LaVar Ball's reaction to son Lonzo's trade made a cartoonish sports villain look human
Ted Berg writes the Morning Win newsletter for For The Win. Yell at him on Twitter at @OGTedBerg or via email at AskTedBerg@gmail.com
Something about these videos of LaVar Ball crushed me.
The patriarch of the Ball family is a loudmouthed, shameless, self-aggrandizing, self-promoting champion of conspicuous consumption and, some might argue, his enduring fame is an indictment of the world and culture that we live in. LaVar Ball stays in the news cycle, I'm convinced, because people love to hate this guy; there's perhaps no surer route to stardom in 2019 than ostentatious public trolling.
Ball's eldest son, Lonzo, got traded from their hometown team to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday in the deal that put Anthony Davis, at long last, alongside LeBron James with the Lakers. When rumors of a similar trade came up at the trade deadline, LaVar Ball told anyone who would put a microphone in his face - which is basically everyone, really - that New Orleans would not be a good fit for Lonzo.
LaVar Ball found out Lonzo Ball's trade was official while watching his youngest son, LaMelo, play in an invitational summer-league game in South Central Los Angeles. When the game's P.A. announcer confirmed the trade, cameras all over the gym fixed on LaVar.
And, look: That's part of the deal if you're LaVar Ball. When you turn yourself into a celebrity worthy of a presidential feud through sheer bravado and outlandish claims - when you speak yourself into existence - you sacrifice the right to privacy in public. Basketball fans world-over salivate for the opportunity to capture this man in his lowest moments because ultimately LaVar Ball's appeal is that of the pro-wrestling heel even if he is an actual person and presumably not - or at least not fully - a character designed to antagonize.
But still, I can't watch this and not feel for the guy. If LaVar Ball has the capacity for humility - still unclear - how humiliating must it be to have hundreds of people all turn to you at once to watch your dreams unravel? And how difficult must it be to put on a steely face and act like it's no big deal, to be forced to instantly settle on your talking point instead of wallowing in the hard truth that your own son's team deemed him expendable and that maybe, just maybe, you yourself had something to do with it?
So much of the Ball Family's life is staged for the cameras turning it into a reality show that it's normal to be cynical at footage of LaVar's heartfelt plea to Lonzo to stay with Big Baller Brand after its scandal. And undoubtedly the most glaring real hardship faced by the group - mother Tina Ball's recovery from a devastating 2017 stroke - has been trivialized in part by some of the awful and extremely insensitive things LaVar has said in the rare instances he speaks about it, whether he means them or if that's just his way.
But one of the many LaVar Ball reaction videos shot following the trade reveals, fairly subtly, that he's taking questions from inquisitive strangers while pushing Tina's wheelchair out of the gym. And while I don't know this guy personally - I don't know his world, I don't know his family I don't know his relationships, I don't know his motivation - seeing it makes me feel LaVar Ball in a way I didn't think I could. And it gives me the strong sense that those basketball fans delighting in this portion of his downfall are gleefully cheering the act break of a desperate, gut-wrenching Shakespearean tragedy.
I can't tell you how I'd be if I were LaVar Ball, but I can't promise I'd handle any of it any more gracefully. And certainly he's more guilty than anyone of making himself seem cartoonish over his preposterous two-year media blitz. But human he remains.
Sunday's big winner: The LeBron Jameses
LeBron James Jr. - "Bronny," as he's known - imitated his dad's signature dunk on Father's Day. The only real way to pay homage to your dad on Father's Day or any other day is to throw down a thunderous dunk, I deeply apologize to my own dad for failing him in this regard, and I will now prepare myself for a life of disappointment given that my own son, genetically speaking, seems incredibly unlikely to ever dunk in my honor. I'd honestly be pretty proud if he someday imitates my signature quick-trigger airball from the top of the arc.
Quick hits: Koepka, Tiger, Fury
- During the U.S. Open, Brooks Koepka revealed that he has never had a hot drink. He's from Florida so I guess maybe it makes sense that he's never had hot chocolate, but no hot drinks ever, not even just to try? I don't particularly enjoy hot beverages myself - I'm mostly an iced-coffee guy all year round now - but variety is the spice of life, and I've easily got, like 15,000 hot beverages on my resume. Mostly coffee and coffee variants, obviously, but also tea, hot cocoa, vanilla steamed milk (my cold-weather favorite), mulled wine, hot cider, hot toddies, hot sake, a can of Diet Coke I left resting on the radiator too long, various flaming cocktails, etc., and that's just off the top of my head. Does soup count? Has Brooks Koepka never had soup?
- Amateur body-language experts on Twitter thought Tiger Woods gave up during the U.S. Open. He did not. Why would he? Acting like you're not trying anymore in the midst of a bad day is something you or I might do in weaker moments to seem like we're shrugging off poor performance, but Tiger Woods is literally one of the greatest athletes in the history of his sport. He's just never going to think, "welp, off to a bad start here, might as well just mail this one in and collect my paycheck!"
- Boxer Tyson Fury celebrated a TKO by serenading his wife with Aerosmith's horrible, horrible I Don't Want to Miss a Thing. Fury did a pretty admirable job given the circumstances - it's hard enough to hold a tune at a karaoke bar, no less singing acapella under incredibly bright spotlights after you've just won a boxing match. If he needed to pick a hit song from 1998 for whatever reason, it would've been way funnier to go with Chumbawumba's Tubthumping or, of course, Jimmy Ray's Are You Jimmy Ray?