From zero to hero

The Florida Gators just became the first Division I school to ever win a national championship in both football and basketball in the same year. Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys made Charlie Brown proud as they botched a routine short-yardage field goal attempt to lose a playoff game in embarrassing fashion. Mark McGwire was overwhelmingly shut out of the Hall of Fame by voters and news just surfaced that – surprise, surprise – Barry Bonds failed a drug test last season.

And yet, none of these stories are the focus of my column this week. That's because none of these stories can hold a candle to The Takeover.

Simply put, the man at the top of in the NBA's 2001 draft is becoming one of the most dominant players in the modern era – capable of single-handedly winning big games. Oh, did I say first pick? I'm sorry; I'm definitely not talking about Kwame Brown, who can thank former Wizards general manager Michael Jordan for becoming the first overall pick in the 2001 draft. I'm talking about Gilbert Arenas, who somehow was passed over entirely in the first round and was selected with the 31st overall pick.

Someone named Trenton Hassell was actually selected by the Chicago Bulls with the 30th pick. I had to look him up just to find out he's still in the NBA. That's fairly typical of second round players. And yet, Arenas has gone from the player passed over by every team in the league to the player torching every team in the league. He’s quickly becoming a player who opposing fans buy tickets to see.

Let me say this up front, part of the reason people are taking to Arenas is that he's about as different from your typical professional athlete as humanly possible. We’re talking about a guy who to this day wears jersey number "0" because he was told that he would get zero minutes when he arrived at the University of Arizona. But Gilbert is a driven individual who feeds off of any slight – whether perceived or real. So the man known as Agent Zero took a negative and turned it into a positive.

While his first season with the Golden State Warriors was solid (10.9 points, 3.7 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game), especially for a second rounder, Arenas was selected as the NBA's Most Improved Player after his sophomore season. After that season he found himself as one of the most sought-after free agents available, with the L.A. Clippers and the Washington Wizards at the head of the pack. Seeing potential in both destinations, Gilbert did as only he could with his career on the line – he flipped a coin to decide which team to play for.

This is why Wizards head coach Eddie Jordan coined the term "Gilbertology" when describing the often bizarre behavior on and off the court of Washington's biggest star since they changed their team name from the Bullets. As a coach when you hear stories about a player who once took a shower at half time in full uniform while playing with the Warriors, you tend to expect the worst. But Arenas has made this once-proud franchise relevant again, which is something even Air Jordan himself couldn't do. And the best part is, Gilbert continues to have fun in the process.

It's been reported that during the 2003-04 season, Arenas tried to vote himself into the All Star game, offering to trade a pair of shoes and a jersey for a box of ballots. When he's not attempting to fix elections, he's playing online poker in the locker room during halftime of games. And at the end of every game, home and away, Arenas takes off his jersey and tosses it into the crowd as a way of showing some love for the fans. This man's got so much going on it's impossible to tell his complete story in one article.

Earlier this season, Gilbert began shouting the word "hibachi" after nailing big shots. I couldn't even begin to explain how someone comes up with that, so here's what he had to say on the subject:

"You know, a hibachi grill gets real hot. That's what my shot's like, so I've been calling it that – 'Welcome to the hibachi.'" He has also stated that while he is scoring on opponents, he's "cooking chicken and shrimp" in reference to his "hibachi grill," and that if his opponent wanted to double team him, he would "cook filet mignon" as well.

For whatever reason, Arenas refuses to sleep on a bed. Instead, he prefers a sofa. Not normal, but no big deal, right? Well, last October, Arenas told ESPN that he converted his D.C. home to simulate high-altitude conditions, hoping the "mile-high" arrangement would help him have more energy when the game is on the line. We're nearing Michael Jackson bizarre status here, and yet, this guy is universally loved ... by all but Kobe Bryant.

Arenas set a franchise record by scoring a career-high 60 points, along with 8 rebounds and 8 assists in leading the Wizards over the Lakers 147-141, at the Staples Center, Dec. 17. Arenas was so money that game that the Los Angeles crowd actually began to cheer his every basket by the end of the game, even though Bryant was guarding him for a good chunk of the second half.

After the game, Bryant, who once scored 81 points in a game, questioned Arenas' shot selection and claimed he lacked a conscience. "Out of that whole game I probably took two bad shots," Arenas said. "And for me not to have a conscience? You're right. When you're an assassin, you don't have a conscience." Hence the name, Eastern Conference Assassin. Now it looks like the rest of the country is finally starting to notice Washington’s most unique superstar of my lifetime.

Take, for example, Arenas' game-winning buzzer beater in the Wiz' 108-105 victory against the Milwaukee Bucks, Jan. 3. Gilbert got the ball with the score tied and just six seconds to play. He dribbled the length of the court, read the defender, stopped and stroked a picture-perfect jumper 32 feet from the basket. It wasn't that he nailed the shot, but that video replay showed he actually knew it was going in so he turned and walked away while the ball was still in the air.

Not since Larry Bird in the three-point competition years ago has someone pulled off a stunt like that. Any time you get mentioned in the same breath as Larry Legend you know your time has arrived.

I attended the Wizards-Clippers game two nights after the beat down of the Bucks and witnessed another clutch performance by the man with the self-proclaimed "swag." Gilbert was in such a groove that the crowd began chanting "M-V-P! M-V-P!" while he was at the free throw line. That's when I started thinking about it, and they're right – no one in the NBA this year has been a bigger story than Arenas, both on and off the court.

He's second in the league in scoring with 30.2 points per game, while at the same time having "A-List" birthday parties hosted by Diddy himself. His Wizards are challenging for their first division championship in my lifetime and he’s got one of the most entertaining and popular blogs on the Internet. All in all, life is good for the Arenas who is quickly taking over the NBA one headline at a time.

Brian Murphy is the 2005 Defense Department's sportswriter of the year. And he still doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. Contact him at murf@the5holes.com.