Exactly 30 years ago, Carl Malone and John Stockton stood side by side in the Delta Center of Salt Lake City, lifting the MVP trophy together.
Malone has a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter Caddy and Stockton is holding her eldest son Houston, which shows the family atmosphere and fully conforms to the “family values” most valued by the local community in Utah “.
Thirty years later, the All-Star returned to Salt Lake City, and Malone and Stockton also went back to their old places. Malone served as the judge of the dunk contest, and also ranked third in the history score list, on the same stage with LeBlanc-James and Karim-Abdu Jabbar. When he and Stockton appeared on the big screen, Salt Lake City fans still cheered.
However, compared with the infinite scenery in those years, the controversy and embarrassment brought by their participation in all-star now prove the changes of the world. I’m afraid they all know in their hearts that they are probably the most unpopular person among all stars. They not only symbolize jazz pride, but also represent Utah’s shame.
Throughout the All-Star weekend, social platforms and various media were filled with angry denunciations of Malone’s past.
Malone was suspected of raping a 12-year-old girl at the age of 20, causing the other party to give birth to a child at the age of 13. This is actually not news for a long time, but I don’t know why there are still a large number of fans who have never heard of it, so shocked. Whenever the broadcast scenes are given to Malone, not only netizens, but also senior media people like Hollinger are concerned about the impulse to drop TV. NBA, as a league flaunt of progressive equality, focuses on one not only suspected of rape, the players who are more honest with children also flaunt his historical status, which is sensational.
American media cut off Malone in the All-Star photo
When Malone’s rape of a young girl was exposed, it was at the peak of his career. That bastard was one of the three children Malone had when he was in college. (The other two children are twins. At birth, Malone and the woman were both 17 years old. Malone also refused to admit the blood relationship.)
The child’s mother was named gloria bell. On the one hand, because of abortion taboo, on the other hand, because he was too poor, the family specially waited until ma long entered the NBA to file a civil lawsuit for compensation. The woman asked Malone to pay $200 a week for alimony. Malone responded with no response.
In the end, Malone was forced by the Louisiana court to pay $125 a week. However, he still felt unfair and continued to lower the price. Finally, the woman retreated and the two sides settled out of court. The son born to the young girl was named Demitris. He didn’t meet Malone until he was 18 years old, but Malone told him face to face that it was meaningless for father and son to recognize each other, “it’s too late”.
Demetris once said: “For this matter, I took it as my mother and went to the sperm bank to have me. I don’t hate him. This mentality makes me a better person.”
Carl Malone and his son Demetris Bell
Demetris, who grew up to be an NFL player, may indeed have a tolerant heart. He even has a good relationship with the pair of illegitimate twins so far. It is said that since 2014, his relationship with Malone has finally improved, and even he has been hunting with him.
Unfortunately, no matter how warm the follow-up story is, it cannot dilute Malone’s sin of pregnant young girls. Some people guess that NBA is also about to ride a tiger. If he is invited, he will be scolded. If he is not invited, he will explain the reason. No matter how he chooses, the Malone scandal will enter the mainstream vision, however, it is not worth the loss to annoy jazz and Utah’s gold owners.
The headline of Rolling Stone magazine’s All-Star report reads, “NBA should not let abnormal Malone appear as an All-Star”. But in fact, Malone’s personality is not as simple as “creepy. The analysis of Gordon Monson, a veteran sports columnist who has been reported in Salt Lake City for more than 20 years, can be regarded as a whip.
Monson said Malone was an old acquaintance with him and even invited him to his own party and farm. However, in the media interview session of this All-Star weekend, Ma Long could talk to reporters, but he firmly refused to accept Monson’s question. This made Monson puzzled. In the end, he could only doubt that Ma Longxin knew that the scandal would be magnified by the All-Star. He was really afraid of these famous writers who wrote as guns.
After all, Monson’s Salt Lake City Forum reported the lawsuit between Malone and twins as early as 1998, but he encountered great resistance and criticism among Utah local fans, malone’s reputation and career as a star have not been affected at all. After the limelight passed away, according to Monson’s statement, “he was like an ostrich and plunged into the sand”. It was irresponsible not to admit it, even if he had already recognized twins and Demitris, he still never gave a statement to the public, and even the closest statement to apology came from his son KJ with his “true wife:
“He made a mistake, but anyway, he is a good father and he is still taking care of Demetris.”
Monson said that Malone is still hide all the time today, like a contradictory mystery, which really makes people sigh.
However, this kind of characteristic is still accurate in Stockton. His low profile during the player period and his Shen Yin after retirement are very similar to Malone.
