Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Joumana Kidd Will Kick Your Ass



In one of the more bizarre and unfortunate stories of this season, Jason Kidd has filed for divorce from his wife Joumana, citing spousal abuse. Jason's attorneys claim she became increasingly more paranoid and angry, going so far as to hit him and throw things. The complaint also states that she used one of their kids to steal his cell phone and harass every number he'd dialed. Granted, it's easy to question the idea of a 5'2" model attacking a 6'4" professional athlete. Especially a 6'4" professional athlete whose been previously cited for domestic violence. This fact hasn't gotten past Joumana's crack legal team:

He says he's threatened by her? He's a star athlete. She's 5-foot-2 I think, and 105 pounds. It's shameful what he did here. The truth will come out.


I, however, don't think it's beyond belief. Kidd was completely contrite about his past and addressed the issue without hesitation. Joumana may not have a size advantage over him, but she would understand the public perception and know that people would be likely to side with her. And it's also reasonable to believe that Jason had a hard time defending himself. He not only knew how it was going to look, but that if he did respond, he could truly hurt her. Of course, it's ultimately difficult to know exactly what happened here. Thankfully, the authorities got involved and it can play out in public. Besides, the fact that Jason filed a complaint made me think it's probably true. How many pro athletes would be willing to say publicly that their pixie sized wife was knocking them around?

The subplot of this situation is how it affects the Nets. With three genuine stars and some developing young players, the Atlantic should be theirs to win. But, they're sitting at 15 wins and 19 losses. I asked my friend James what he thought was wrong with them:

Lawrence Frank is one horribly unlucky coach. He's great though. If the Nets are dumb enough to fire him, I think it will set back the franchise about 5 years. There isn't any real possible improvement they could make in the coaching department. The problem for them is bench depth and injuries. I could make a strong argument that Krstic is the best player in the NBA that only makes $1 million. P.S. Eddie House stinks.


Well put. When you're limited to relying on three players to carry you, one of those players going through a bitter divorce and custody fight can't help you out. In any division in the West, this would be a death penalty. In the East, I can't imagine it'll keep them out of the playoffs.

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