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Two crucial misses at 24, I think, don't really stay with you. Now, if you came close so often, like Chris Webber, and you still can't get to the next level because of a missed shot or something else, then there is a part of you that sometimes wonders if you're cursed. |
Occoquan, Va.: Mr. Wise, Mr. Arenas and the Wizards players seem to think it's a laughing matter, a "team bonding experience," to help Mr. Arenas elude a process server in connection with a child he fathered out of wedlock. For shame! I think, and hope, this story is going to have widespread reverberations, not all of ... |
Mike Wise: You can make an argument that the whole situation actually hurt the Wizards. I mean, they were fighting for their playoff lives and also helping hide out their star player for weeks on the road. One player actually told me, "I can't wait for this season because Gil is going to be so much more focused with al... |
Does it make you feel closer to your teammates because they are helping you with an intense personal situation in your life? Yes. Do they also get tired of your drama at some point? Also yes. |
Adidas: Did you read the Esquire interview with Gilbert where he describes his ideal shoe commercial complete with people jumping out of the stands and fighting a kid in a wheel chair? Just another reason that he is the man. |
Mike Wise: Yeah, I liked the Esquire piece. It was a little gimmicky, but there were some good anecdotes in there. |
D.C.: If Gil Jr. owes it all to Sr. for what he has now, why is Sr. on the west coast and living in an apartment instead of here with his son? |
Mike Wise: I just don't think Gilbert Sr. wants to live off his son's wealth. I think he's content with his own life. I mean, the man is completely refurbishing his mother's house in West Tampa where he grew up and Gilbert lived for a while -- I saw the thing, it's beautiful. So it's not like he's hurting for cash. |
Bowie, Md.: Gilbert's got a chip on his shoulder, based on his upbringing, his draft status, him being dropped from the Olympic team, etc. Have you ever asked him what he needs to achieve in life which will finally take the chip off and allow him to kick back and sip a nice potion and say, "well, I've done what I could... |
Mike Wise: A mother growing up, that's what removes that chip from your shoulder. |
I think he'll always have it, no matter how much success he enjoys. It's sad, but Gilbert will never see himself as a guy who's completely happy and made it in the world. |
You just can't, not with where his life started. |
Annapolis, Murralin: I think the lengths the Wizards went to in order to protect their marquee player are admirable. This law firm (and their client at the time) was at fault for the ridiculously aggressive tactics they used to try to serve him. It speaks volumes about an organization that will spend time and money to ... |
Mike Wise: I don't how many of you out there have used an Employee Assistance Program at work, but that's essentially what the Wizards became during his personal crisis -- whether he brought it upon himself or not. They heard the problem, remedied the situation as best they could and made it safe for their employee to ... |
It's like what happened with me, without the medication. |
Chevy Chase, Md.: To me, the most distressing aspect of this is that Abe Pollin, a man I've long respected and admired, went along with helping GA evade the process server. Did you try to contact him to learn what he was thinking? Maybe I'm just naive, but he's the last person I would expect this from. |
Mike Wise: I think that's a little myopic. If you're Abe Pollin and you're told, from Gilbert's point of view, that "a woman I had a child with is telling me they're going to serve me on TV tonight and embarrass me in front of the country," then if you're a compassionate, caring soul and you know your employee but you ... |
Washington, D.C.: What made you decide to write this article and why do you feel the public needed that glimpse into his private life, which he has managed to do a good job of keeping private until now? |
Mike Wise: I kept reading all these crazy stories about Gilbert and his pranks and his behavior and I knew there was something deeper in his background that could explain some of it, especially the way he pushed those close to him away. When I found out about his mother abandoning him, I knew there was a story to be to... |
Some people are really uncomfortable with the personal nature of the article, but it reaffirmed my belief that a lot of sports stars and celebrities are just regular people with the same kind of problems many of us have faced in our lives. It's just that their problems are magnified on a much grander scale. |
D.C.: Can a guy with so much talent really lead a team when he's got more baggage than talent? Teammates look up to guys who are rocks, not someone who is touch-and-go with emotions and actions. |
Mike Wise: Look, Larry Bird's father committed suicide and Shaquille O'Neal's father bailed out on him. I know what you're saying, but Gilbert's immaturity as a leader is more about his age than his emotional baggage as a child. I really believe the court is his sanctuary, like he said. The older he gets, the better le... |
Reston, Va.: So it's a "team bonding" experience for the Wizards to help Gilbert Arenas evade his responsibility to support his daughter? Speaking as one of them, I don't think that's going to go over too well with the Wiz's female fans! |
