The Artest Thing Really Happened

Ron Artest may be a volatile character, and he is crazy in the sense that he has trouble controlling his emotions. But, apparently he is not crazy in the sense that he would lie to the public about witnessing another man from Queens getting stabbed with a piece of a table and dying all over a dispute over the score of a basketball game. That really happened:

Here is the article. This came to us via Mouthpiece Sports

Rockets, Lakers, Celtics, Magic

Sometimes I hate the East Coast. I don't mean that in the sense that there is some East Coast conspiracy against sports west of the Mississippi. Nor is this a shot at the weather. Rather it's just a lot harder to follow sports out here. For example right now I'm exhausted after staying up for Rockets/Lakers. However, at least I was rewarded. To review:

- Kobe Bryant was sublime, dropping 40 on Houston. He hit some incredibly well defended shots, threw the ball of the backboard to himself at one point and lit the fuse that got Ron Artest ejected. Count me in the long list of people that can't stand Kobe but respect his game. I hate the MJ comparison as much as the next guy but last night Kobe channeled the whole "I'm going to dominate because you said this guy or guys could stop me."

- Speaking of Artest. I've been fascinated with him since his days at St. John's. Based on interviews I've seen and read I'd argue that he's far more complex than people realize. However, when Artest loses it on the court it's downright frightening. At one point he stormed towards Kobe and later made a throat slashing gesture. Throughout the tirade he appeared to be in kill mode. To be fair who wouldn't be upset after earning an offensive foul while the master of smug (Kobe) got a way with an elbow in the vicinity of the throat? And it pains me to give Kobe credit but he played it perfectly. There's nothing worse than a guy refusing to engage in trash talk. That's exactly what Kobe did as he walked away with his arms up and a "This guy is crazy" look on his face. The whole incident made me wish it was a Rucker Park game. Alas.

- This hasn't come up before but I'm a big fan of the Argentinians. Granted Derek Fisher should not be able to knock down Luis Scola under any circumstances. But I'm still a big Scola fan. He's one of those international players that Tommy Heinsohn begrudgingly respects. On top of that Scola just looks like a great teammate. However, if he had lost his cool, and at one point I thought it could happen, and gone after Sasha Vujacic NBA fans everywhere would have rejoiced. How the Spurs let Scola go continues to baffle me.

- In a night full of incidents that will definitely keep Stu Jackson busy - Eddie House's elbow (was it inadvertant?), Rafer Alston's slap, Kobe's elbow and Artest's tirade - Fisher's forearm/elbow was by far the most premeditated and malicious of the bunch.

- There are still times where the game is too fast for Yao Ming. And he did get in foul trouble last night. However, Rockets fans must be in the "He's all growns up" stage right now. It's been fascinating to watch the growth in Yao's game and demeanor. Even his fire from the bench was impressive.

I'll close with a few random thoughts on the Celtics:

- It's not out of the realm of possibility that Eddie House could have signed with another team before 2008, bounced around the league a few more years and then left the Association before anyone got to see the best he had to offer. Thankfully that didn't happen. Last night he was on fire - 31 points, 11-14 from the field, 4-4 from deep, 5-6 from the line, and 10 times as many points as the Truth. House is definitely annoying other players and their fans, which only means he's bringing something to the table.

- Mark it down. Anthony Johnson will be involved in some sort of stand off/double technical/flagrant foul situation before this series is over.

- NBA players know the repercussions for any sort of non-basketball related aggression on the court. And yet they continue to lose their cool. It's a testament to how intense these games get.

Guatemala and Jerseys

A few weeks back I headed down to Guatemala. Whenever I leave the country I always have several goals:

1. Don't get arrested.

2. Eat some local cuisine. Unhealthy in a caloric sense is a plus. Of course any type of Montezuma's Revenge scenario is not.

3. Do something that would be hard/impossible to experience in New England.

4. Keep track of NBA jerseys.

In the words of Will Ferrell, "I think I did alright." (Sadly I spent the last 20 minutes trying to find the classic "Delco Cat Toys" skit that I just referenced. It's nowhere to be found. If you haven't seen it I'm deeply sorry.) Ultimately goal #4 is the only one that really has any relevance right now. So let's get right down to the rankings.

