Did you catch the Ron Artest interveiw this morning?

[johnny00]

Did anyone catch the Ron Artest interveiw this morning on the Today Show? I only caught a little of it but I am now convinced this guy is a total IDIOT. He commented that he thought the suspension he recieved was unfair, when asked what he thought would have been an appropriate suspension he never answered the question and then proceeded to later hold up his upcoming CD in front of the cameras and start pimpin' it, proclaiming how the music is positive and the messages are full of "peace and love" coming from a positive person. RON, YOU JUST DON'T GET IT DO YOU!? He seems to have the intellect of a five year old, and I'm not trying to be sarcastic when I say that, if you listen to him he does't seem to be all there.Or maybe it's just me. Did anyone else see the whole interveiw or catch any of it to offer a differring opinion?

[Marcus Bryant]

The more he talks the weaker that suspension looks.

[Sportcamper]

What I find even more disturbing are all these folks coming out in defense of Ron Artest and his behavior...

I am sure that Dear Ron has a swell side to him...but let’s lock up his multiple personalities in a room together and see which one comes out alive...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Okay, quick quiz...

How many of you at your current jobs could deck two customers and still have a job the next day?

Pro athletics is nothing more than a boys club, and Artest shouldn't be bitching about losing a year's worth of pay and play over it, he should be kissing Stern's ass for not banning his psychotic ass for life.

[ALVAREZ6]

[QUOTE=Aggie Hoopsfan]Artest shouldn't be bitching about losing a year's worth of pay and play over it, QUOTE]

I don't think he loses his pay...he's still on the team, but hes deffinently pissed about losing his play... hes gonna be so bored,

Ron Artest learned the hard way to dont get in fights and to shut up during games...he's not gonna do anything that extreme for a while...but then again, ur dealing with Ron Artest, and i don't know when hes not lookin for trouble..

Hes gonna be smokin weeed :smokin this season..

[boutons]

"I don't think he loses his pay"

Where have you been the last 72 hours?

[ALVAREZ6]

"I don't think he loses his pay"

Where have you been the last 72 hours?


at school, playing basketball, and taking shits,
:depressed
maybe i didnt know @sshole.!!!....j/k

[boutons]

"How many of you at your current jobs could deck two customers and still have a job the next day?"

But you have to ask the other question: how many of your customers throw beer and crap at you, heckle you about your dead mother, about your murdered father, shout racial/sexual epithets as you walk from your office to the parking lot just because they buy your product?

The incivility and violations have been on both sides.

[ALVAREZ6]

http://www.comcast.net/News/SPORTS//XML/2030_General_Basketball_News/6e8058e6-f893-42ba-9c2b-97f0ecc14c31.html

Above is the interview with Artest, read it, its interesting...

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

boutons,

Cops deal with shit like that every day. And they're dealing with a lot more serious stuff than a child's game.

[Spurminator]

If a waiter has tea splashed on him by a customer, and he proceeds to tackle and pummel the customer, he's done waiting tables. No question about it.

[boutons]

"Cops deal with shit like that every day."

cops ain't dealin' with "customers".

[RobinsontoDuncan]

This entire episode brought a few skeletons out of the league's closet, specifically the ones sponsoring "street Cred" in the face of morals

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

cops ain't dealin' with "customers".

Who the hell do you think pays their salaries?

[boutons]

"maybe i didnt know @sshole.!!!"

Sorry for over-estimating you. I thought you followed the NBA, this forum, and watched some TV in between taking shits.

When Shaq got suspended last season or whenever, it cost him 1/82 of his salary, about $300K for one game. Same for Duncan's suspension, about $200k.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Geez calm the fuck down man. Police officers are "public servants", and interact with their customers every day.

[Useruser666]

I never see my customers, so I could probably kick all their asses and be just fine. :lol

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Hmmm...I've been called a liberal, commie pinko at my job, but I have yet to deck somebody.

[ZStomp]

[QUOTE=Aggie Hoopsfan]Artest shouldn't be bitching about losing a year's worth of pay and play over it, QUOTE]

I don't think he loses his pay...he's still on the team, but hes deffinently pissed about losing his play... hes gonna be so bored,

Ron Artest learned the hard way to dont get in fights and to shut up during games...he's not gonna do anything that extreme for a while...but then again, ur dealing with Ron Artest, and i don't know when hes not lookin for trouble..

