A Case for Amare Keeping his Shirt On

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This video is rather humorous. It’s great to see Amare and Nash yucking it up and having a good time, especially at Craig Sager’s expense. But take a closer look. Focus on Amare in particular. Notice anything different?

That’s right, he isn’t wearing his jersey.

If you watch Suns basketball night in and night out, this is a recurring theme. As soon as the final whistle blows, Amare tears off his jersey and walks off the court rocking nothing more than his padded black tank top.

It makes me absolutely friggin’ nuts.

It shouldn’t bother me as much as it does. After all, it’s just a jersey, he’s playing great, great basketball right now, and the Suns are are on a hot streak with nowhere to go but up.

But again, it drives me up the wall.

Amare is one of the most exciting basketball players I have ever seen. So much so I named my Suns blog for him. He does things on the court no other man his size has done before. He’s worked incredibly hard on his game and has become a deadly shooter from the outside (hopefully his defense follows suit.)

And like most gifted people, he has the ego to go along with his superhuman traits. He gave himself a nickname (while it’s a good one, this isn’t normal) he changed his number from 32 to 1, and he has a tattoo naming himself “Black Jesus.” This is all well and good and I love it. It’s important to have swagger and confidence in one’s abilities.

Where I draw the line is the jersey coming off, because a player’s jersey is what connects him to his team, it makes him part of a cohesive unit put together to achieve the goal of a championship. Intentional or not, Amare’s insistence on removing his jersey after the games not in the locker room but on the court separates him from his teammates. It puts doubt in my mind that he’s out there for the team and not for selfish reasons.

I don’t know for sure why he does it. The most likely explanation is his aforementioned ego and that he can feed it by showing off his chiseled physique. A yahoo or google image search gives credence to this. Another thought is he gives his jersey to a lucky fan after each game. However, if this is the case, Amare needs to channel Gilbert Arenas and Trent Walker and give us a big production in doing so.

Whatever the intent and explanation, I’m sure this practice will continue, along with my blood pressure rising every time it does. The last thing the Suns need is their superstar putting himself on an island and placing his ego above the team. If the team is to finally win that elusive championship we all crave so much, everyone needs to be on the same page.

Unfortunately, each time Amare removes that jersey, it makes me wonder if he’s even reading the same book as his teammates. And I know I’m not the only one.

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Tags: Amare, Black Jesus Disciples, Gilbert Arenas