Mike Wise: You can look at that way, but the truth is he never said he was trying to avoid supporting his daughter. He just didn't want his domestic dirty laundry aired on national TV, is all. |
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla: Thank you for a fascinating article. While I can see why Gilbert has these chips on his shoulders, some of us, like my husband, were abandoned by both parents in early childhood. He seems to have had a fairly good life once his dad got established in California, and he now has $66 million to pay wi... |
Mike Wise: I'm glad your husband has overcome his tough childhood. That's amazing, especially if both his parents abandoned him. But "fairly good life" is such an easy thing to say. His millions can make life easier, but when the person who brings you into the world leaves you, I'm sorry, some people need years to work... |
Zero to Hero: Mike, loved your Arenas series (and your D.C. United coverage). |
Q: How well do the rest of the 'Zards like Arenas? |
Mike Wise: Gilbert is like the mischievous brother on the Wizards, who just happens to be so good that they can't give him the kind of grief they'd like to. I think all his teammates like and respect him and wonder what in the world he's going to do next. |
Washington, D.C.: Why do we need three days of psycho-Baby Mama Drama and whatever story about Gilbert Arenas? Whether 24 or 34 years of age...his story is not new. There are hundreds and thousands of people with "stories." My comment? Mr. Arenas loves the limelight, adoration and publicity. One wonders if all of this ... |
Mike Wise: For you to even suggest that Gilbert or his family made up any of the story is just so insensitive and out there that it doesn't dignify a response. You're right, there are thousands of stories like this. That's what makes his so remarkable -- that he overcame his upbringing to get to a station in life where... |
20010: More baggage than talent? |
This person needs to get a grip on reality. He is arguably one of the best basketball players in the world. I think it takes a tad more baggage in my book to match up to what Gil has in talent. |
Any reactions from Gil Sr and other folks in the piece other than Arenas? |
Mike Wise: Thanks, 20010, you are truly marvelous. I haven't spoken to Gil Sr. since the piece ran, though I know he didn't originally want me to contact his mother. I told him I would be as fair and honest as possible if that happened and I hope I was. I plan to mail the article tomorrow to Virginia Huggins, the woman... |
DC: C'mon, Gilbert is not just quirky. Here's a list of things he actually did. |
- Miss the start of a game because he was too involved with shooting a game of pool. |
- Didn't take a shot during the game in protest that someone said he was shooting too much. |
- Busy playing online Texas Hold 'Em during halftime of a game. |
- Missed a game to dodge being served. |
- Said his scoring average was going to drop after the all star game because he was going to get more teammates involved, but right after the all star game, had consecutive games of 30+. |
This is not quirky. This is a guy who has a personality disorder. |
-- Tipped a coke machine on myself while trying to steal a free Pepsi on my work break at a freight company. |
-- Gambled away my last paycheck after I was fired for tipping a coke machine on myself. |
-- Missed work because of a girl. |
-- And was so unfocused, I let my scoring average slip from 3.2 to 2.1 points a game at American River College. |
It's not a personality disorder. It's called being young and stupid. We were all that once. |
D.C.: If Arenas is so close with his father, then why is his father on the other coast living in an apartment? |
Mike Wise: I think he and his father have an interesting relationship. In some ways, Gil is probably trying to break away from that influence and his father is content to let him live his life at this point and stay where he and his fiance are, in Southern California. I also don't subscribe to the notion that just beca... |
Great article on Gilbert. I think if Hollywood made a sequel to "Brother from Another Planet", Gilbert and his story would be all that is needed. |
Gilbert is a very gifted, generous, and odd person. I can't figure out why he did not get a summons on the court while in California (if her lawyer was so bent on serving him)? And why did he so resist once out of California? Seems like he would have stood like a man and solved this issue. |
How close is Gilbert now to his father? |
Mike Wise: I loved "Brother from Another Planet." Awesome movie. Good questions about the legal ramifications. I wish I could answer them. Having lived in California, though, I do know they have some strict laws. I think divorce is a 50/50 split, which would absolutely devastate Maria Shriver if her and Arnold didn't w... |
Upper Marlboro, Md.: So let me understand this: Gilbert has casual relationship with woman (I didn't get the sense it was serious); woman gets pregnant; woman plays hardball and goes after Gilbert with lawyer whose tactics force Gilbert to miss game and use fake names, the Wizards to lie about circumstances; moves woma... |
Mike Wise: I think Gilbert and Laura are really a young couple trying to figure it out. I also believe the culture of the NBA makes it almost impossible for these relationships to work out until a player is retired. These guys are hardly at home, there is immense peer pressure to be with women outside your primary rela... |