Hes gonna be smokin weeed :smokin this season..


he does lose his salary...approximately 5-5.5 million......its been all over that he loses salary....as well as the other guys....

[boutons]

geez shut the fuck up.

Citizen/police relationship is non-commerccial, non-optional public service, where the police job is defined as dealig with shit.

Player/fan relationship is commerccial, optional enterntainment, where the player's job is not defined as dealing with shitty fans.

your analogy is totally false.

[ZStomp]

"Cops deal with shit like that every day."

cops ain't dealin' with "customers".


:wtf Yes they do. the public/citizens are their customers.... :wtf

Well, that's how it's look on within the department....

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

You're a real dumbass bouton, you need to shove your misguided opinion up your ass.

Taxpayers pay for the salaries of police officers. Who do they interact with every single day of the year? Taxpayers.

You're right, there is no comparison - cops deal with people cussing at them, people doped up who think they can beat up a cop, people shooting at them, people leading them on high speed chases where people die, and from time to time a cop has to look death in the eye and go home to their modest home having killed someone, all while pulling down 30-40K per year.

NBA players play a fucking child's game for millions of dollars a year, have 3 months off a year, have 4 houses, 8 cars, plasmas in every room, jet skis, boats, off-season homes in South Beach, and make rap albums/movies on the side.

There is no comparison, and a little heckling by some boozed up fans doesn't even begin to compare to the shit cops deal with every damn day.

And yeah, my original rhetorical question still stands on its own... there isn't another profession in the world where you could deck your paying customers, drunk or not, and still have a job the next day.

I'm not saying the fans are free of blame, just that Ronnie should take his suspension, use the year off and get some therapy, and write David Stern a thank you note for not banning his psychotic ass for life.

[sbsquared]

I totally agree! During the 2000 election, I called the Democrats in Florida too stupid to vote while I was in the office and I got called to the bosses office and told to keep my opinions to myself or I could lose my job.

These guys make mega millions for playing a game - a real man can put up with that stuff and still maintain his cool. As Sean Elliott said "who the hell would these guys be if it weren't for the NBA!"

[jcrod]

"How many of you at your current jobs could deck two customers and still have a job the next day?"

But you have to ask the other question: how many of your customers throw beer and crap at you, heckle you about your dead mother, about your murdered father, shout racial/sexual epithets as you walk from your office to the parking lot just because they buy your product?

The incivility and violations have been on both sides.


You would possibly lose you job, but you would be able to get another. And not stop from being paid the whole yr.

How would you like someone taking your whole yr worth of salary?

[Useruser666]

You would possibly lose you job, but you would be able to get another. And not stop from being paid the whole yr.

How would you like someone taking your whole yr worth of salary?

How about, "I would let people throw a whole keg at me for 5 million dollars."?

[jcrod]

boutons,

Cops deal with shit like that every day. And they're dealing with a lot more serious stuff than a child's game.


True, and COPS will treat you like shit if you do. Do a lot worse to you too, if no one is looking.

[jcrod]

How about, "I would let people throw a whole keg at me for 5 million dollars."?

So would I.

[violentkitten]

lets face it who are cops? they arent all fine and upstanding individuals and think about it they are the law so they are free to do a lot of shit because no one dares to question the embodiement of the law. some are ex military thrill seekers, some are just plain weird and then some are fine upstanding people. but everyone automatically believes what the copper says because the copper could never be wrong. the copper is pure as the driven snow. most of you little young suburbanites hasnt had to deal with the cops all up in your ass except for perhaps that mip back when you were in high school. if the cops were conducting a war on drugs in your comfy little neighborhoods then perhaps youd get busted for all that herb you smoke and youd find yourself getting sodomized by a bull queer in the state pen.

[boutons]

"You're a real dumbass bouton, you need to shove your misguided opinion up your ass."

you agriculatural types need to stop thinking so much, it heats up the bullshit between your ears and stinks up the forum.

"Taxpayers pay for the salaries of police officers."