For a long time, even the most loyal NBA fans could not tell too much about Stockton’s life. People probably know that Stockton is a legendary basketball star, a king of historical attacks and steals, and perhaps the greatest star of jazz young pioneer team history. His professional spirit is impeccable, and the biggest black spot may be that his actions are a little dirty, which is easy to be hated by others.
After retirement, Stockton took his family back to his hometown, and Spokane, with a population of only 230000, lived peacefully.
He just stayed away from the mainstream, but never from politics. During the new crown outbreak, stockton first starred in a film about vaccine conspiracy theories that had been banned all over the internet, claiming that “hundreds of” athletes had died suddenly after vaccination. Later, he publicly supported Owen, saying that he would not hesitate to ban the competition but also fight against vaccines as a “courageous act”.
Stockton: I hope more players can support Owen and refuse to play
In addition to the anti-vaccine, he also opposed the mask order and was disqualified from the season ticket by his alma mater for refusing to cooperate with wearing the mask, which instantly became notorious.
In the United States, vaccines and masks have evolved from a health issue to a political issue in the past few years. Stockton’s high-profile politics caught the NBA unprepared, and most people’s reactions were stunned, however, it quickly blocked any voice of this person.
When the Capitol Hill attack occurred on January 6, 2021, it was obviously not an accident that Stockton’s close friends (whose husband was an old jazz employee) participated in it. Although she broke into the Senate gallery on Capitol Hill and applauded her friends who broke through the guards for destruction, Stockton said, “I have known her for 17 years and she is a complete good man”.
Not believing in vaccines (in fact, they are still supervised by their loyal former president) and not admitting the election results and impacting Capitol Hill, these two things seem independent, but in fact they are not only closely related, but also mutually causal.
Unexpectedly, Stockton’s public image, which was successfully protected because of his life’s low profile, was thus destroyed. From the news he has made over the years, he can basically draw a portrait that is incomplete but enough to shake his head and sigh. Some media ridiculed that: “He is simply the in-law uncle that every white man hates most, spreading false information from the right wing all night.”
Although the public hated Stockton’s words and deeds, they were more tired. Because in recent years, they have seen too many such people: they firmly believe that “I have never discriminated against/bullied others in my life, nor have I ever seen racial discrimination in the united states”, he firmly believes that his talents like him are “the orthodoxy of National Blood” in the United States, and firmly believes that the results of the presidential election are fraudulent. (For example, Stockton argued: “She is just supporting a fair election. Isn’t this a free country?”)
Many people cried for Owen, saying why he was booed in the All-Star and Malone Stockton could still be cheered, but in fact, the nature of “Horizon theory” or “Jewish evil enveloped the United States” is not very different. Stockton and Owen’s positions on vaccine issues can only be said to be the coincidence overlap of extreme left and extreme right spectra, or the same way. (Fortunately, Malone is also black, which forms the internal contradiction between black right and Black left with Owen, thus avoiding the large hat of race. With an inappropriate metaphor, it is almost the same as Shi Huang slapped Chris Locke.)
The NBA invited two jazz legends back to the All-Star, and the result would only let them be “dug graves and flogged” and let more people know what they did. After they retired for so many years, they would make a final conclusion again.
However, it is Utah that runs through the fallacies, contradictions and mysteries of Malone and Stockton-even if they are not Utah at all. In the minds of most Americans (especially those in the developed areas of the East and West Coast), Utah is full of fallacies, contradictions and mysteries.
Of course, this is closely related to Mormonism. Mormonism, as the fourth largest religion in the United States, is notorious for its heretics. The most famous leader of the church is Brigham Young, who has at least 55 wives. In the early days of its birth, the church was expelled by many state governments in the United States for advocating polygamy, and finally it flourished in Utah.
Mormon temple in Salt Lake City
In the history of Utah, child marriage has become popular. The fundamentalism about gender and race is rampant, which means “five harmful tastes. The preaching of the Mormon Church starts from young children. Some specific methods include “no reading books and newspapers, TV, movies, listening to non-church-related music, and no dormitory after 9 pm, it is also necessary to avoid being alone with the opposite sex”.
Time magazine once made a survey report in 1997, saying that the church had assets of more than 30 billion dollars at that time and was the richest religion in the United States. However, because the church does not have the obligation to disclose financial information to the public, it is unknown to the outside world whether jazz was or still belongs to the church assets.
Apart from the rich Jazz team, the famous mormen also include Shi Difiney Mel, the author of Twilight, and Mitt Romney, the Republican nomination candidate in the 2012 US presidential election, the senior senator of Utah claimed to be “the number one jazz fan”.
The biggest controversy that Larry H Miller, the former boss of jazz, had made in the 21th century was the ban on the Oscar-winning film Brokeback Mountain. He didn’t know the content of the film at all, but he was told that there were two gay cowboys in the film when he was interviewed on the day of the premiere. He immediately asked all the theaters under the company to be released.
