by Kent Sterling
Paul George is a good guy who trusts people just a little bit less today than yesterday.
Two products people consume that I can’t figure out – Cubs tickets and catfish stories.
One of those is self-explanatory. The Cubs aren’t in a big enough hurry to become competitive to warrant their subsidy through ticket sales. If Javier Baez is better than Donnie Murphy or Darwin Barney (and he is a significant upgrade to both), he should come north to Chicago to help the Cubs win. He’s going to Iowa because it’s financially expedient, and fans will continue to pay Nordstrom prices for TJ Maxx baseball. The other is more complicated.
Catfishing is what happened to former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o. Some bored mopes concocted a fake girl and tricked Te’o into a fake relationship. When the news of the fake girlfriend’s supposed death broke, it was reported in the media. Well, as we know the girl didn’t exist, and Te’o was made to look like a moron.
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Today, there is news of Indiana Pacers wing Paul George being similarly duped into sending nude photos of himself to a man who posed as a girl, and I don’t care. The only way to put a stop to this predatory foolishness is to stop consuming stories related to it. Also helpful would be athletes and celebrities refusing requests for selfies, but getting 23-year olds like George to behave judiciously is no easier than when I was 23, and I’m just glad we didn’t have smart phones back then.
The story broke during “Ahead of the Curve” today while Fox 59 sports director Chris Hagan and I were talking about the Pacers on 1070 the Fan in Indianapolis, and when it was pointed out to us, we had no interest in shining more light on it. First, the reports were only on Twitter, and second, there has to be a line someplace and I’m drawing it on the other side of a selfie or two taken by a young man who should be given a little latitude in making a victimless error in judgment or two.
Personal lives are interesting in some respects, but to bait a guy into stupidity is a form of entrapment and it seems dirty.
There is a difference between dumb and gullible. We are all born with a desire to trust, and with varying degrees of speed it erodes due to people taking advantage of our better nature. In Jamaica with friends a couple of weeks ago, there was a rule – no last names, no sharing email addresses, and no social media. It’s not that we did anything remotely questionable; it was a lack of trust for the motives of those around us.
George has likely lived a life without getting burned over and over to the point where he does nothing but play basketball and hide in his house, but he’s getting there. Catfishers are like hackers of humanity. They try to find the correct code to cause people to lower their guard, trust, and then betray the person for the amusement of others.
When people ask why the wealthy live behind gates, this kind of crap is the tip of the iceberg. Gates and security codes can’t keep people from building and violating trust.
It’s going to continue to happen until people stop dignifying the rats who have nothing better to do than to cause and profit from the misery they can cause others, and I’m not talking or writing about George or anyone else who is preyed upon by the rancid excuses for human beings who can find what they perceive to be joy in the humiliation of others.
When athletes and celebrities do something incredibly dumb in the public eye, that’s fair game. I’m not so pure I can’t laugh at the idiocy of someone like Amanda Bynes, Britney Spears, and Justin Bieber. They bring it upon themselves.
George did nothing but quench his thirst for contact with someone normal who lives outside the gate, and the sad excuse for a man who made it his goal to force George further down the foxhole achieved his mission. George made a mistake. The venal creep who baited him to make it happen is smiling today because he dragged humanity with him into his amoral void.
Hell of a hobby. Congratulations.
Don’t dignify it by indulging your curiosity. Ignore it and humanity has a chance.
If you’re stupid enough to
1) Take naked pictures of yourself.
2) share them with people.
Then you’re a moron. Plain and simple. What would make anyone want to have naked pictures of themself in the 1st place? Let’s just say you think it’s ok because you have no intention of sharing them. Then what happens if you lose your phone?
Let’s just say this guy wasnt “catfishing” him and it actually was a real girl…what difference would it make? She could easily extort him and distribute the pictures as well.
This is a serious problem among American society today. People have a fascination of taking naked pictures or sharing them. Why so people do it? It’s completely undignifying. But, in today’s culture its completely ok to do things like this, and not taking responsibility for your actions because there are people there to make excuses for you. If your dumb enough to take naked pictures then enjoy the repercussions. Simple as that.
I’m sure what you just said in your post made it all better……..
