"I love writing about sports, but athletes are difficult to interviewI have a suspicion that Steve Nash is probably an introspective, complex person, but there was just no way he was going to express that introspective complexity to me"(67). Athletes like Steve Nash are part of a business, the NBA, and Klosterman has a problem with interviewing them, not because they don't say anything interesting, but because they can't. The teams they play for don't want to draw any unneeded attention to themselves so the players usually give generic answers when asked questions. They can't truly express themselves or they'll get in trouble. Gilbert Arenas caught his attention though, because he actually said things that were interesting. Arenas says what's on his mind and he's just honest, he doesn't try to hide anything. Klosterman wants a peek into people's real personalities and he gets that with Arenas. He feels that people can connect with Arenas more than other stars like Kobe Bryant because Arenas expresses how he feels and why he does what he does, but no one knows why Kobe does anything. Arenas wasn't as self-aware about his image as other athletes, he was just himself. That's what got him famous though, just being himself.
Chuck also wrote a piece about the band, Radiohead. He comments on how an artist's lyrics sometimes have no meaning behind it, but in Radiohead's case, they cared about what their songs meant. "There have been countless occasions when I've listened to a song and imagined what its words and sounds were supposed to represent, and I inevitably perceive each element to be complex and subtle and conscious. However, when the songwriter eventually explains his thought processI often realize that the musician barely cares what the song is supposed to mean"(131). The band put so much thought into each record they made and that was part of their image, making smart, thoughtful music.