UNITED STATES—I haven’t talked about this incident because I wanted to wait and see how things would unfold because it was not only a major scar on the United States, but the UCLA Basketball team. Why? Well, it never looks good when a scandal transpires, but it’s worse when the scandal involves a well-known sports team in another country.
When I first learned about the three players from the UCLA basketball team being arrested for stealing in China, I was at a loss for words. The first thing that came to my mind was what the hell these students were even thinking. Making the situation worse was learning one of the players, LiAngelo Ball, happens to be the brother of NBA star Lonzo Ball. I mean your brother is playing for the Los Angeles Lakers and likely has enough money to buy you some expensive sunglasses. Why in the world would you tarnish your brother’s name, your name and your family’s name by doing something so stupid?
Yes, I have heard plenty of people talk about the athletes being young and stupid, but sorry that is not an excuse. These are college students, they know stealing is wrong, but to do it in another COUNTRY where the laws of America don’t apply, that is just plain idiotic. When I first heard this, my gut was these guys are about to spend some serious time behind bars in China, because this is a country that doesn’t mess around with such antics. I mean they were looking at a minimum of 3 to 10 years behind bars, making the situation worse was the realization that they didn’t just steal from 1 store, they stole from MULTIPLE STORES!
Yeah, these guys really thought they were going to get a tap on the hand and be on their way. Why in the world they thought that I will never know. I swear this is one time where I honestly believe that President Donald Trump being in Asia at the time this incident transpired helped those athletes greatly, rather it can be fully proven is another thing America. I mean if Trump was not in the country and advocated for them there is no chance in hell they would have been released and gotten the opportunity to come back to the United States unscathed. Now do I suspect they will still face repercussions for their actions, oh, absolutely, to what degree, that is to be determined people.
I was watching that press conference the thieves were forced to partake in and it was so laughable to me. Of course we all know the university forced them to address the media, but making the situation worse was the lake of empathy and remorse they had when speaking to the press. It was already evident they were reading from a script, but jeez, give the American public and the Chinese government the impression that you are remorseful for your actions and that you understand what you did was no laughing matter.
The players have been suspended indefinitely, but I do believe they will be hitting the basketball court in the coming weeks. These players haven’t learned any valuable lesson if you ask me. However, we all know whenever you Google their names their thievery will pop up and rightly deserved. They should have never committed such a stupid act America. Let this be a lesson, stealing is wrong, but when you’re a well-known name, stealing in another country of all places is not only the dumbest thing you can do, it’s quite frankly something that could end your reputation, career or life as we know it.