Washington, D.C.: Arenas is on to something. Forget his accomplishments on the court. He is on to something. He lives with compassion. And I think he really does empathize and care. And without trying to make sure the world knows he's doing it. He may be 24, and he may still make 24-year old mistakes, but he has wisdom... |
Mike Wise: Thanks. You summed my feelings about him exactly after spending all that time with Gilbert. |
Mike Wise: I've never made it through every question in a queue before, but I really felt compelled to stick around on this one. Your interest and comments pulled me in. Thank you. Have a great Halloween. |
P.S. Am I allowed to say hi to my sister Valeska on your Web site. No? Okay. |
The Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Jide Idris has tasked nurses in the state health sector on the need to embrace the core values of the nursing profession in the care of patients. |
Idris who gave this charge today during the 2018 Nurses Assembly; a programme sponsored by the Lagos State Government to update nurses, midwives and educators in Lagos on professional guidelines and policies affecting the profession, noted that nurses are integral part of the think-tank of the state government who cont... |
Idris who was represented by the Director, Medical Administration, Training and Programmes in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Funmilayo Shokunbi implored nurses to continue to exude professionalism, discipline, integrity, humility, selflessness and great care in the discharge of noble duties. |
Earlier in her remarks, the Director of Nursing Services in the Lagos State Ministry of Health, Mrs. Dorcas Shonibare stated that the Nurses Assembly is an annual event sponsored by the Ministry of Health to update nurses on current trends in the profession and serve as a platform for nurses to interact as professional... |
She explained that the theme of this year’s assembly “Nursing Accountability in the 21stCentury” as a follow up to last year’s theme “Professionalism: A Roadmap for Ethical Compliance in Nursing” is a starting point for major strategic planning for a new perspective on ethics of the profession. |
“Accountability is the acknowledgement and assumption of responsibility for actions, products, decisions and policies including the administration, governance and implementation within the scope of the role or employment position and encompassing the obligation to report, explain and be answerable for resulting consequ... |
She stated that the recent launch of 12 patients’ Bill of Right championed by the Consumers Protection Council (CPC) and the Federal Ministry of Health is a wakeup call to the Health Sector in Nigeria thus bringing to fore the need for nurses to be fully updated as ignorance is no excuse. |
“Patients are now empowered to demand for their rights and you must be ready to give explanation for your actions and intentions without having the erroneous belief that they are at your mercy,” she said. |
Shonibare while encouraging nurses to have an orientation of being accountable stated that the practice of nursing services in Lagos State is being monitored in public and private health facilities by the Lagos State Health Facilities Monitoring and Accreditation Agency (HEFAMAA). |
During her lecture on 21st Century Nurse Manager, the Group Director of Nursing Services Reddington Hospital, Mrs. Helen Mbonu stated that a 21st century nurse manager must be a great communicator employing frequent, timely and problem-solving communication to ensure patient care is running smoothly. |
She added that nurses in the 21st century should know the rudiments of teamwork and the need to build effective teams, remain positive and be decisive, be technologically driven and should be conversant with the use of modern equipment in health service delivery. |
“A 21st Century Nurse Manager should be academically driven, have the right attitude, possess excellent customer service skills, be involved in policy making, understand finance and budget and be readily available and accessible,” Mbonu said. |
While they are as much a year-round fixed kitchen component as milk, flour, forks and washing-up liquid, lemons particularly come into their own at this time of year. For, although they can be cultivated perennially, this is their true season in the eastern hemisphere. And it couldn’t be better timing, nature summoning... |
This is the point where I usually insert a story about living in the land where the lemons grow, but I have done that for the last two years in this column. Also, I’ve just reread the lemon chapter in Jane Grigson’s Fruit Book where she quotes Goethe – “Do you know that country, where the lemon trees flower” – and refe... |
In February, lemons, abundant and good, become the main ingredient, in throat-tickling, lip cut-stinging lemonade (which I have always thought of as a winter drink); and in marmalade, glossy curd, fierce pickles, moons preserved under an avalanche of coarse salt (not that I have ever done this), the heart of a Margaret... |
There is also risotto al limone, which, like salt toothpaste and lemon halves on elbows, didn’t appeal when I first spotted it by way of Anna del Conte, who was given the recipe by Romana Bosco, who was taught it by Giovanna Gloria – recipe credits rather like the accumulative game of When I Went Shopping. |
It was a question from a reader that prompted me to try a risotto with lemon as its star. |
