John Stockton's entitled to his privacy and his COVID opinions, but not false facts. 

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The lead story on the Deseret News home page the past two days was headlined, "John Stockton Wants You to Leave Him Alone." That's all well and good. Stockton is certainly entitled to be left alone in his privacy and to share his time only with family and close friends.

But if that's the case, why would he have agreed to what is fast becoming a controversial interview and story with the Deseret News?

The lengthy article—which I was happy to see because I'm a fan of lengthy articles chock full of useful, factual news—was not written by any among the gaggle of fine sports writers that the Deseret News has long produced. Instead, it was written by the paper's national political correspondent, Samuel Benson.

I'm fine with that, too, even though Benson looks like he's not old enough to have any memories of Stockton sending one of his NBA record number of assists to the likes of David Benoit and Jose Ortiz. So right off the top, a reader should know this particular article would not be one more maudlin piece about heroes gone by. Start to finish, Benson's story is a political one.

Which is fine, since John Stockton has been plenty political since 2020 when then-President Donald Trump fully bungled the national COVID-19 response and set our country tumbling into the kind of mind-messing mayhem that follows him wherever he goes. In a quick summary, Stockton was an anti-vaxxer before being anti-vax became a political litmus test between left and right or blue and red.

In many corners, it also became the demarcation between very stupid people and very smart people. Naturally, each side took the position that they were the smart ones.

I appreciate the 22 years of joy that Stockton brought to basketball fans worldwide. Thanks, John—and sorry that one of the few times you ever gave a kid an autograph, it was to my kid (at St. Vincent's parish) on a basketball that he immediately smudged off playing hoops in the driveway.

I appreciate that Stockton is entitled to his opinions. No problem, John. I can separate the jock from the jackass, same as he formerly separated my wallet dollars from my trousers. But his statements beg for public scrutiny. A basketball court has boundaries, same as truth and lies.

Benson's story details how the once-shy gym rat emerged 20 years out of his NBA retirement to become not only an outspoken medical activist (Spoiler alert: The chiropractor did it!) but also by some twist of cosmic malfunction to be mentioned by some as a potential vice-presidential candidate for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Since this column was published, Kennedy announced his running mate as tech attorney Nicole Shanahan.)

In the piece, Benson asks Stockton about claims that people—especially high-profile, superbly fit athletes—were falling over dead all over the place after getting the COVID-19 vaccination. Here's how that exchange went, per the Benson article:

“That research led Stockton to other conclusions, many of which were disputed by public health officials. He claimed vaccines were not a safe or effective way to protect against the virus. In January 2022, he alleged over 100 professional athletes had been killed by the COVID-19 vaccines. By December of 2022, he asserted it was over 300. He told me it was now “well over 1,000.”
“People say, ‘well, you’re making it up,’” he said. Well, we’ve got a list.”
“When I asked where I could find the list, he explained that someone had sent it to him and he hadn’t looked at it in some time. I followed up, asking where I could find it.
“He shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

Ye gads, folks! What could go wrong if the most advanced country on earth was led by two people who believe research is defined as dumpster diving into obscure corners of the internet to locate the perfect idiotic meme validation? Or by reading the late-night email ramblings of a bevy of anonymous sorts, dating back to the fine tradition of such other medical minds as Jack the Ripper? How glorious it must be to be able to define your own rules of medicine simply because you didn't die and someone else did, then crediting it to research, not what it actually was—luck?

Or perhaps it's so simple as making shit up? Oh wait, we did that from 2016 to 2020, but I digress.

I really don't care a whit if Stockton decides not to expose his own family to a medical treatment or vaccine. I don't care if he pours ivermectin atop their Cheerios each morning. I don't care if the bleach he uses to whiten his gym shorts does double duty as body cleanser. I don't fret illness. I fret ignorance masking as bravado.

I also don't fret being found to be wrong.

So, John, I'll come up to Spokane. We will sit in the bar your pop worked so hard and long in, Jack and Dan's. I'll get you a beer and a bag of pork rinds. I'll hand you a piece of paper. Then you hand me your piece of paper.

Yours will list the 1,000 or 300 or 100 professional athletes who fell over dead after their COVID-19 shots. My list will be the names of the 14 family members, business associates and friends who actually did die from contracting COVID-19. In other words, back your science with facts, not bum rush "research."

Produce the list and this newspaper will print every name, give voice to your cause and buff shine your Delta Center statue. Don't produce the list, then, just man up since you've now stepped out of bounds.

Until then, let my own "research" show that Stockton has 14 more assists than the 15,860 he had when he retired from the game and became a not-so-quiet medical authority. His assist total now is 15,874.

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