Sports Illustrated article from when KO joined Patrick's radio show...

[Gogi]

"There is some thought that this may lead to a larger role at the network (ESPN). Time will tell."

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/richard_deitsch/06/17/media.circus/

[RevCheesehead]

1. Why is everyone so surprised at how good Keith is?

It's like they expect him to be an arrogant asshole.

Instead, I think of his situation as a classic example to follow. Forgiveness can happen, but only when one is willing to take their own share of the responsibility. Keith got to the point where he could admit his mistakes, apologize, and learn from them.

Maybe what makes it so unusual is that we rarely see people being given second chances. I hope they succeed. Our society needs something uplifting, and this just might help.

[tatia_s]

2. I think it' s because

not many celebrities openly admit mistakes in the way he has.

~Tatiana

[RevCheesehead]

3. I agree.

It takes a person of character to do that. And Keith was willing to do the hard work to get himself able to do it. :)

[gkhouston]

4. No, second chances aren't what's unusual about this story...

I've seen total jerks get second and third (and sometimes fifth) chances... and go right on pissing on the very people who are trying to befriend and help them.

What's unusual here is that Keith realized he'd behaved badly and actually did something about it. Most bad-deed-doers ;-), if they reach the point of contrition at all, feel sorry only for themselves -- the concept of making sincere apologies and consuming gargantuan portions of humble pie doesn't enter into their calculations. If they mumble an apology at all, its sole purpose is to anesthetize the victim prior to the next outrage. In such cases, there is no true contrition, because the "penance" if you will, is merely a set-up for the next round of "sinning".

As for whether the press in general is/was willing to give the KO/DP reunion a chance, I doubt Keith cares; it's Dan's opinion that matters.

[RevCheesehead]

5. Gina, you said that so much better than I did...

You're right. Keith chose to change and become a better person. And from what I've seen, he's succeeded magnificently. :loveya:

[gkhouston]

6. but here's the $64K question...

why did he choose to change? Something flipped the switch for him, and something kept the switch flipped. I've seen people with moments of insight who will turn away from that insight, almost like drowning people who unexpectedly grasp one lungful of unadulterated air and reflexively expel it, as if drowning, although painful and ultimately deadly, is somehow less alien and painful and well, scary, than this strange oxygen stuff. For those people, it's like someone flipped the switch, and they instinctively turned it back off. Why didn't Keith?

[RevCheesehead]

7. a real, honest answer (for once): grace.

he wanted to be better, to grow in holiness of self.

I'm not talking about a religious conversion, but instead, a desire to become better. He had enough insight to know he wasn't happy, and began to investigate the story of Keith. When he didn't like what he saw, he began to explore ways to change the course of his life.

What a lot of folks don't get is that "sanctification" is not a one-time, instantaneous event, but rather, a life-long process. We continue to grow in holiness and love, and begin to share that holiness with those around us - at home, work, faith fellowship, and with friends.

Sometimes the only thing that people notice is "there's something different about him. He's changed." And unlike the fundies, we don't need to tell the world why... we live by example.

The other thing fundies forget is that sanctification isn't just about letting God into your heart... It is also something which will teach us how to love ourselves, and to change the things about ourselves that we do not like. So when a Fundie is being ugly, remember that s/he probably hasn't learned how to love her/himself... and that is exactly what God desires for us.

[gkhouston]

8. that's true enough.

and although he's not overly vocal about it, he does seem to be a spiritual person in a genuine sense. I don't think that's a recent development, either, or he likely would have strayed into far uglier behaviors than being the know-it-all control freak making everyone's life miserable because he's afraid of what will happen if one of the spinning plates crashes to the ground. Still, it seems like a big transformation and I wonder if a particular event set his feet on that road.

I don't think fundies get the idea of sanctification at all, but perhaps my idea of sanctification isn't showy enough for them. I sometimes think they believe sanctified people should walk around emanating light as in the illuminations from medieval texts }( but they don't seem to understand that a sense of inner contentment can make you feel that way without looking like you work at Homer Simpson's plant.

I think you're right about the ugly-behaving Fundies not having learned to loved themselves (we could send them some Hello Kitty?) and whenever I hear a Fundy group go off on another hate-binge against gay marriage or fill-in-the-blank, I think about a line from a Shaker hymn:
"If ye love not each other in daily communion
How can ye love God, whom ye have not seen?"

and I wonder if they're capable of loving anything, which is a truly depressing thought. Woe to you, scribes and pharisees...

[Berry Cool]

9. You said it, Gina and Rev.

I think Keith changed because he sincerely wanted to...because he knew deep down that something wasn't right, and somewhere inside him he was raised with a conscience that told him that the "something that wasn't right" didn't all have to do with "other people messing him up." There were mistakes he had made, responsibility he had to step up for. That's something some people simply refuse to learn, and that's why they can't change.

But aside from that, I think Keith changed because, despite all the bad press he has received over the years, he was never *really* an asshole at heart to begin with. He was a decent person, a solid human being. The trouble was, the decent and solid human being was buried under a mountain of insecurities that made him oftentimes say and do things that caused him to not only antagonize the hell out of people, and to hurt other people, but to shoot himself in the foot.

At some point, for whatever reason, he realized this, and became aware that it was possible to change it. Doing so would require being brave enough to reexamine his entire life from the bottom up...but it could be done, and he would be a better person for it.

And he has. And he continues to move toward being better and better.