LOS ANGELES — When I was more a fan before becoming a sports writer, I used to love the players who showed emotion on the court or the field. It gave the fans something really fun to monitor. But after a while I realized that it often detracts from athletes’ focus.
That’s why I asked Phil Jackson if Lamar Odom is too emotional on the court.Odom is coming back from a one-game NBA suspension for tackling Boston’s Ray Allen. Odom was frustrated the Lakers were losing Sunday night — and he had just not gotten a call and gotten a layup blocked by Kevin Garnett before going after Allen.
I was a little surprised by how supportive Jackson was of Odom in the coach’s response, even though Jackson has said before how he thinks Odom plays his best when he has a light heart out there.
“A lot of times Lamar’s approach to the game I like, because he plays with a certain air of freedom,” Jackson said. “He’s loose. There are times when he can’t let things go if things don’t go right for him. He might get a refereeing call and he can’t let it go; those are times I’d like him to relax. … For the most part I like his attitude on the floor.”
I agree that Odom is somewhat emotional, but who is not? Everybody have their own emotion and they have their own way of showing it and maybe different from the way Lamar demonstrated it. We are not machine like those transformer robots, we are human and can be capable of putting oversized passion in our sentiments. It happens everywhere, be it in the court, in malls, retaurants and in the playing fields, like where Lamar showed his. The problem is that in basketball doing it during the game and inside the court is prohibited. Lamar must take this incident as a learning curve and limit his emotional outburst in his own house beyond the prying eyes of NBA officials and basketball fans.