Why is everyone saying this? The article just says that that was where Felton's downward slide started. You get the feeling that it was going to happen anyway. I don't see how it actually places blame for what happened to Felton on the dunk. And honestly, unlike a lot of you guys, I am NOT going to sit here and preach about what another man should have done with HIS life. For all I know, James felt he had another calling in his life, but was trapped by his natural talents and the way our society puts an emphasis on doing whatever it is that makes you the most money. He didn't like basketball at all, but he was tall, black, and talented. You know he was practically forced into the sport, because, like many have said in this thread, he could have made MILLIONS. Hard to believe, but money isn't the bottom line for everybody, and it seems that Felton had a hard time coming to this realization about himself. He just knew what he was supposed to do (play basketball) to get what he was supposed to want (lots of money). James probably just didn't have the mentality to go after what truly made him happy and throw everyone else's conventional wisdom and advice to the side. He likely sought resolution to such a strong internal conflict by turning to alcohol. No doubt, it was the wrong alternative, but it dulled the pervasiveness of such thoughts on his psyche, allowed him not to think about it. And then afterwards... 'sigh' I mean, he may have been prefectly fine with his normal 9 to 5 job and family, but with everyone looking at him as some kind of spectacular failure that could have been so much more, instead of appreciating him for who he was, ALL THE TIME...that could drive many, many men to drinking. This story makes me really sad, for James, his family, friend, and basically all involved. Not because of the loss of the player he could have been. I could care less about that. I just wish he could've found happiness living his life the way he wanted to and disregarding the harsh judgements of others. Alas, not all of us can be that strong.
His downward spiral started with his SELF ESTEEM and the punishment it continued to take first with his own self infliction and second with his external expectations of others.
I guess this is what Kevin Harlan means when he says "with no regard for human life" on a dunk. In all seriousness, sad story.
I thought that was an interesting article, but I was most surprised with the "Roderick Rhodes" reference.
People, don't cut and paste the entire story into a post. That's not fair to the writer, the editors, the people who work on the website, the ad agencies that allow for us to read this work for free, etc. Adding a "LINK" at the top that nobody will click (why would they? The story's all here) doesn't help.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3471118&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1 this link has some pics of him
