©04 The Media Desk
The Desk has to look at the Ron Artest incident with a totally jaded eye.
Here's why:
Number One. Ron Artest and several other players were in a brawl on and off the court at the end of the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons game. That is simply a fact.
Two. The game was well in hand for the Pacers, and Artest had no business committing an ugly intentional foul against a Piston who was in the act of shooting. That too, is a fact.
Three. Artest was out of the fight, the incident was being controlled by the officials and coaches when a fan threw a cup with ice and some sort of liquid in it at Artest who was reclining on the scorer's table. That's on the video. Also a fact.
Four. Artest then jumps up off the table and charges into the stands and proceeds to beat the living snot out of some skinny white guy who was trying to get away from him. There is no evidence or testimony to indicate the white guy was the one who threw the drink. Another fact.
Five. Within twenty-four hours the NBA suspended Artest and the other main brawlers pending the investigation. Other suspensions, fines, and criminal charges are pending. More facts.
Letter A. Ron Artest fancies himself something he calls a "Tru Warier". While it's a given he can't spell, he says it's RonSpeak for "True Warrior". A nickname he evidently gave himself some time ago. There is no evidence that his teammates or coaches hung the title on him.
B. He also has a sideline as an impresario, seeking out new talent in the hip hop/ rap world. One of those new talents happens to be Ron Artest, the 'Tru Warier' and another is a bunch of pretty girls called Allure. He's even started his own record lable. TruWarier Records. Complete with web site. http://www.truwarier.com
C. Artest approached the Pacers with the novel idea that he take a month or so off from basketball DURING THE SEASON!!! because of his busy schedule and his pressing need to complete his new rap album. Later he modified the claim saying he needed family time. For his troubles, he got benched for a couple of games.
D. His first game back, he gets in a fight and now has lots of time off. To rap or anything else.
Random Observations
Let's go with 1a. In the world of hip hop and rap, gangsters and 'bad boys' sell one heck of a lot more albums than simple talent. You don't have to be good, you just have to be bad.
2b. The last round of nonsense at an 'ethnic music award' show an 'up and coming' rapper named 'Young Buck', whom nobody had heard of before that night, got international publicity and a guaranteed record deal, when he gets out of jail, for fighting with Dr. Dre.
3c. The only reason anybody not an immediate urban music fan watches those shows is to see who gets in a fight with who. For evidence, the last round of BET awards, a couple of years ago at the Jet awards, and so on.
4d. The East Coast/ West Coast manufactured feud, the gangster 'gangsta' image so many of them cultivate, etc.
There is only one conclusion possible.
Artest either staged the incident, or seized upon the opprotunity to give himself time off to rap, to increase his 'cred' with the fans of this sort of music, and to keep his name in the headlines because he has finally realized that maybe he really can't play ball with the big boys.
If there is any justice, when this punk gets out of jail, he'll find his basketball career forgotten and his record company sold off to pay his outstanding traffic tickets.
Maybe Allure will sue him for sexual harassment.... Nah... that'd be too good.
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