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Sacramento Kings' pick Tyreke Evans' shadowy past could mean a dark future
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Tyreke Evans greets a Sacramento crowd June 27. (Photo courtesy Tom Paniagua)
The Sacramento Bee's top sports story Saturday, naturally two days after the NBA Draft, was about No. 4 overall pick Tyreke Evans. But it wasn't your garden-variety puff piece about the greatness the Sacramento Kings' top draft pick will be bringing to town. Instead, it shed light on Evans' shadowy past, pulling skeletons out of the closet the day after the rookie came to town.
Evans, like most professional athletes, had a run-in with the law, as his cousin Jamar Evans, riding passenger in Tyreke Evans' SUV at the time, shot and killed an approaching 19-year-old Marcus Reason. Tyreke Evans, who according to reports claimed he was unaware his cousin was carrying a firearm and who was not charged with a crime, spoke openly about the incident at the June 26 media press conference announcing his arrival to the team.
That was enough to skate free, apparently.
The Bee wrote glowingly about Evans' honesty, reporting several uplifting comments from Kings' coaches and staff about the positive impact Evans will have on this team. Seemingly, asking questions about his past was "testing his character," and the fact that he answered them was enough for the Kings' approval. Therein lies the problem.
This kind of stuff happens all the time. Pro athletes bring with them shady pasts and as long as athletically they can make a positive impact in the win-loss column, and sell tickets to arenas (and sell jerseys and merchandise), all is forgiven. Forget that they are thrown into role model positions as soon as they put on a Kings jersey, and that thousands of children in Sacramento will be watching their every move for guidance. Forget that teenagers will see you can be in the wrong place in life and still become a millionaire. Hey, if Tyreke Evans can do it...
There's a problem with how we in the media let ourselves get spun. It's funny, I often read about how the media is spinning a story, but being a professional journalist, I've more often seen a story get spun before it even reaches us. We're often limited to the access we're given by teams like the Kings, and when they tell us what to write, then snatch our interview subjects away without a second for one-on-one conversations, we must all head back to our cubicles to write the same story for multiple publications.
I commend the Sacramento Bee for trying to break that mold with a story about Evans' past, as the majority of the public he's now a part of had no idea he'd been through such an ordeal. But I'm ashamed to say the Bee got had, and that makes the story that could have been absolutely worthless.
Tyreke Evans did not officially commit a crime. So what? How many times do we have to hear about these pro athletes who were "just in the wrong place at the wrong time?" Let me put this in perspective: Growing up, one of my cousins was in a gang. A Sureno claiming "Southside" and sporting only blue colors, he was with a group that beat people up whenever they got the chance, more often than not getting away with it.
And guess what? He never rode in the passenger seat of my car.
We didn't go to the movies together. We didn't share deep thoughts about life on the back porch of my parents' house. And we sure didn't cruise up to a curbside where someone he had beef with was standing, where I knew an incident was likely to occur.
Why? Because I knew better. I was an athlete and a wanna-be scholar. My goal in life was to get to college and do something with my life. My cousin's was not. He was content wreaking havoc for sport, running from the law and causing agony on the life of his enemies. I knew that, and so we parted ways at an early age. He did his thing, I did mine. Because of that, I'm a professional journalist with a degree. The last I heard, he was in jail.
Why is it so bad to expect guys like Evans to do the same? Blessed with all the athletic talent in the world, he knew he'd be going places with his future, why risk it by rolling around with his cousin knowing trouble could be brewing? To say he had no idea his cousin would act the way he did is naïve. Anyone who hides an illegal concealed weapon looking for an enemy to shoot has a character about him or her that we've recognized growing up. We've seen instances that shed light on that character. Whether he had a gun or not, there was a pretty good chance Evans knew his cousin was a troublemaker. Why surround himself with a situation that could end his hopes and dreams of an NBA future?
I actually know why. Because he can. Because they all can. Athletes nowadays know they can do whatever they want, aside from committing a heinous crime themselves, and get away with it. They know the public, desperately looking for an athletic savior, will forgive their transgressions and embrace them with a fresh start.
So that's what Evans will get in Sacramento, a fresh start. Meanwhile, a new posse will surround him in the city, as the entourage lifestyle begins here, and he may put himself in a bad situation again. Let's hope he learned from the last time, or this time it may be a street corner in Sacramento one of his "cousins" decides to go ballistic on.
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