[Gilbert stands where he's told as the Washington Post's Mike Wise, a reporter/columnist
who's covered Arenas' rise and fall as close as anyone, looks on in the background.]
You could tell from the second Gilbert Arenas started his descent down the stairs to the Wizards’ practice court at the Verizon Center … the mean man, the quiet man, the unexcitable version of Arenas we saw before last season, had returned (sans fines for not talking to the media, so far). Well, at least this describes the facade Arenas has resurrected in his on again, off again relationship of gamesmanship with the public media.
Gilbert, in nature, appeared to be just as reclusive on Monday’s official Wizards Media Day, looking like in front of the media spotlight is the last place he wants to be. That he just wants to play basketball is the seemingly earnest tune he’s singing again. In appearance, the bushy bead that accompanied him drove home the point. Comparisons to Harrison Ford in the movie The Fugitive, or to Ricky Williams when he surfaced from wherever he was for a spell from that segment on 60 Minutes, or to Grizzly Adams, who actually did have a beard, pinged back and forth amongst attending members of the media.
{Gilbert's awaiting scrum.}
The somber facial expression conveyed by Arenas might make an acting school newbie envious, but I’m not buying it. It’s not the real Arenas. As the media scrum herded themselves in a circle of sweat and stank, developed under hot camera lights and close confines around an empty table, jostling for position and anticipating the arrival of Arenas, the calm Agent formerly known as Zero kept a straight face. In a far corner of the gym, just outside of the curtain where he was set to speak to a mass public for the first time in months, Gilbert stood patient, at least much more patient that the awaiting press, as he was debriefed and retained by members of the Wizards, public relations staff.
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