my schools twice when I was growing up in public school, once at Tubman middle and once at Benson high, and he always had excellent things to say about success and climbing out of poverty. The second time I saw him speak to my whole school in an assembly, Derek Anderson and Rasheed Wallace were also there. The whole thing was obviously just a PR event set up by the team, and Rasheed and Derek Anderson really acted like it, giving really short, generic, insincere contrived speeches. But Stoudamire's was different, he was sincere and he actually cared, his speech was longer and meaningful. It's really a shame that the only way he'll be remembered is as another name on that list of jailblazers.

I'm not saying he doesn't deserve to be forever known as a jailblazer, I'm just saying that it's a shame that that's how it happened, because good people make mistakes.

It makes me wonder, of the public figures that we all revere, how many of them have done terrible things that we would crucify them for if only we knew?