Honorable mention: Though this is really about NBA jerseys I did get a kick out of a number of random t-shirts. In the end the Springfield YMCA basketball t-shirt stood above the rest. It's at least slightly odd to come across in a village of people mainly of Mayan descent.

5. Kobe Bryant's #24 home jersey: As a Celtics fan one would expect this would grab the final spot. First of all it's Kobe. And second of all I despise his move away from #8 to #24. But the owner of said jersey flew by me at a high speed on a motorcycle. This deserves respect for a couple of reasons:

- The roads in Guatemala are treacherous. Think of the worst frost heave hit road you've come across and you're on the right track.

- I found little to no evidence of road rules. Yes, I saw a few pick up trucks pulled over with police standing by with intimidating guns. In fact we were pulled over at one point so the police could check us out. However, pedestrians have no rights, everyone (sugarcane trucks included, which are outrageously long and in a hurry) passes with reckless abandon, and though there were some posted speed limits, the government/police seem to rely on numerous speed bumps instead. Add it all up and it's not that easy to drive around. Of course the motorcycle only increases the degree of difficulty.

Having said all that it's still Kobe. So he's last, but I thought about it.

4. Jason Kidd. Team unknown: I was a passenger in a yellow school bus, the kind you see on American streets everyday, that was in the process of dangerously passing another yellow school bus. As this happened I saw several old women hacking branches with machetes, three policemen brandishing guns by a pickup truck they pulled over, and a random dude in a J-Kidd jersey. It was too much to take in at once and I blanked on the team. Sadly it was definitely not a cleverly made volleyball throwback style jersey created on the heels of completely unfounded, borderline irresponsible rumors.

3. KG's home Timberwolves jersey: This gains points because KG is involved. Yet it's lower on the list because the owner lives in Texas most of the time. I think that matters. Meanwhile, though this has absolutely no relevance, I am intrigued by KG's new commercial.

2. Vince Carter's purple Raptors jersey: It's important that you disregard everything I previously wrote about Kobe. Here goes. I actually like Vince Carter, mainly because nearly everyone despises him. It's not that I admire everything about his game, his last days in Toronto or his legacy. And I understand the criticism. Most of it seems to revolve around his unwillingness to go to the rim, a tendency to get franchise player money and not deserve it and a collective decision that he wasted his talent. It just seems like animosity towards a player gets to a certain point where everybody makes the same critiques time after time and he becomes underrated. Put it this way. There are some guys on this list stealing money and Carter is by no means the biggest offender. Bonus points because the owner was seven years old and was carrying a cinder block on his shoulder. Awesome.

1. Jermaine O'Neal's blue Pacers jersey: I always enjoyed O'Neal's good Indy teams. And as a fan of the NBA I'm still a little bummed out that core did not reach its natural end. Unless of course you think Ron Artest charging into the stands with Stephen Jackson and the subsequent suspensions/trades was its natural end. As a side note if I'd seen a Ron Artest jersey it would have been #1 on the list and out of respect I would have ranked the next jersey #3. But that almost goes without saying.

Chad Ford Breaks Down This Summer's Free Agents

Chad Ford breaks down the 2009 free agent class that has been flying under the radar with 2010 being the summer of LeBron. The Pistons will be about 40 million under the cap this summer and it will be interesting to see how much they're willing to spend. There are certainly some guys that could help them on this list, but I'd have to believe all teams that are in a position to spend big may want to play it conservative so as to give themselves a chance at the King.......sucks to be a free agent in 09.

Anyways, he breaks it down by unrestricted, restricted, and early termination/player option (but in reverse order).

Some names that stick out:

Chris Wilcox: Has been grinding away in relative anonymity, but impresses me every time I see him. Super athletic and effective both ends.

Ben Gordon: Would probably like to go to a team that allows it's leading scorers to start games.

Lamar Odom: Is just to good to be riding the pine for the Lakers. I'm not taking issue with Phil Jackson, but there are a lot of teams out there that would love to have this guy in their starting rotation. Obviously inconsistency and being sent to the bench in a contract year will cost him a lot of money.

