Getting to Know Robert Swift
I had an interesting conversation with center Robert Swift after today’s practice that I would love to continue at some point very soon and turn into a more in-depth profile for The Oklahoman.
My goal was to find out if Robert feels misunderstood, obviously because of his appearance, defined by his long red hair, his numerous tattoos and his jet-black painted fingernails. Swift certainly doesn’t appear to be your average Joe, not even in the tattoo-infested NBA world.
But my curiosity was piqued when a fan seated behind my press row seat at a recent game inside the Ford Center heckled Swift at every occasion because of his image, asking him “what’s wrong with you,” “why do you paint your fingernails” and essentially calling him a freak. This after teammate after teammate told me what a great guy Swift is and how he’s one of the nicest, most respectful and polite guys around.
Turns out, Swift had a lot to say when I asked if he felt misunderstood by fans.
“Not even just with fans, just with people in general,” Swift said. ”People that don’t even watch basketball see tattoos and they don’t like it. Why do people dye their hair? Why do people get earrings? It’s just what people like. It’s a very broad generalization, but a lot of people don’t like or are afraid of things that they don’t understand or things that they want to do but never had the courage to do. So they automatically get mad at somebody that has the courage to do it.”
I proceeded to ask Swift the how, when and why he molded his current image, how he went from the baby-faced, clean-cut teenager above to the uninhibited, tatted-up player he is today.
Swift told me that, with his mother by his side, he attempted to get his first tattoo at around 16 years old. Swift recalled his mother willing to sign any paperwork necessary to allow her underage son to get his ink.
“They said, “No, you’ve got to wait until you’re 18,’” Swift remembered. ”So it’s one of those things I always wanted it.”
Swift sat down for his first tat shortly after being drafted by the Sonics in 2004.
“I just ended up just walking one day, literally going for a walk because I lived in downtown Seattle my rookie year, and I walked in front of a tattoo shop and went in,” Swift recalled.
After 154 hours of tattoo work — the intertwined designs make it impossible to count each tat separately – Swift said his image soon became a talking point, for better or for worse.
“I got the same thing in Seattle,” Swift said. ”People hated it, didn’t like it. It was the same thing as it is here. People either hated it or loved it.”
The more I talked to Swift the more interesting he became. Turns out, he’s into MMA fighting and uses the sport to train in the off-season. He said the brutal sport isn’t what led to him entering training camp this year with a broken right hand, however, and said he’s never been injured while practicing MMA.
“The more I got into it the more I got into every fight,” Swift said. ”I like rolling on the ground. I like to submission wrestle, which is weird for as long as my arms and legs are.
“I like watching the fights and watching how technical they are. It’s amazing how one little slip or one little thing and you’re caught and you’re done.”
To be continued……
-DM-
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Comments
[...] * This week’s NBA on TV announcing schedule, the first Basketball Jones of the New Year, and Getting to Know Robert Swift. [...]
swift’s appearance would be much more tolerable if he could stay healthy and actually play, neither of which appears possible for him.
when you’re a bust waiting to be tossed out of the league, it’s better not to look like the second coming of dennis rodman.
Swift owned snakes, lizards and other reptiles during his stay in Seattle. If you ask me, he’s just another high schooler who should have gone to college (had comitted to USC) to develop his game, personality and maturity level.
This behavior might suggest that he is revolting against his parents, who may have pushed him too hard along the way. Who knows?
I agree that he is another 1st round, 7-foot bust along with Petro and Sene.
I am not a religious fanatic or anything, but I believe we were made with all the holes and markings we were supposed to have. Hair dye is temporary. Imbedding ink or driving steel into your skin is forever.
I do not understand how people get jobs looking like a walking paintshop gone bad. If you make a lot of money in the NBA for a long time, I guess you do not have to get a job, so you can bascially deform your body as much as you like. But if you do not last (Due to all the health issues Swift has had…his money may run out at some point) someday you may have to go to work and how will you do that with all that scary mutilation? If you want to work in a record store your whole life, it probably won’t hold you back, but many people who work in real jobs where appearance is important have already found the need to cover up. Many retail and food establishments do not allow exposed tatoos. People who have them wear bandaids or ace bandages to cover them. What is the point of having something that makes you cover it to be presentable? I see 50 year old moms with tattoos and wonder what they were thinking. I would not want to try to explain to my kids why they should not do it, if I had done it myself.
People are not supposed to discriminate, but they do and why engrave an invitation into your skin asking for it? If I was in a hiring position and it was a choice between two fairly equal candidates, most likely, I would probably choose the one with the best appearance. That is just the nature of things. No one would overtly advertise that they were doing that, but they would do it.
I walked into a urgent care clinic recently and there was a very nice guy who worked the counter. At first he looked like a gang banger, but once I talked to him, realized he was a nice person. Gang members look like that, so my initial reaction was to be on guard. The initial impression was something I had to get past. Why do that to yourself?
Somehow this becomes “My” issue, in the mind of the person who mutilated themself, because “I” do not understand them. My reaction is based on what I have experienced in life; People with massive tattoos are generally not nice people. A lot have been in jail and got their tattoos there. You mark your body up, and you put an image in my head that I am not supposed to get. Sorry, real life does not work that way. If you are a man and put makeup on your face and wear a dress, people are going to think you want to be a woman. You put that impression in their head, and they are justified in coming to that conclusion. You have to accept that you put that impression in their head.
In many cases, people do not realize the permanence or think it through. While I can not tell another person what to do, I can tell them not to be surprised at peoples reactions when they do something like this to themselves. People relate what they see to what they have experienced. If you present the image of a “dangerous” or unfriendly person, people will probably not get to know you and initially react to you as one.
I had the opportunity to meet Swift at an autograph session and he was very polite and friendly. I don’t understand how people can judge strictly on appearance only. I really cannot see how his maturity level is being questioned just because he owned a few reptiles and skipped out on college. Some of my more mature friends are the ones that didn’t attend college. Maturity isn’t something you learn sitting in a class. Maturity is something that is learned from our jobs, our families, our willingness to take risks, and bearing life’s indignities with dignity.
I personally like tattoos. I see them as an expression of oneself. I believe that if someone gets a tattoo for the right reason you could learn a lot about them without even saying anything. I know the tattoo’s I have each expose a little part of me and my beliefs.
As for Swift’s game, which I think is really what should be discussed; I think he has a lot of potential. Yes, he may have been riddled with injuries in the early part of his career, however I think he has the willingness to overcome that and become a great player. He is already improving with every game. His defense is definitely a force to be reckoned with. He has the ability to contain the great big men of the NBA. Robert Swift is a good fit for the Thunder and he can only get better. Personally, I have been very impressed with his style of play and his drastic improvements.
I cannot believe how judgmental people can be especially when they do not even know the person they so easily degrade. I think Robert Swift is a great asset to the Thunder organization and is improving with each game. I think we should all remember “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”. I’m sure you would not appreciate your child being ridiculed and mocked. Knock it off and allow Robert Swift to express himself and play the game he so loves.
Robe is one of the sweetest young men you could meet.
What is a kid 18 years old supposed to do to try to fit into the “man’s” world of the NBA. He has had healthy times that coaches WON’T play him or trade him.
Maybe 09-10 will be his year
[...] Robert on the world’s reaction to his appearance: “Not even just with fans, just with people in general,” Swift said. ”People that don’t [...]