The matter caused great controversy in the United States, but NBA did not say anything. Even during the same period, many black players (including Pierce and Iverson) were punished for fear of the same speech.
Even if local media complained about Utah’s stereotypes and labels, they said Salt Lake City had always been a “blue” city and the most influential lobby group came from the LGBTQ rights organization, but such a defense is quite weak.
Stockton and Larry-H-Miller
The deepest memory of the 1997 finals was Jordan’s flu battle, but Rodman’s $50000 penalty also caused heated discussion because he insulted Mormons, although everyone complained privately, but it is politically incorrect to say it openly. (Rodman should be very wronged. The zen master said that he didn’t know what mormonism was at all. He always listened to others’ ridicule and thought “mormon” was the scorn of utah.)
Now NBA players who advocate fairness and justice may be difficult to control their contempt for Utah. Before, when LeBlanc and Durant were selected as All-Star captains, Mitchell and Gobel were missed to the end. LeBlanc also said that he could not choose jazz when playing games from childhood to adulthood. Except for offending Utah, everyone else would smile after hearing this.
Even if Salt Lake City is a liberal world, Mitchell’s remarks when he left the Jazz are still worth pondering. “When I was in Utah, I encountered many off-site problems, which was no secret. I have never declared it, but if I really want to say it, I can only say it is really exhausting.”
Mitchell, who has worked here for many years, is out of place. But in the eyes of the Miller family and the Utah people, Malone should probably be the “most American” Black, while Stockton is the “most American” white.
Malone himself is an illegitimate child. Father committed suicide when he was three years old. Malone has nine brothers and sisters. Stockton’s father-in-law once served as governor in the conservative state of Alaska. His wife had 12 brothers and sisters, and he had 6 children with his wife. Their “happy” family is completely in line with the culture of duozi and Duofu in Utah, but the other side of this culture is the prohibition of abortion and the endless suffering of vulnerable groups.
Therefore, just like letting Qatar host the World Cup, NBA, which brings all stars to jazz, needs to bear certain moral pressure.
Jazz began to prepare for the bidding around 2018. At that time, Mike Christenson, the core figure of Mormon church and Utah’s rich man, played an important role in it. He had a lot to do with the Miller family. At the beginning of 2019, he called Steve Starks, the then president of jazz and the current CEO of Larry-H-Miller, he was asked to immediately arrange a meeting between “female parents” Gale Miller and Xiao Hua, and let Gale personally state the significance of bidding for All-Star to Utah community.
According to Stark’s description, both he and Gale should have followed Christenson’s instructions. Before the start of the 2019-20 season, Xiao Hua also officially announced the news that Salt Lake City had become the host.
In the face of controversy, Xiao Hua was obviously much more smooth than Ma Long and Stockton’s conservative resistance.
He stressed that the situation in Utah was completely different from the original anti-transgender legislation in North Carolina. The NBA canceled Charlotte All-Star, but there was no need to do that for Salt Lake City. Moreover, Charlotte’s incident also made Xiao Hua no longer believe how many benign changes the position and means that are not black or white can really promote. There are 30 teams in NBA, and the business involves 30 cities. Where can they escape?
“For decades, our record has clearly demonstrated our concern for human rights issues.” Xiao Hua said. “We absolutely protect the personal citizenship of all participants in the event, both on and off the site.”
In other words, supporters of LGBTQ rights can not only enter the stadium, but also Jason Collins, the first person to come out of NBA, was invited as an All-Star platform, endorsing that NBA would never forget its values anywhere.
But Utah governor Spencer Cox told the truth: “We have discussed with NBA for a long time, and they also want to get rid of those cultural wars, so we are not worried at all.”
Before the start of the tournament, Xiao Hua had already announced the victory of Utah All-Star. Even if there was no epic ending like Qatar World Cup, he was very satisfied with the fruitful results.
“In terms of economic scale, this competition has set a historical record,” Xiao Hua said. “The economic benefits brought by All Stars to Utah are about $0.28 billion.” At the time of jazz bidding, the highest expectation was only 50 million.
Therefore, the Wade couple, who openly supported the transmutation of their 15-year-old son into their daughter, still appeared on the sidelines proudly as Jazz shareholders. It is said that fish and hand-shaped brush cannot have both, but NBA has been fighting against it for a long time.
After the excitement, it was over. In the main match, the two teams had no bright spot except the one-on-one fight of tatum and brown. The poor defense and fighting spirit were outrageous, which made many fans remember the glorious years that they could not go back.
There was a wonderful video of all-star confrontation in 1993 with a Big V account, and I sighed with emotion about what is real man’s basketball.
Although the protagonist is still Malone Stockton, no one will mention any scandal.
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(Text/kewell)