Risotto, a (hopefully) harmonious fusion of starchy rice, butter, stock and cheese, is, by its very nature, rich and creamy, the addition of mascarpone/robiola (my choice) or cream (Del Conte also suggests an egg yolk) making it even more so, which is why the lemon is so important and beautiful. The effect is twofold: ... |
In a large, heavy-based frying pan or enamel-based cast iron casserole, warm half the butter and all the oil over a medium-low flame then gently fry/ stew the onion and celery along with a pinch of salt until soft and translucent - this will take about seven minutes. Add the rice and stir until each grain glistens – yo... |
In another pan on the back of the stove, keep the stock at a simmer. |
Raise the flame, add the wine or vermouth and let it bubble and evaporate for a minute. Start to add the stock, ladle by ladle, stirring continuously while everything bubbles at a lively pace, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed by the rice before adding the next. Add the lemon zest after 10 minutes. Continue until t... |
Pull the pan from the heat and, using a wooden spoon, firmly beat the remaining butter, mascarpone, parmesan, two tablespoons of lemon juice and a generous grind of black pepper into the rice. Cover the pan and leave to rest for one minute. Beat again and serve. |
The House Budget Committee last week approved a budget resolution that calls for a $15-billion reduction in defense spending, and includes two different options for the use of those savings. One option would devote all of the defense savings, more than double what President Bush has proposed, to deficit reduction, whil... |
Under the scenario focused on deficit reduction, known as Plan B, the committee recommends that Education Department programs and Head Start receive increases equal to what President Bush proposed, $1.7 billion and $600 million, respectively. |
Under the other option, known as Plan A, education programs would receive a $3.7-billion boost, including $1.96 billion for the Pell Grant I program and $1.74 billion for elementary and secondary programs. Head Start would be increased by $800 million. |
Over all, the first plan calls for education, social-service, and job-training spending to reach $51.5 billion, while the second plan recommends spending of $55.3 billion. |
The first scenario also calls for transferring $415 million in impact-aid expenditures-those targeted to schools serving military dependent&- to the defense budget. IT the Office of Management and Budget would not agree to such a change, only $1.37 billion would be available for education increases under Plan B. |
Which course the committee ultimately follows will be determined by the fate of legislation to revise the Budget Enforcement Act, which prevents the transfer of funds between defense, domestic, and international accounts. |
A bill to allow such transfers, HR 3732, is expected to go to the House floor after a vote on the budget resolution, which is expected this week. |
IT such a bill were approved by the Congress and signed by President Bush by the time a budget resolution reaches a House-Senate conference, House conferees would adopt Plan A as their position. IT not, they would advocate the same defense cuts, but earmark them for deficit reduction. |
Representative Leon E. Panetta, the California Democrat who chairs the budget panel, said presenting the House with those options will give members a better understanding of what could happen if the budget walls are dissolved. |
"This Congress is facing a fundamental decision about whether we are ready to seize the opportunity for which this nation has already sacrificed so dearly-to reorder our nation's priorities, to continue strong deficit reduction, and to restore America's future," he told reporters prior to the committee session. |
"The President failed to do this in his budget and hopefully the Congress will not," he said. "This resolution basically sets the framework for that important debate." |
But Republicans said failing to offer the House a definitive recommendation does not serve the body well, noting that the nonbinding resolution is meant to represent the spending priorities of the committee and of the majority of House members. |
Moreover, they said, it is unrealistic to expect that the budget pact will be broken this year. It is unclear how much support the change has in the Congress, Republicans argued, and President Bush has said he would veto such a bill-despite having said several weeks ago that he might consider new budget talks. |
"I really don't think we're meeting our responsibilities as a committee ... without saying what plan we prefer, " said Representative Bill Gradison of Ohio, the committee's ranking Republican. |
Mr. Gradison failed to persuade the panel to endorse report language urging the House to retain the categorical caps for fiscal 1993 and support the option devoting defense savings to deficit reduction. |
An attempt by Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, to strike Plan A also failed. Both proposals were defeated on party-line votes. |
Representative William D. Ford, the Michigan Democrat who chairs the House Education and Labor Committee, has called on the Budget panel to boost education, health, and job training programs by $14.9 billion. |
The Committee for Education Funding has urged a $10-billion increase for education programs alone. |
Draft Environmental Assessment for the Proposed Decommissioning Plan for the Burial Mound, dated October 4, 1999. Filed in the sleeve of the Decommission Plan for the Burial Mound Volume I. JSU Book V54. |
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