Page 268 of The Locker Room
Exhausting questions. By the time the interview was done, Chris was
looking like death warmed over, and it was Xander who called a halt.
“So are you going to enter an alcohol recovery program, Chris?”
“If he needs to,” Xander said, taking control of the conversation
completely. “And that"s all we"re going to say about that, okay? He"s
tired. We"re done. It"s been a pleasure, but—”
The narration took over then: “And I knew that I had overstayed
my welcome. The boys had been more than generous, both with their
time and with their honesty, so I tried one more question before I ended
the interview.”
And the action was in the living room again. “Mr. Karcek, I only
have one more question, and it"s for you.” At Xander"s tacit nod of
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permission, she went on. “Your answers in this interview have been
articulate and almost poetic. Do you ever get tired of the press calling
you Cave Man?”
“I do,” Chris said, his voice faint. “Every goddamned time.”
The interview ended, and the narration resumed, concluding with:
“So now that we"ve seen how difficult it is to live under the radar
in the NBA, we asked the boys" agent what they had in mind for their
next move. His response was that their story wasn"t finished yet. For one
thing, Sacramento hasn"t played the championship series. I asked if that
was a possibility, and he told me that as of yet, nobody had contacted
Xander Karcek to let him know he wasn"t invited back to play. In fact, no
one from the ball club has made any acknowledgment whatsoever. As far
as we know, this championship will be special for more than one reason.
Besides it being the first championship series for the Kings since 1953, it
could also be the first time an openly gay player has played a
championship game in the NBA. As Leo Schindler told me, it all hinges
on their next phone call.”