Ron Artest: I would love it if the Pistons signed him. That would be the greatest storyline of the year. Not only would his style of play fit that city to a tee, but him playing 41 games a night in the Palace of Auburn Hills would be priceless. This has to happen.

Shawn Marion: It's unfortunate that injuries, questions about his motivation, and concerns about the fact that team success does not appear to be a high priority for him have all overshadowed his versatility and defensive brilliance over the past few seasons. Nevertheless, he will get paid. This is the kind of player teams want.

Sheed: As Chad said, it's unlikely that Sheed will be seeing top tier money. However, don't underestimate the impact he could have with a fresh start.

The Answer: AI can still put up points and assists with the best of them (see last night against the Warriors). But, the explosion that he has lost through the years makes it harder to look past his turnovers, low field goal percentage, and defensive shortcomings. He's still exciting, but the days of him taking the 76ers on his back and willing them to victory seem like a distant memory at this point.

Leon Powe and Glen Davis: Both are restricted, and I hope that both stay in green. Powe's not going anywhere. I can't imagine Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers would let Leon get away. I hope Big Baby will stay, but it's hard to know. If he keeps playing at a high level this season, somebody might be willing to overpay, and I can't imagine the Celtics would match if it's too much.

Charlie Villanueva: I am a UCONN fan, and I still don't know what the hype is all about. I've been hearing great things for almost a decade. All I see a guy that plays flat every night, is lazy on defense, and has no eyebrows. But, somebody will make him a big offer I'm sure.

The most intriguing names come from the list of players who have early termination options. That is where you can find Kobe Bryant, Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Hedo Turkoglu, Eddy Curry, Al Harrington, and Jermaine O'Neal. Obviously, the plausibility of these guys leaving varies greatly. Kobe's not going anywhere (what a difference a year makes), Eddy Curry is almost certainly gone, Jamal Crawford has big money in New York but is playing well enough to possibly land in a more stable environment, and we'll have to wait and see with the rest.

Foil in the Oven: Turn the Page

Before we really get in to the meat of this post, I feel it necessary to proclaim my unconditional platonic love for Manny Ramirez one last time. I don't care how bad things might have gotten since the All-Star break, my feelings about Manny won't change. I have liked him for too long to change the way I feel. He has entertained me too much. I have defended him too many times (in fact, the first ever roomofzen post was one I wrote defending Manny after he came under harsh criticism during the 2007 ALCS. It may well have been this criticism that finally pushed us to start this site) to suddenly cave and join those very people to whom I had been defending him. I still love Manny, and I can't change that. He has meant too much to me. And, more importantly, he has meant too much to the Red Sox.

Obviously, I'm far from objective in this case. There is a short list of athletes about whom I simply can't be objective. It includes Manny, Pedro, Paul Pierce, Randy Moss, Eli Manning, Rodney Hampton, Taliek Brown, Kevin Freeman, and Carlos Quintana. I believe that the front office is at least partly to blame for Manny's departure. I also think that when he told the team he couldn't play in Seattle because his knee was bothering him, they should have diffused the situation by simply saying after the game "Manny said his knee was bothering him. That's fine. We don't want him playing if he's hurt." And then they should have done the same against the Yankees. I'm not saying Manny's totally innocent here. I just think the Red Sox could have handled the whole ordeal more tactfully.

What's done is done, and I need to move on. I'm happy to have Jason Bay here, and I'm also glad that I happened to be in attendance at Manny's final game in a Red Sox uniform (in which he went into the green monster for one last piss. He must have known a trade was coming). I wish Manny the best of luck in LA. Much like Pedro, I'll always want to see him do well.



Some final thoughts on this matter:

- I can't help but laugh whenever I picture Manny in LA. It's the perfect place for him. If Manny comes out and says "If it doesn't happen, so what? There's always next year. It's not the end of the world." in LA, the fans will probably just nod in agreement and say "yeah, he's right. If they lose tonight, we'll just go to the beach tomorrow. And, as he pointed out, there is always next year. Pass me some more guacamole" (I'm convinced the abundance of avocados is the main reason why everyone is so happy in California).

