it must be difficult being jonathan clay redick. its almost makes you feel bad for the kid. my carolina degree would never let me do such an atrocious thing, but i do have to say seeing his mugshot all over espn this morning did make me ponder the difficulties of young jj's life.

how could he have it that bad, you say? 2006 player of the year, surefire lottery pick at this month's nba draft, a degree from one of the top schools in the country, the dude's got it made right?

i mean, for the last four years, youve had a whole entire state worth of fans cheering and backing you every step of the way. with every three pointer, with every free throw, everyone in new jersey celebrates like they just won a free weekend at a timeshare in seaside. sean may doesnt even have that kind of fanbase, and he actually has a championship ring.

jj redick has to be the biggest sports star in durham. also the most recognizable, as in a six five white kid from virginia in a town of five nothing black folks from north carolina. anyone who sees him know who he is, what he does, read his poetry, and how much money hes about to make.

even the cops.

and all these folks, who are all big fans of jj are so thankful for everything that hes done for them. scoring all those points, winning all those ncaa championships, beating north carolina at cameron on senior day, all these wonderful, wonderful things.

so when an underpaid, overworked durham police officer pulled over young jj at one oclock in the morning for pulling a uturn to avoid a checkpoint, youd think that that officer, knowing jj's storied career and understanding what hes done for dook university and the durham community, might have cut him a little slack. so what if he had a few beers that night, hes a star! a hero even! all he had to do was look the other way just this once, and no one would have even known. it would have been a small favor to one of the greatest college basketball players of all time. sure, it would have been easy, but you are forgetting one thing.

even jj redick's fans hate him.

bottoms up to that.