Rashad McCants Web Site Makes Duke Fans Wonder What Could Have Been

Rashad McCants is in the NBA now but since most of the population probably wasn't aware of that, I figured I should post this anyway; playing for a National Champion UNC team probably earns you far more notoriety than playing semi-regularly for the Timberwolves and being the pastry chef for your former fellow bench-dweller's competitive dunking endeavors. But a great way to increase that profile is to have a spiffy, rather insane Web site. J.E. Skeets covered this very well at the excellent Ball Don't Lie, Yahoo's NBA blog, and excerpted some highlights:

McCants on his tattoos: "There is nothing like a fresh tattoo. The look of it. The feel of it. Knowing that it hurt so bad, and you wanted to quit. Just like life. When all goes bad, you just wanna quit. But the moment you decide it's not so bad, that if you just take the pain everything will be fine, is the moment you realize life isn't so bad."

McCants on his YBG clothing line: "YBG is my self expression to show my struggle from where I come from to where I am now! Young black and gifted is what I am through my own eyes. Just remember the motto: Swagger is everything!!!!"

McCants on comparing himself to reading The Bible: "Once you open it up and start to read it, you find out things that you've never really seen or heard before. And I think that really describes me."

Skeets has a good eye for mindnumbingly inane athlete self-aggrandizement but I think he is missing out on the real issue. The merciless torture Cameron Crazies could unfurl upon McCants had this Web site been formed during his Tar Heel days. Given all the jeering Redick got for writing poetry, don't you think the Dukies would have a little something prepared in response to one of Rashad's latest (of five overall) poems, Hustle and Cream? An excerpt:

"Gloomy days stormy nights kids watch videos instead of riding bikes.
No flying kites chilling on windy Wednesday, we need us a black men's day,
but us Negros been blind, fuck xray, the only real celebration is your death day.
Women are trapped because that dude didn't really seem gay,
friends fooled because friends said they would never stray.
didn't sense the hate but friends really been fake.
Jail time got brothers really changing faith. Thought friends had they back like bathing ape."

I always liked McCants in college and didn't think he was a thug or selfish or cocky as many of his detractors did, but just a guy who wasn't going to be who everyone else (read: white people) wanted him to be. And within the lines of, uh, Hustle and Cream, you can see a young, confused man at odds with the world around him... And also one that believes the meaning of his existence is comparably enlightening to the Bible.

Duke fans want those three years of their lives back.