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Krieger: Patterson's past isn't the point

Published February 25, 2006 at midnight

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Strange as it seems, in the world of sports, Ruben Patterson is a better guy than Terrell Owens.

T.O. has never been accused of criminal conduct, aside from Donovan McNabb calling his insults "black-on-black crime."

Patterson has a rap sheet that includes misdemeanor assault, third-degree rape and a recanted allegation of domestic violence. He is the only player in the NBA required to register as a sex offender.

Although Broncos fans desperately want their team to go to the Super Bowl, most of them seem to feel Owens' talent is not worth his "character issues," which consist mostly of disrupting his team, demanding the ball, insulting his quarterback, stuff like that.

The Nuggets welcomed Patterson to their cast Friday after trading for him at the deadline. George Karl wants him to be his defensive "attack dog."

Which, when you think about it, is pretty much the sort of behavior for which he's been punished in the real world.

This is why sports executives are so ambivalent about these "character" questions. They have learned the politically correct things to say about criminal conduct, but in many cases, including Patterson's, the aggressive tendencies that produce off-court problems are assets on the court.

The amazing thing is how many players are able to turn off their aggression when they change into street clothes. Consider the Broncos' John Lynch, one of the most fearsome hitters in football and a model citizen off the field. What does he do with all that aggression during the off-season?

"I don't think John's unique in that regard," Tony Dungy, Lynch's longtime coach in Tampa, told me last spring. "There are a lot of players that have certainly a different persona on the field than they have off the field."

Patterson has basically the same persona off the court he has on the court, which has been the problem. Now that he's 30, the Nuggets hope he's wised up since building his rap sheet at 25 and 26.

On the other hand, he launched a profanity-laced tirade at Portland coach Nate McMillan earlier this season that resulted in a two-game suspension. The Blazers sent him home and he ended up missing seven games.

Again, it is exactly that fiery personality - redirected constructively, they hope - that the Nuggets want. When Kobe Bryant comes to town, Patterson will be assigned to knock him around a bit.

Likewise, Tracy McGrady, Manu Ginobili, Michael Finley, Ray Allen and the NBA's other elite wing players.

The more aggressive he is, the better fans will like him. It should come as no surprise that he became a fan favorite in Portland when he wasn't in some kind of trouble.

By acquiring Patterson and Reggie Evans at the deadline, the Nuggets tried to shake the blahs with an infusion of passion. Considering their list of hustle players now includes Patterson, Evans, Eduardo Najera, Greg Buckner, Linus Kleiza and, at times, Kenyon Martin, Karl can use some of the aggressive defensive tactics he made his trademark in Seattle in the early 1990s.

The reaction to Patterson's arrival will be split predictably between basketball fans and non-basketball fans, with a few exceptions on each side. The fans, like Nuggets management, just want the team to get better. They don't much care about Patterson's past. If he breaks the law in Colorado, that will be another matter, but for now, the guy deserves a . . . um . . . fourth chance.

Non-fans, in the main, will be appalled that the Nuggets voluntarily brought a convicted sex offender to Colorado and now want people to cheer for him and buy his jersey.

General manager Kiki Vandeweghe says the specifics of the case, which he can't divulge, mitigate the outcome. The very light sentence - Patterson served 15 days of home detention - suggests much the same. Still, many people judged Kobe Bryant harshly for an allegation of rape that was eventually dropped. In a modified guilty plea in Washington state, Patterson did not admit forcing his children's 24-year-old nanny to perform oral sex, but he did admit a jury might think he had.

Of course, Bryant doesn't play for the Nuggets. If he did, you can bet his jersey would be omnipresent around Denver. Patterson is not that good a player, but he'll be pretty popular hereabouts if he can lead a Nuggets resurrection based on aggressive defense.

Never was this clash of values more apparent than in the controversy over football recruiting at the University of Colorado, when the sports and academic cultures came to opposite conclusions about allegations that sex and alcohol were part of the recruiting pitch.

The university's diverse obligations and constituencies complicated the issue. A pro team doesn't have that problem.

Vandeweghe and Karl are paid to win basketball games. Period. Not to offer the young men in their charge an education and not to perform good works in the community, although those are nice, too.

They are paid handsomely to win and they will be fired if they don't. They think Ruben Patterson can help them. Short of an active arrest warrant, that's all they need to know.