Next time you get pulled over, tell the police officer that he works FOR YOU, who be da boss, and order him, as his salary-payer, to fuck off.

"Who do they interact with every single day of the year? Taxpayers."

Police are paid to handle violators (who often are not taxpayers in their jurisdiction. Sorry, am I piling on?) as a necessary public service, NBA players are paid to play basketball as show business, a distinction your analogy ignores.

'You're right, there is no comparison"

and you're wrong, your police analogy is totally useless and meaningless in this discussion.

" - cops deal with people cussing at them, people doped up who think they can beat up a cop, people shooting at them, people leading them on high speed chases where people die, and from time to time a cop has to look death in the eye and go home to their modest home having killed someone, all while pulling down 30-40K per year."

sniff, if the police don't want that job for that price, they can quit. If they were conscripted and forced to serve as underpaid, at-risk policman, I would be sympathetic to their inescapable plight.

"There is no comparison, and a little heckling by some boozed up fans"

... which is simply not what the NBA players are paid to do.

And from all reports, eg Pop on Ticket760 yesterday, Steve Kerr (about his murdered father), Karl Malone(about his dead mother), NBA blacks (about racial insults), you're totally erroneous, as is your habit, in calling it "a little heckling". And drinks in cups, coins, batteries, cellpones, popcorn, chairs, whatever the fans can find, is not "a little heckling".

"doesn't even begin to compare to the shit cops deal with every damn day."

BUT, and here's where you'll have to smart-up your BSa-as-brain to follow, the police are PAID to that job, to maintain order, to stop dis-order. NBA players aren't.

"And yeah, my original rhetorical question still stands on its own..."

yep, way out in left field, even out of the ballpark.

"there isn't another profession in the world where you could deck your paying customers, drunk or not, and still have a job the next day."

Hmm, the police profession (who brought that up? oops, sorry, I'm piling on again?) is paid to do EXACTLY that, deck their paying customers/taxpayers/anybody. And they have their jobs the next day, and even get medals for doing it.

So your idea "if the police can handle much worse, the NBA players can handle a little heckling" is just total BS. Spread that BS on the farm, not in the forum.

Oh, btw, as field experiment in your civic education, go stand on a public street corner (as if you were in an NBA arena), and mercilessly heckle, throw a cup of beer, at every policeman (NBA player) than passes by.

I'm sure the police will say: "Ah, that's only "a little heckling". I, policeman, can handle much worse. Have nice day, boss".

[Useruser666]

Kitten, I thought you were held down by animal control?

Bout, they're both jobs. We can leave it at that. I would pay to be able to play in the NBA. I might even pay to have beer thrown on me. :lol

[Useruser666]

I'm glad that race relations have come so far in today's NBA. Never have so many people come together and stood behind one cause so solidly.

I mean the white guy threw the cup of beer at Artest.

The black guy threw a chair at the players in the tunnel.

The hispanic guy tried to start a fight on the court.

See how wonderful it is when everyone works together for a common cause.

[sbsquared]

What's with obscenities? I didn't call you any names - why would you resort to call me names just because I voiced an opinion different than yours? I don't care if the player is black, white, brown or yellow - they all make millions and should conduct themselves as professionals instead of street thugs.

[sbsquared]

My, my, what an intelligent and well-spoken individual! You give cats a bad name!

[violentkitten]

well you cant lick a pussy

[boutons]

For those of us that don't watch network crap anymore, here's a couple articles showing Artest digging himself in deeper everytime he opens his mouth.

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Artest Asks The Public to 'Move On'

By Greg Sandoval

Embattled Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest asked the public yesterday to "move on" from Friday night's brawl in Auburn Hills, Mich., as reports that an additional player was involved in the melee reached local authorities.

Artest, whose season-long suspension was appealed yesterday by the NBA Players Association, went on a media offensive in a series of national and local interviews, expressing contrition and regret for his role in the brawl at a game with the Detroit Pistons even as he plugged a new CD he produced for an R&B band.

"Things happen and you move on," Artest said on NBC's "Today Show." "Nobody benefited from this situation."

Meantime, Auburn Hills police said they have videotape showing Pacers reserve center David Harrison striking two men, according to Lt. James Manning, spokesman for the Auburn Hills Police Department.

