Yes, the wait is over! Wesley Sykes has returned to the Improp for his Winter break--just in time for all the latest news from the New Year. The past semester has been a memorable one, the success of the website was truly unexcepted. A special thanks goes out to you, the readers, for all the support. The viewer comments add a whole nother dimension to site, so please continue to voice opinion good or bad. But despite putting in a lackluster 40% effort in to my school studies, I still managed to pull off a 3.0 GPA--very impressive considering how little I actually did. Professors are suckers for a clean-cut kid who can play sympathy card well. HA! But that is in the past for now, as you guys have my undivided attention for the next couple weeks. Be sure to stay close to your screens for the latest updates and additions at the Improper Sportsonian!
However, it may have been bad timing to go on this blogging hiatus--with all the sports hoopla occurring all around us. Let's see there was the Bruins making their Fenway Park debut with and overtime victory over the Flyers in the Winter Classic game, Bobby Bowden's victorious last game at FSU, NFL's end-of-the-regular-season roundups and firings, and all the action from the BCS Bowls to just name a few things.
But few sports stories have garnered the national attention that Gilbert Arenas has brought upon himself, the Washington Wizards, and the NBA. On Christmas Eve, Arenas and second-year player Javaris Crittenton pulled guns on each other in the locker room of their home court Verizon Center. The argument allegedly stemmed from an unsettled gambling debt that Arenas, who first pulled out one of his two guns from his locker, had failed to settle. Arenas now faces a suspension from the league, but more
importantly facing federal gun charges.The most ironic part of this story? On May 17, 1997 the team changed their name from the Washington Bullets to the Wizards because owner Abe Pollin grew wary of the violent overtones related to the name and city (Washington D.C. had one of the highest homicide and crime rates during that time). I guess you can take the Bullets out of Washington but you can't take the bullets from Gilbert Arenas. This is his second run-in with the law about gun possession. He was suspended for the first game of the 04-05 season after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor weapons and vehicles charges for possessing a concealed weapon while operating a car without a license in 2003.
This is why the NBA houses some of the dumbest humans on the face of the planet. It is the people like Gilbert Arenas that have viewers turning away from the NBA. For the most part, the league has become consumed with unintelligent, uneducated hoodlums, why would anyone want to watch them. These players have been groomed with a golden comb since middle school; being pampered by teachers, coaches, boosters, and everyone else in their lives. It's as if as long as they were good at basketball, everything else didn't matter; grades, manners, common sense. And once they reach the league they are made in to these God-like characters--higher than the law. Gilbert Arenas is no exception to this theory, in fact, he reaffirms it.
Arenas didn't just bring one handgun in to a locker room, he had a pair of them. Then tried to save face with the ridiculous excuse that it was all a practical joke. How dumb do these dumbass ball players think we are? Then when that wouldn't stick, he and his publicist cooked up an excuse that would play on the emotions of Americans: he brought the guns to the locker room to keep them away from his children, the oldest of whom is 4. Well, maybe we had the wrong idea about him. He was just protecting his children, so obviously the logical choice was to bring them to a place that is swarming with voice recorders, cameras, and witnesses. Right. Because installing a weapons locker with a lock pad is just way out of the question for a guy who makes $18.5 million a year.
"If you have a license, can't nobody dispute the reason you have a gun," Indiana Pacers guard T.J. Ford said so eloquently. The incorrect usage of the double negative only furthers my point. Like a driver's license, any half-functioning retard can get a gun license, but that doesn't mean he or she is responsible enough to use them. Would you see a cop waving his police-issue 9mm at people every time he gets shit from someone he pulled over? Absolutely not.
New Jersey Nets guard Devin Harris hypothesized that over 75% of players in the NBA own guns "for their own protection". While I am not in their shoes, I think so many NBA players own guns to better their image. It's to be cool. Be feared. Be a man. Have some "street cred". Players hide behind the excuse of being threatened or attacked by crazed fans for their protection. If that is the case, hire someone from your posse to be your bodyguard. All those bottom feeders have to show their worth, why not protect the cash cow they feed from?
This game has to end. We must stop dangerous and foolish act of empowering and excusing their behavior. Commissioner David Stern must act decisively, quickly, and publicly punishing these entitled adolescences who continue to think they are above the law--and it starts with Arenas.
It's been a far fall for Arenas since signing his 6-year $111 million extension in 2008. He had received that contract after missing most of the 2007 season with a knee injury and hasn't been the same player since. He is killing a once promising team. If there is any good out of this PR nightmare, it's that the Wizards now have a viable excuse to dump the fading 3-time All-Star.
My mother raised me to not say anything if I don't have anything good to say. But we all know I don't hold that rule too close to my heart, so Gilbert Arenas you are the early favorite for the 2010 Dumb Ass of the Year Award. Even my mother would agree with that.
No comments:
Post a Comment