- Along those same lines, I don't think any athlete has ever been in a situation that would lend itself better to a major reality show. I would watch a reality show of Manny in LA instead of any other show on television. I'd upgrade to the highest level of cable. I'd even get a dish if I had to, even if the show was in Spanish (as long as there were subtitles). Somebody forked over the money to make Bonds on Bonds. I have to believe somebody out there wants to make this.

- I wasn't surprised to hear Manny thank the Boston fans. I remember being at the 2007 World Series parade and seeing him yelling that Boston fans were the best fans in the world and inviting everyone to his house for a party (I don't know if anybody ever took him up on that). I knew that what happened was between he and the front office and did not reflect the way he felt about the city itself.




- It will be interesting to see what happens with Manny's dreads. Joe Torre told him to cut them , but as of now (I just watched a highlight of him hitting a homerun in the second inning) he has not. The ball is in Torre's court now. Will he force the issue? He should know that Manny does not take well to being asked to conform. He should also know the the fans in LA will not support his neo-fascist bullshit like they did in New York. They shouldn't. I hate hearing about this stuff in professional sports. It reminds me of when Ben Wallace clashed with the Bulls, who had a no-headband rule (it should be noted that after the Bulls signed Wallace, they put up a big billboard outside the United Center of him wearing a headband. So it's not hard to see why he was confused about the rule). Manny, if you're reading this, please don't cut the dreads. You're an American citizen and you're a millionaire. You can wear your hair however you want.

- Finally, I just want to say that I don't think there are many jerseys out there more badass then the white Dodgers #99 Ramirez jersey. I've spent a lot of time this week convincing myself not to give in to the temptation.




Now, before we move on, you may want to crank this:


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All cultures are different. I know, for example, that in Germany it isn't strange for somebody you know to come up to you and just say "you really look like shit today". They are just very blunt and honest with each other. I'm not sure what the culture in China is like, but I have to believe that it's similar. A difference in customs is the only way I can possibly figure out the way Yao Ming publicly handled his team's acquisition of Ron Artest. Judging by American standards, he could not have handled it worse.

Let's look at that quote again. When asked about the addition of Artest, Yao said.............

"Hopefully, he's not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands."

I really can't think of anything worse that he could have possibly said. Calling his mom a slut, calling his mom a whore, making some type of racial slur. None of these would have been as bad. Think about it. Is there a darker moment in NBA history than the brawl at the Palace? Nothing even comes close. I'm sure there are ex-NBA fans who stopped watching professional basketball that night. This was a full-blown disaster. I'm sure Ron Artest has tried extremely hard to make people forget about what happened in Detroit. And now, his newest teammate has brought it right back into the news.

When I first heard that Yao quote, I assumed that this potentially great move by the Rockets might be doomed before the team ever got a chance to practice together. However, Artest has handled the situation very well. There is no response he could have given that would have been as inappropriate as Yao's. But, I would have liked to see some type of dig. Maybe "yeah, and hopefully Yao won't dominate for the first half of the season and then break his leg or injure his foot AGAIN causing all of the media to scrutinize Tracy McGrady and wonder why he can't get out of the first round on his own." But, even that isn't the same.

As I said, I think Yao's comments were the result of cultural differences and the language barrier, which is evidenced by this quote after he apologized to Artest:

"If something I said would make Ron feel uncomfortable, I apologize," Yao said. "I'm really sorry about that".................Uncomfortable? Why? You just brought up the most sensitive issue surrounding the league's most vulnerable player, who happens to be your teammate. In fact, you should say it again straight to him when he first arrives to Houston. He'll love it.


As for the move itself, I think it's great for the Rockets. In terms of impact, I think that this was the biggest transaction of the off-season. I've always liked Artest. I actually really wanted the Celtics to pursue him when he was coming back from his long suspension. If they stay healthy, this could be the best defensive team in the league next year. In Artest they've acquired a guy who is not only a top tier defender, but also a 20 point per night scorer (averaged 20.5 last season). Considering what a strong defensive team Houston was already, the sky is the limit for this team.

