THIS JUST IN

by LZ Granderson

Chris Duhon's check is bigger than yours. That means he has to like his job? Chris Duhon's first job was as a dishwasher at Ray's Bull Pen in Slidell, La., when he was 15. His second was as a sales associate at Foot Locker. Third? NBA rookie in Chicago. In terms of being on a fast career track, the former Dukie and current Bull couldn't ask for more. Except for maybe the same thing any employee of a large corporation wants: to matter.


Since the Bulls acquired 2-guard Larry Hughes from the Cavaliers, in February, Duhon has gone from occasional starter to bench fixture. His growing frustration with his shrinking minutes spilled over into an uncharacteristic tizzy, as he opted to go to Durham for the UNC-Duke game on a Saturday instead of traveling with his team for a Sunday matchup in Detroit.

Now, maybe that's fine if you get the boss' okay. It's anything but if the boss learns of your decision when you, Jay Williams and the other Cameron Crazies show up on his TV.

After Duke lost, Duhon took a chartered plane so he could make it to the team hotel that night. And maybe the whole thing would have blown over if he hadn't overslept and missed the Sunday-morning shootaround. Surprise: He was fined and benched. Worse, when he was asked about the punishment before that night's game, Duhon was unapologetic. "Usually I don't play anyway, so it doesn't have that much effect on me," he said.

Another fine. Another benching.

After a come-to-Jesus meetin' with common sense and his agent, Duhon, an unrestricted free agent this summer, has been more remorseful. Publicly, anyway. "I take full responsibility for my actions," he says now. "I made a mistake because I was frustrated. Hopefully we can put this behind us and focus on making the playoffs."

The pouting wasn't reported as heavily as, say, Kobe's and Chad Johnson's snits, but it didn't go unnoticed. Bloggers and Bulls fans ripped his selfishness. NBA GMs, potential future employers, were no more merciful.

One web slinger posted him up thusly: "Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Duhon, the next mayor of Stupidtown." An East Coast exec said, "He's not good enough to bring baggage to a team."

Duhon was yet another disappointment for a club that started the season thinking title and now might not win 35 games. When I started to report this story, I expected it to be another case of a whining, rich—and undeserving—athlete. On the surface, it still is.

Duhon probably owes his pro career more to whom he played for in college than to what he did on the court. What ended up striking me more about his situation, though, was not the egotistical display but the familiarity of it. Who hasn't been made to feel like crap by management? Older employees are having buyouts shoved down their throats, there are re-orgs every other quarter and people are being asked to reapply for their jobs—only with no bennies.

I visited one of my former employers recently, and the place was like a morgue. Creativity had been gutted from the building. I couldn't find one person who had one positive thing to say about the corner office. I did, though, find a lot of Duhons. None of them was as famous or as rich, but they were Duhons just the same. Admittedly, I've been a Duhon on more than a few occasions myself.

One reason The Office is so popular is that it allows us to laugh at the daily drill of working for a living. But just because a Duhon—or a Shaun Alexander, who can't feel much job security after his Seahawks signed two other running backs—is paid millions does not make dealing with life's Michael Scotts any easier. Not when you look up and see co-workers being treated better than you; not when you face the harsh reality that the company no longer thinks of you as the Next Big Thing, no longer thinks you matter. At some point, your salary is only a Band-Aid for a big hole in your self-esteem.


It was at that point that Duhon left for Durham. He needed to feel important again, if only for half a day. I'm not saying it's right, but I get it. "My intention wasn't to embarrass the front office, and it wasn't to bad-mouth anyone," he says. "I just needed to get away and deal with my own problems."


His own problems, sure, but hardly unique ones.

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