Well, I doubt that. At least not ALL better.
Personal lives should be personal George being a spokesperson for one place or another does not make what he does behind closed doors our business. If you expect anyone in the public eye to live chaste and modest lives, you should dial it back a bit. That doesn’t happen much.
Nicely said
And because you read it, now you know to ignore it. No need to thank me.
There is nothing contradictory in the post. Just as Jim Irsay’s drug issues were no one’s business until he was pulled over, and everyone in the media knew, Paul George’s selfies are no one’s concern. It was reported on Deadspin and a multitude of journalistic twitter accounts linked to the report. My post chastised those who reported it and consumed it. That people read my post without seeing the report does not make me a hypocrite.
You people sure enjoy agreeing with crowds.
SORRY KENT I HAVE BEEN CATFISHING THE ENITRE TIME. EVERY SINGLE COMMENT EXCEPT THE FIRST STUPID, BRENN BELL,AND KWAISI FRANCE ARE FAKE. I EVEN BAITED YOU INTO A MADE UP RACIAL CONVERSATION. YOU WILL NOTICE NONE OF THE POSTINGS HAVE LINKED FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS. YOU HAVE OVER 100 POSTS. COME ON MAN YOUR POSTS ONLY GENERATE 1-10 AT MOST. I HAVE BEEN POSTING ALL OF THE COMMENTS WITH EXCEPTION TO KWAISI, BRENN AND THE INITIAL COMMENT. I DO NOT EVEN KNOW WHO YOU ARE I JUST HAPPENED UPON THIS POST LAST NIGHT. DID YOU NOT FIND IT STRANGE THAT ALL OF THESE POSTS CAME 3 DAYS AFTER YOU WROTE THE POST. I WROTE THEM ALL. HEHEHE. I READ YOUR BIO AND IT STATED YOU CONTRIBUTED TO 1070. NO ONE CALLED TO REPORT YOUR COMMENTS. I GOATED YOU INTO THE ENTIRE THING. YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THE POSTING WILL DROP OFF TO ZERO. ONLY KWAISI HAS POSTED TODAY. DID YOU FIND IT STRANGE THAT THE POSTS WERE ALL NOT IN SUPPORT OF YOU. ALL BUT THE ONLY ACTUAL REAL POST WITH A FACEBOOK LINKED ACCOUNT BY KWAISI. SORRY MAN I WAS BORED. SOUNDS LIKE YOU ENJOYED THE BACK AND FORTH THOUGH. I SAW ALMOST ALL OF YOUR POSTS HAVE NO COMMENTS AND THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN YOU HAVE OVER 100 REPLIES. I DUMBED SOME OF THEM DOWN AND USED CODING TO OBTAIN THE PROPER DICTION. WELL THAT IS IT FOR ME. I WILL LOG ON TO THIS POST ONCE MORE TO VIEW YOUR REPLY.
CHEERS
MATE
Most of my posts get a few comments, but some go haywire like it appeared this one did. I’ve had a few with over 300 comments, and this post did get a ton of traffic so I thought some irate guy went off the rails, and posted something on a message board to arouse the rabble. I enjoy replying to commenters, so this was a bit of fun.
Should have noticed the urls were the same. I’m going to delete them.
SORRY MY MAN YOU SEEM LIKE A NICE GUY. IT IS JUST THAT EASY TO GET SOMEONE THESE DAYS. YOU SHOULD PROBABLY DELETE THE ENTIRE COMMENTS POSTING BECAUSE THEY WERE LITERALLY ALL ME EXCEPT 3 AND YOUR POSTS.
CHEERS
At least I didn’t post naked pictures in the thread somewhere.
I am a nice guy, and you’re right, I did use a racially insensitive term once. I was six years old on the school bus. Everyone was yelling a word, and I joined. The bus driver, an african american gentleman, stopped the bus and kicked three of us sitting up front off. I had no inkling what the word meant. My mom told me, and I apologized to the driver and promised never to use a word like that again. I haven’t.
I will pay closer attention to URLs from this point forward. Lesson learned. Maybe George is as adept at learning. I hope so.
So u write a story about how ur gonna ignore it?