Two gigantic headlines. Two well-known players. Of course, I'm talking about the return of Allen Iverson to the 76ers and Ron Artest's confession to drinking during halftimes earlier in his career. As a writer, I was faced with a dilemma: which subject to write about? I decided to elaborate on the less predictable story.
With all due respect, Ron Artest is already a bizarre person - without alcohol. To hear that he sipped Henessey during the intermission of NBA games, that's not only weird and scary, but also dangerous. Playing a game of professional basketball is already a tiresome task that takes a toll on one's body. I would imagine that having alcohol simultaneously makes a player feel that much worse. At first I was nearly speechless. But after examining the different elements of the story closely, I realized there were multiple points that contributed to the widespread reaction.
First of all, the fact that Ron Artest would come out and admit to drinking, much less throughout games, is unbelievable. OK, so you did something outrageous - really outrageous - that doesn't require you to share it with the rest of the world. There have certainly been alcoholics amongst the NBA. I don't know how many actually took out the brew during games, but I'm sure they had their own odd ritual. Surely there must have been a handful to celebrate victories with a toast. Then again, I've never heard about those cases so, at the moment, I am just speculating. Ron, however, is a different story altogether.
Another reason for such shock is lack of testing by the league. With steroids playing such a prominent part in athletics, and not just the MLB as we saw with Rashard Lewis, you'd think that the NBA would actively try to prevent such things. Granted, alcohol has its stark contrasts with steroids, but it still is a force that meddles with a player's body. And even if the NBA wasn't on the lookout of such seemingly lawless behavior, I would assume that a member of the coaching staff or a teammate would have noticed Mr. Artest's habit and done something about it. Heck, his teammates probably did have an idea of the situation. Regardless, the entire Chicago Bulls organization that he was with during his time of drinking should have stepped up and found help for Ron.
With all due respect, Ron Artest is already a bizarre person - without alcohol. To hear that he sipped Henessey during the intermission of NBA games, that's not only weird and scary, but also dangerous. Playing a game of professional basketball is already a tiresome task that takes a toll on one's body. I would imagine that having alcohol simultaneously makes a player feel that much worse. At first I was nearly speechless. But after examining the different elements of the story closely, I realized there were multiple points that contributed to the widespread reaction.
First of all, the fact that Ron Artest would come out and admit to drinking, much less throughout games, is unbelievable. OK, so you did something outrageous - really outrageous - that doesn't require you to share it with the rest of the world. There have certainly been alcoholics amongst the NBA. I don't know how many actually took out the brew during games, but I'm sure they had their own odd ritual. Surely there must have been a handful to celebrate victories with a toast. Then again, I've never heard about those cases so, at the moment, I am just speculating. Ron, however, is a different story altogether.
Another reason for such shock is lack of testing by the league. With steroids playing such a prominent part in athletics, and not just the MLB as we saw with Rashard Lewis, you'd think that the NBA would actively try to prevent such things. Granted, alcohol has its stark contrasts with steroids, but it still is a force that meddles with a player's body. And even if the NBA wasn't on the lookout of such seemingly lawless behavior, I would assume that a member of the coaching staff or a teammate would have noticed Mr. Artest's habit and done something about it. Heck, his teammates probably did have an idea of the situation. Regardless, the entire Chicago Bulls organization that he was with during his time of drinking should have stepped up and found help for Ron.
Then, after it seems like all has been said and done, Artest tries to justify it by bringing in children. I would be somewhat outraged if I suspected he was joking. But once again, he has defied the limits of logic and, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times, that: "The whole purpose of the testimony was to share the problematic times in my life with the youth. There's a lot of kids out there right now going through the same things I was going through and they're able to relate." Really? People have gone through the same thing as Ron Artest? I know he implies having alcohol issues, but did he honestly think that his testimony, with no particular message, would help lead to sobriety? Even if he did, can anyone really "relate" to Ron Artest?
The last piece that comes in to focus is the impact that this could have on the Lakers. Despite the fact that he represents the Lakers and he didn't represent the organization well with his confession, Artest's comment shouldn't have any long-term reprecussions for his current squad. GM Mitch Kuptchak and Phil Jackson clearly knew what they were getting when they signed him. Besides the fact that he's a beefy defender who can score points, they knew the extra oddities that came with the package. The "distraction" part was bound to appear at some point, and luckily it hasn't taken away from productivity on the court. Well, actually Phil wants Ron to be more agressive. The sole way Artest can do any damage from his comments at this point is if the league decides to suspend him for a seperate set of comments made about Joey Crawford's officiating of last year's playoff matchup with Houston vs. L.A.
The bright side about the confession is that Artest has declared his drinking days (during halftime) are over. It's horrible to think about how all that alcohol must have affected his liver and performance during the second-half of ball games. It's also unfortunate for the organizations, mostly the Bulls, who were the culprit of such disreputable nonsense.
Also, I think there needs to be some perspective to the situation. Like Phil said, Artest probably didn't do it every single game during an eighty-two game season. Plus, I'd much rather have my player/teammate (depending on whether I am a coach or teammate) have a periodical sip of cognac than shoot up drugs at halftime. Artest was ultimately able to break his tendency without directly taking any time off because of it. On the other hand, you have players like Chris Anderson, Jeff Foster, Michael Beasley, Delonte West and others who had to miss practices, games, and albeit other team function as a result of their severe issues. When looking at Ron's actions in the context of other possibilities, what he did was definitely more acceptable than such things as steroids injections or adultery. After all, at the end of the day, Ron Ron was just chilling out.
Needless to say, what's done is done. To this moment I don't know whether to be more shocked about Ron Artest drinking or justifying his confession with the involvement of children. Anyway, Ron Artest is now sober and nothing stands in his way from contributing to the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are still one of the most dominant teams in the NBA and as long as the organization keeps a watchful eye on him and Ron takes care of himself, the sun will still shine in Los Angeles.
