Casey at the Oregonian’s Blazer blog pointed out a Trib article where Kerry Eggers reported (how’s that for thorough sourcing?) that Zach Randolph’s bereavement leave in Marion, Illinois that he’s been on since Monday didn’t stop him from checking out PDX’s finest peelers on Tuesday night.

Very nice.

The story goes something like this. Z-Bo has a girlfriend. His girlfriend’s cousin was gunned down in the early morning hours of Sunday, March 18th. On Monday, Z-Bo left the team on “bereavement leave,” ostensibly to join his girlfriend and family back home and go to the funeral.

So the fact that Z-Bo was allegedly stuffing g-strings at the Exotica International Club for Men in NE Portland on Tuesday night (while skipping a game versus the Washington Bullets) is probably of some interest to all those who continue to scratch their heads at Zach’s decision-making.

Now, to be fair, I’ve never gone on bereavement leave from work. I’ve had people die, but not since high school, and those were pretty close family members (my dad, and then the next year the uncle who’d started acting in a dad-type capacity to fill the void). For each of those, I took about a week off. And I’ve never had a girlfriend who’s family had passed while we were dating. I have an ex-girlfriend who’s dad passed, and we’re still friends. I took a half-day to help run the powerpoint at the funeral, as a favor. I liked her dad, and I was sad to see him go.

Also, to be fair, the whole thing is no-doubt complicated by the fact that the death happened 2/3 of the way across the continent and there was certainly some sort of question going in about when the actual funeral would be.

Now, with all the apologetics aside, we get to my thought: if you’re going to be on bereavement leave, then leave. I fully expect that if I was Z-Bo asking to take that time, I’d be telling the team I was doing it to be a support to my girlfriend and/or to be with family while I mourned the loss of a friend (I have no real idea what Zach’s relationship was with the deceased). Either way, I’d leave town and go to Marion to justify not being at work. If it’s true that Zach was at the peeler bar while skipping a game (and skipping his tab, to boot) instead of doing any apparent bereaving, that just reinforces (in my mind, at least, and I know loyal opponent TKrueg will disagree) the feeling that Z-Bo has the stereotypical “million dollar body and ten cent head.”

What do you think?

UPDATE: The Blazers have sent out a press release regarding this case. Per The O’s excellent “Behind the Blazers Beat” blog:

“The statement, sent by vice president of communications Art Sasse, quotes assistant general manager Kevin Pritchard:

‘We have made tremendous strides this season in developing a culture that values character, both on and off the court.

‘We think we’ve made significant progress in that regard as a team and an organization and our fans have responded with renewed enthusiasm and support.

‘At the end of the season we’ll sit down with each one of our players and review their performance, including their standing in the community. Character will be a key measuring tool for whether each of our players continues to be a part of the ongoing effort to build toward a championship caliber club.

‘When players make mistakes off the court, they are often private matters between the team and the player. We know our fans respect the need to handle certain matters internally. We will continue to hold our players to a very high standard and take appropriate action when necessary.’”

I guess that’s the sort of non-committal acknowledgement you should expect with a situation like this that, as noted by Dave at Blazer’s Edge, isn’t illegal or a straight-up violation of any rule so much as it is just stupid.

Related posts:

1. Zach returns from his bereavement leave, Portland embarks on theirs
2. They may be Jailblazers, but at least they’re OUR Jailblazers
3. Blazers Win! Blazers Win!
4. Go Blazers?
5. Gun Blazer