The levelheaded geek
I suppose the only concern with having former Duke basketball champ Shane Battier on this quarantine squad stems from the specific skill he highlighted during the National Championship Game against Arizona in 2001. What skill? Take a look:
Obviously, as demonstrated above, the now-retired forward is renowned for being a sneaky thief. That said, off the court, Battier is too friendly a fella to take what isn’t his. More importantly, the Michigan native is far too wise a thinker to leave out of this group.
Naismith’s former Prep Player of the Year (1997) and College Player of the Year (2001) has eloquently argued in front of congress to have NCAA student-athletes receive fair compensation for their services. In 2011, in part because of his deep, yet rational, insight on a wide range of topics, Bleacher Report named Battier as one of the “35 smartest athletes of all time” and noted his 3.5 GPA as a religion major at Duke. Heck, in 2013, the Michigan Democratic Party encouraged him to run for office in the United States Senate.
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In terms of shelter-in-Cameron benefits, however, here’s what else I’m thinking: seeing that Battier’s No. 31 hangs there, and keeping in mind his clever mind, he’d be the perfect and most willing volunteer to climb the rafters to fix any roof leaks that could otherwise damage either his individual banner or the multitude of team banners he helped raise.
Plus, Battier’s reality-based brainpower would be a necessity to challenge the outlandish opinions coming from this most entertaining speaker among our temporary “sphere” of influence…