Miguel Paul
 

http://www.columbiatribune.com/2009/...114Spor016.asp

By STEVE WALENTIK of the Tribune’s staff
Published Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Miguel Paul’s player page in the Missouri basketball team’s media guide says that he is the first cousin of New Orleans Hornets superstar Chris Paul.

Turns out that’s not exactly true.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported on its Web site yesterday afternoon that the NBA All-Star and Olympic gold medalist said he had never heard of or met the Tigers’ freshman.

Chris Paul made the denial to KOMU-TV reporter Michael Kelly, an MU senior from Mandeville, La., who went to the Hornets’ practice in New Orleans yesterday to do a story on the relationship between the two point guards, who share a last name and jersey number.

"I’m shocked at the fact that this may not be true because Miguel said all of this stuff and you have all the comparisons at Missouri," Kelly told the Times-Picayune.

Deadspin.com, the irreverent sports blog, picked up the story and made it the top post on its Web site yesterday afternoon. The entry’s headline read, "Chris Paul’s ‘Cousin’ May Need To Check His Family Tree."

MU basketball spokesman Dave Reiter said Miguel Paul is, in fact, related to Chris Paul, just more distantly than he - and, therefore, the team’s media guide - has said.

After speaking to Miguel Paul’s father, Masha, yesterday, Reiter said Miguel Paul’s family learned of the connection in December 2006 when Miguel, then a junior at Kathleen High School in Lakeland, Fla., was playing in the Frank Spencer Holiday Classic in Winston-Salem, N.C., where Chris Paul was born and starred at Wake Forest.

Reiter said Chris Paul’s uncle, James, was in attendance at the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where Miguel Paul turned in his MVP performance, scoring 32 points and handing out 14 assists in the championship game to lead Kathleen to the title.

Reiter said that after one of the tournament games, James Paul approached Miguel Paul’s father, Masha, who played football at Winston-Salem State. The two men started talking and eventually discovered they knew a lot of the same people and had some of the same relatives.

It is unclear if Miguel Paul and Chris Paul have ever met, as Miguel Paul has told reporters several times since he’s been in Columbia.

Miguel Paul has appeared as a reserve in all 16 games for Missouri this season. He is averaging 4.8 points and 2.2 assists.

hey I read deadspin! (gaffigan voice)

Yeah, but have you tried the vegetarian Hot Pocket? It's for people that don't want to eat meat but still want diarrhea.

diarrhea pocket!

the bible never says if jesus was a good carpender or not...Jesus I hope this messiah thig works out because this end table ehhhh

That's really ****ing funny.

Yeah, well...Miguel doesn't play like Chris either.

What a piece of shit.

Who?

"MP3"

I'm a manatee!

While it pisses me off that Mizzou basketball players can't help but to step on their dicks at every given opportunity, this is pretty minor.
When I was younger, and aunt told me Ulysses S Grant was a great great grandfather of mine. I spouted that little tidbit off all the damn time. A few years back I thought about it, and decided I only had the word of one person to back this up, and not a very trustworthy person at that, and I probably shouldn't go around telling it.
Sure he got caught up in it, and flat out lied about their meeting...but in the end, he's still just an 18-year old kid making 18-year old kid mistakes. At least he didn't beat his girlfriend.

Because we all know when it comes to MU athletes, something like this is VERY hard to avoid.

Uhhh...why? Because he's an 18 year old that's mistaken about how he is related to someone?

Yeah...Clarence Gilbert is going to be a mark on the program for a long time.