“Sally Jenkins is to be admired…her knowledge of sports is vast and her perceptions of the games always lead to a better understand ing of the ‘why’ of a game.” So wrote Sports On My Mind’s D.K. Wilson, prior to eviscerating the veteran Washington Post scribe (above) for her take on The Arenas/Crittenton Duel That Wasn’t.
Taking the Peter Vescey stance that there was some sort of standoff between Arenas and Crittenton is sensationalistic, but most importantly, according to the account of the incident as described by her WaPo cohort Mike Wise, dead wrong. And it seems that Jenkins, in a stretch to condemn Arenas, chose this path purposely. Why else go down the path of describing the incident thusly:
“But it obviously escaped him, perhaps because he was too preoccupied with his standoff with Javaris Crittenton, and seeing which one could act more facetiously street.”
Standoff? Really? Does she call laying out empty guns on a chair and leaving a note for Crittenton to pick one to figuratively shoot him in his surgically-repaired knee, a standoff? That Crittenton pulled out a pistol, loaded it with a bullet and cocked back the hammer does not involve Arenas. According to Wise, he left the locker room proper with two of his teammates and retreated to a treatment area, leaving Crittenton to his own devices. And when Arenas returned, Crittenton and his gun were gone.
This is what journalism has come to, even in D.C. And perhaps Jenkins™ reach of a premise for a column is emblematic for Washington, D.C.