> Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas made an estimated $163.4 million in salary over his 13-year career, but he certainly didn't live like a multimillionaire as a rookie. The three-time All-NBA selection told VLAD TV he spent his entire rookie salary ($845,000) before the draft, leaving him with a $500 weekly budget for the entire 2001-02 season.
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> To make matters worse, Arenas had to manage that $500 budget in the ultra-expensive Bay Area, as the Golden State Warriors drafted him 31st overall out of Arizona. Arenas said he spent his entire rookie salary – he cites a chain plus a souped-up Escalade with five TVs and a suede roof as his most notable expenses – because he thought he'd be a top-10 draft pick.
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> Arenas' financial situation became so dire he had to sleep at the Warriors' arena because he couldn't afford the gas to drive back-and-forth, far from the glamorous NBA lifestyle he expected.
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> "You've been playing and training your whole life to be here, and when you get here it's a rude awakening," Arenas said. "You're not even close to what is expected. You're not good enough. You're on a two-year deal, I have no money. It wasn't fun. I even said then, 'I wish I could come back to college. I took a pay cut coming here.'"
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> While Arenas struggled through his first 30 games and became "depressed," he finished the season strong thanks in part to his overnight stays at the arena. Arenas – who averaged 10.9 points, 1.5 steals and 3.7 assists as a rookie — said the extra time at the gym helped him become a "professional."
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> "The beginning of the season, I wasn't good enough to be put on that floor," Arenas said. "So, that anger and drive and just sitting in the gym for hours and hours and watching film is what got me going."
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> Arenas eventually made over $160 million as an NBA player, making Agent Zero more like Agent Zeroes.
Alfred: “Master Bruce, what’s a htub?”
So, I saw a lot of people on the threads about TG's announcement ask why it mattered, and why he had to come out publicly and not just to his closest family and friends. I thought I would share my perspective on this.
This all relates to the concept of marked and unmarked pairs of meaning in society. A widespread idea in linguistics, that basically boils down to the fact that a lot of ideas, concepts and values are considered "standard" in our society, while some are not. Note that this does not make the standards better - But they are standards.
Let's use a thought experiment from disc golf to show this in a very simple way. If you were to tell someone to throw their disc with the flight plate on top (the normal way), would you need to specify that to them? No, it's standard, it's unmarked. But if you want them to throw the disc upside down, you need to tell them to do that. It's no longer standard, it's marked.
Now, in some places in society, this markedness has actual, real influence on peoples lives. We see this both with regards to race, sexuality and gender, where some identities, races and sexualities are unmarked, standard, in society, and some are marked, nonstandard.
If you meet a man, it's still very much the norm to assume that he is straight. And from a statistical standpoint, you're way more likely to be right than not. But this also means that the way you talk to the person is likely to be influenced by this unmarked assumption of straight sexuality - You don't notice this, probably, exactly because it's unmarked - It's the standard. So you might say something like "Oh, he deserves a nice girlfriend", or "Why don't you talk to that girl over there" - All in good faith, but it could be annoying or hurting the person you're speaking to.
And this is one of the reasons why homosexuals (and other sexual minorities) might feel the need to announce their sexuality - Especially when they're a public person. They need us to know it, because without that knowledge, we usually treat people as though they're straight - And that might not always be nice for the person in question, even when no harm is meant by it by the people around them (and in the public space).
I hope this has brought another perspective into this topic, answered why sexual minorities cannot always simply "keep their sexualities to themselves just like I do", and why comments like "I'm straight and I don't go around flaunting that fact" completely miss the mark on the
... keep reading on reddit ➡At first I genuinely thought this was a new copypasta.
Per Arenas on IG:
“hey brother,imma just be real with ya here 🗣 pack all SHIT, pack yo winter jackets and boots becuz yo ass is about to be traded to (Budapest) somewhere 😂😂😂 I don't know what type of bumbaclot blood got in yo eye BUT u can't charge at the #KING like that on tv 💯 you will be drug tested #tivoice expeditiously 🤣 just to make sure that rage ain't drug related " we don't do that in the nba" u probably haven't read the memo on fight attempts in the nba #1 don't square up with @kingjames @easymoneysniper EVER💯 .#2 them two light skin boys @stephencurry30 @klaythompson On GS don't let ya chest get puffy towards them or yo ass is done😇 #3 only two teams that's allowed to fist fight without any real penalties is where ever @rajonrondo and @cp3 at 🤣 #4 wait til yo teammates get around u and then act tuff (for the crowd) sell it like WWE 👌🏾🙏🏾 ummm thats it's, good luck moving forward my man 😌 PS this was worst then the gun in the locker room situation 😂 some can say this was #attemptedmurder 😇😬 only thing that can save u right now is ( MJ dropping episode 11 of the last dance and he edits all Scottie pippen scenes out) or (Vanessa Bryant) dropping #Themamba last season 💯🙏🏾😇 if u think I'm bullshitting ask @eneskanter11 he got too close to the king back in 2016-17 and the Turkish president been trying to catch his ass ever since 🏃♂️🤔😬😇”
Link to the post: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWj-dOdlPNE/?utm_medium=copy_link
I just went through the [now locked] thread about Thomas coming out, and there were a number of people in the bowels of the comment section claiming his sexuality isn't news.
It absolutely is. Gallup says that 5.6% of Americans identify as LGBT.
edit: 4.9% of the male population
Carl Nassib is the only active NFL to come out.
Jason Collins is the only NBA player to come out while playing.
Luke Prokop is the only gay active NHL player, ever.
There is one openly gay MLS player, Collin Martin.
Tadd Fujikawa was the first PGA player to come out, in 2018.
No man has ever come out in professional tennis.
There have been more one-handed players in the MLB than gay players.
Get the picture? Whether your argument is that r/discgolf should be reserved for pictures of you standing next to a basket you swear you aced, or that in the wonderful, inclusive world of 2022, a person's sexuality isn't news, or you're just a bigot threatened by exceptionally talented, likeable gay people, this is a really big deal.
*edited to clean up my crappy links
