Gilbert Spills The Beans

by Marcel Mutoni

Gil Arenas in his never-ending quest to remain the most likeable cat in the Association, revealed what it takes for some people to get an invite to All-Star weekend. He admitted that in his first year with the Wizards, he bribed employees at a sporting goods store (with shoes and a basketball) in order to get his hands on a box of All-Star ballots. Dude then went ahead and filled them all out, putting his name alongside those of teammates Antawn Jamison and Larry Hughes. Gangsta.

According to Arenas, he’s not the only one who does this sort of thing:

“I heard there’s players out there that do that,” Gil said, non-jokingly. “Like, some of the guys who get voted in. Like, they paid the city to bring all the ballots. I heard back in the day they used to do that, too. It would be players, they used to have backpacks and they’d be pushing them in to Foot Locker. I heard it’s always been like that. Like, old players would tell me, ‘Yeah, what’s-his-name used to do that, he’d be in his house and he’s out there filling them out. His wife, his friends, he’d bring his friends down here, pay ’em, they’d be out there filling ’em out. Then there’s just truckloads to the Foot Locker to make sure they still was there. I’m like, ‘Oh that’s funny. That is hilarious.'”

I wonder who some of those ballot-stuffing guys could be. It’s probably not any of the top tier players (Yao for example); they have more than enough support at home and abroad. I’m guessing it would have to be someone marginal, someone like oh I don’t know, Derrick Coleman?

Update: More Gil goodness. Arenasexpress.com! (via Yaysports)