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LeBron James made the announcement that he would be willing to play in Europe for a salary of 50 million dollars per year. People have been discussing this all over tv (of course ESPN is trying to make it into a huge issue). But, I have to wonder if it is really news. I guarantee you 75% of the guys in the NBA would say the same thing. Who wouldn't go to Europe short term for that type of money?

I'm sure that if an offer of that magnitude comes to LeBron once his contract with Cleveland is up, he will have somebody crunching numbers to determine whether he will make more playing a max contract in America with endorsements or playing for that huge contract in Europe (which would probably bring a whole new lot of endorsements).

There is no salary cap in Europe, which means that these European teams have a bargaining advantage with NBA superstars. All it will take is one top tier NBA player (someone better than Josh Childress) to really make commisioner Stern worried about losing his most marketable names overseas. There are two ways that he could deal with this:

Option A (which I hate): Would be to lift the salary cap to ensure that American teams can offer contracts that are competitive with the Europeans. This would set the league back in my opinion.

Option B (which I love): Stern could expidite his plan to expand the NBA overseas. I'm sure that many of these teams would be thrilled to join the NBA. They would no longer have to overpay to get NBA talent in their arenas, they would have it there every night. Stern has already talked about doing this. If he feels the threat of LeBron leaving the United States in 2010 is real, he may want to stop talking about this plan and start taking real steps towards executing it.

One thing that seems very apparent in all of this is that LeBron does not have any interest in remaining with the Cavs after his current contract is up. I'm glad about this. Mike Brown's offense is horrible for him. It's almost like Brown is attempting to set up obstacles to LeBron's scoring to see just how high a degree of difficulty he can pull off. He never gets the ball in good spots. The system relies totally on his athleticism.

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As I'm typing, it just came across that Brett Favre has been traded to the New York Jets. I'm sure people are sick of hearing about this story, but let's just all take a minute to acknowledge what a unique saga it was. This story was unlike anything that I have ever seen. Never in my life would I have imagined that the Green Bay Packers would be doing everything in their power to keep Brett Favre away.

Suddenly, I have to wonder whether or not this Jets team can challenge New England. At the very least, I expect them to be in the mix for the playoff spots up until the very end of the season. Remember, the Jets added a lot of talent on the offensive line and on the defensive side of the ball. They already had a strong backfield and good wideouts. The only problem was that they didn't have a quarterback.

How long will Brett Favre play? If he improves the Jets tremendously, don't you have to believe he'll come back for one more season?
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A lot of Celtics fans have expressed concern over the news that Paul Pierce was handcuffed in Las Vegas this week. Obviously I wasn't thrilled about the story, but there are a few things that we need to remember here. First, the reason for Pierce being pulled over has been clarified. He changed lanes illegally. While it is a violation of traffic laws, it's certainly nothing to be concerned about. Second, if you're like me then you had already heard the news on the radio, so you just skimmed the article and noticed the name Cassell. You suddenly said to yourself "oh my god! How long have Paul Pierce and Sam Cassell been in Las Vegas?!" I thought of the pictures of the two of them, among others, celebrating in Vegas over a month ago, and assumed the worst.....

However, upon closer reading, it appears that Cassell is actually just the name of the police officer. Sam Cassell was not involved. Third, Pierce passed a field sobriety test and a breathalyzer. Finally, in a conversation thread over at Green Bandwagon, Weeks informed me that Pierce has trained in Vegas in the offseason for the past few seasons. He has always shown up to camp in great shape. Until he does otherwise, I don't think we need to worry.

So to recap-

this whole thing was because of an illegal lane change

Pierce was not over the legal alcohol limit so he was not violating any laws or putting people in danger

Cassell was the name of the officer and not of the point guard who tried to sabotage this team over and over again.

Pierce was not out with teammates partying, he spends summers training in Vegas.

Now, if he comes in out of shape, then we can all start worrying. The truth averaged 36 minutes per game last season, and the Celtics will most likely need more than that out of him this year if they want to repeat.

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I don't know who Tangent5000 is, but this live Bob Seger footage might be the most impressive Youtube video I have ever found. Amazing quality for being from 1980.