The consensus leading up to the LaVar Ball interview with Chris Cuomo on CNN was it would be a complete unmitigated disaster.
Maybe that was shooting a bit low.
Ball went on the network to discuss his son LiAngelo, who was bagged for shoplifting with a pair of teammates while on a UCLA basketball trip to China, and his growing feud with President Donald Trump.
The conversation went off the rails from the beginning and never came close to getting back. Though the conversation sounded civil from the onset, it was actually just the elder Ball attempting to rationalize his son shoplifting expensive merchandise while representing his school in China.
Cuomo asked Ball about the boys thanking Trump for getting them out of China, but Ball, who vehemently believes a thank you isn’t imperative, asked Cuomo if he thanked the doctor who delivered him instead of answering the question. Then Ball went completely out of his mind.
In fact, the only thank you that was given came in this unusual exchange in which Ball coerced Cuomo into thanking him in the middle of the interview for no apparent reason.
Of course, the closing stages of the interview became arguments over who was at fault for the conversation going in circles. To the surprise of nobody, nothing really was accomplished in the *discussion,* but it did end in the least surprising way possible.
If you’re interested, here’s the entire 23-minute bout of nonsense.
Happy early Thanksgiving!
