TD: The Road Less Traveled
Written by my boy Isa Kaliq Moorman of nykfanpage.com
I’ll tell you what Toney Douglas is not. He’s not some mirror-licking narcissist of an athlete with a false sense of entitlement. He sure as hell ain’t living some idealistic fantasy that athletic ability is God-given, and success and personal achievements don’t require guts and nuts. He’s neither demoralized nor deterred by self-seeking, servile flatterers (*cough* BERMAN *cough, cough*) of media that claim he ain’t got the minerals to make it on the next level. No siree…this thick-skinned young man was born and bred for the bright lights of New York City. And Lord knows it’s been a long time comin’.
The crucible that is Toney Douglas began in the yards of Jonesboro, Georgia. (I used to live there – ain’t a damn thing happening in Jonesboro but the Waffle House on a Saturday night.) Toney and his older brother Harry told stories of the elder sending the younger home crying after winning 140-4. Flying elbows and unremorseful grins from the elder spawned a sibling rivalry that would make the Douglas brothers two of the most exciting high school athletes Jonesboro township will ever see—a veritable dynamic duo in three sports: basketball, football, and baseball. Harry Douglas was drafted from Louisville by the Atlanta Falcons—while Toney, although equally gifted in the sport of football, sought to carve out his own path via travails of what was destined and refused to conceptualize any other way—Toney Douglas sought the road less traveled.
Just ask Auburn University.
The coaching staff at Auburn considered Douglas a natural two-guard—despite his contentions otherwise. Initially recruited by then-coach Cliff Ellis, and assured by Ellis that he would develop him correctly, Auburn fired Ellis a week before Douglas’s arrival. Ellis’s successor Jeff Lebo simply would not yield to Douglas’s reasoning that at 6′ 2″, he would never excel on the next level at the two, and earnestly needed the development he was promised when he agreed to come.
In addition, word around the Gatorade cooler was that Douglas simply didn’t have the mental capacity to successfully lead at the helm—and they made no attempts to hide this fact. Ledo publicly stated that Douglas’s contentions were “unrealistic demands and expectations placed on Auburn basketball,” and was “given every opportunity to achieve both his personal and team goals.” The Douglas camp called for Auburn to authorize the immediate release for Douglas to play elsewhere—resulting in a drawn out genital-swinging contest between advocates for Douglas and Auburn basketball. They would authorize his immediate release, under condition that he could not transfer to an SEC school—and with that, waved him two fingers goodbye. This stipulation was met with opposition from Douglas and his family, arguing that no restrictions be imposed on Douglas who should be given the right to play where ever he damn well pleased. But fair enough. Florida State, here we come. More.
