[Be Well]Royce Making a Comeback, eh

Rashmon · May 8, 2017

Esquire article on Royce White...

"I'M ****ING WEIRD": HOW ROYCE WHITE BECAME THE MOST IMPORTANT BASKETBALL PLAYER ALIVE
ROYCE WHITE'S ANXIETY DISORDER DERAILED HIS PROMISING NBA CAREER, AND THE LEAGUE DID LITTLE TO HELP. NOW FLOURISHING IN THE CANADIAN LEAGUE, HIS NEW GOAL IS TO TRANSFORM HOW PROFESSIONAL SPORTS—AND THE CULTURE AT LARGE—THINK ABOUT MENTAL HEALTH.

BY MARY PILON
MAY 7, 2017

On a recent Saturday evening in Ontario, Royce White, a six-foot-eight, 270-pound power forward for the London Lightning, sat signing autographs for a long line of children. The mood was particularly jubilant that night, as the Lightning's 109-97 win over the Orangeville A's extended their winning streak to ten games.

White, arguably the biggest star in the fledgling National Basketball League of Canada, had played a significant role in the victory, with seven points, three steals, two assists and five rebounds in twenty-one minutes. The younger fans wiggled with excitement, some having waited thirty minutes for White and his teammates in a line that snaked around a gray corridor of Budweiser Gardens, a hockey arena that converts to a hoops venue for Lightning home games. That night's game had nearly sold out: 7,600 fans in attendance, fourteen to twenty-six dollars per adult ticket.

Lightning games can feel almost comically hospitable. Brenda, a librarian who sits courtside at home games and volunteers as a scorekeeper, brings homemade baked goods from a Tupperware container for the players. The local representative in Parliament, Peter Fragiskatos, purchased ad space in the arena to solicit constituent questions, comments, and feelings. Promotions for local real estate agents and appliance dealers line the exits. The arena remains cold even when it's set up for basketball—White wears long-sleeved shirts and pants under his uniform when he plays. He and his Lightning teammates appear in commercials for local restaurants like Angelo's Bakery and Burrito Boyz, flinging mounds of pizza dough in the air or holding up bags of takeout with a smile. It's as if minor-league baseball and the NBA had a Canadian love child: a professional hometown sporting event.

"I want to entertain them," White, twenty-six, says of his Canadian fans. "I want them to walk away from this and feel like they got their money's worth. These families, most people aren't rich, right? So for them to spend money and actually take the time out of their day, they could be doing anything in the world. That means something to me."
Click to expand...

Read the rest at the link. He's still the same old Royce. I believe the Rockets did everything they could to accommodate the dude. I was rooting for him but he pissed it away.

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[Be Well]Royce Making a Comeback, eh

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