Harrison hit one of the men, John Ackerman, 67, twice. Neither Harrison nor anyone from Pacers' management would comment.

NBA spokesman Tim Andree said late last night that NBA officials had reviewed footage of the blows delivered by Harrison over the weekend and decided not to suspend him.

"Because of the condition that was occurring in the exit at the time the player was attempting to leave the floor," Andree said, "it was decided that Harrison would not be suspended."

Manning said last night the league had requested a copy of the videotape.

"If we obtain information beyond what we have," Andree said, "we would take that into account."

If suspended, Harrison would become the fifth Pacer to draw a suspension, joining Artest, Stephen Jackson (30 games), Jermaine O'Neal (25) and Anthony Johnson (five). That would reduce the number of available Indiana players to seven.

The Pacers activated Johnson yesterday from the injured list, two weeks earlier than expected, and he began serving his suspension. He has not played this season because of a broken right hand. He was hurt four weeks ago, and was initially expected to miss six to eight weeks.

The players union filed an appeal yesterday to reduce the suspensions of Artest, Jackson and O'Neal.

Attorneys for Ackerman and William Paulson filed separate lawsuits in Oakland County Circuit Court yesterday against the Pacers franchise, Artest, Jackson and O'Neal, according to the Associated Press. Ackerman has also named Palace Sports & Entertainment, which operates the Pistons' arena. They have asked for unspecified damages.

Paulson, 26, claims that Jackson struck him. In his suit, Ackerman says he was punched by O'Neal. Police say Ackerman is mistaken about who hit him.

"The video clearly shows it was Harrison who hit Ackerman," Manning said. "We are 100 percent positive it was Harrison."

Artest, Jackson, O'Neal and Harrison exchanged blows with fans just before the end of the Pacers' 97-82 victory Friday. In one of the most violent clashes between fans and athletes in this country, Artest and Jackson went into the stands and exchanged punches with fans. O'Neal never went into the stands but the 6-foot-11 forward-center punched several fans on the court. Videotape shows numerous fans hurling debris at players.

Artest said on the "Today Show" that he regretted his involvement in the incident.

"I respect [NBA Commissioner] David Stern's decisions, but I don't think I should have been out for the whole season," he said.

Billy Hunter, the director of the NBA players union, said that a suspension of about 35 games would have been a more fitting punishment for Artest. The union is asking that the appeal be heard by an arbitrator, but league rules give Stern the right to decide on all appeals.

Criminal charges against some of the players and a number of fans are forthcoming, said authorities in Auburn Hills, but it will take at least two weeks before they compile all the evidence.

The man who threw the cup that hit Artest was identified by Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca on Monday as John Green, a 39-year-old contractor from the Detroit suburb of West Bloomfield Township.

Green is shown clearly on videotape lobbing a cup of ice from the stands, according to authorities. The 6-3, 235-pound Green also grabbed the 6-7, 246-pound Artest from behind once the Pacers forward reached the stands and hit him from behind, Gorcyca said.

Green is on probation for driving while intoxicated. His record includes a 1988 assault with intent to do great bodily harm and an attempt to escape from custody that same year, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections' online database. In 1986 he was convicted for carrying a concealed weapon and for check fraud.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company


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NBA Brawler Ron Artest, Playing a Different Tune

By Teresa Wiltz

Yesterday morning things seemed pretty dicey for the NBA's Ron Artest, as chatter about "the poster boy for bad behavior" and talk of federal lawsuits, possible criminal charges and suspension appeals fluttered about the airwaves. Drama, people. Then there was the little matter of the $5 million -- $5 million! -- in lost wages, the kind of thing that happens when you hand out beatdowns to fans, and end up being told to sit your heinie down for the rest of the season and repent.

So if you think Artest, he of the anger management classes, would be having a bad day . . . you would be wrong. In fact, it was an exceedingly good day. Reached yesterday, the soft-spoken Indiana Pacers forward didn't sound like a man who Friday night launched "the worst brawl in NBA history" (if you turn to the "Today" show for your historical references, that is).

Never mind the season-long suspension from the NBA, never mind a career put on hold, never mind doing the requisite mea culpa. (He'd already done that earlier on "Today" when he told Matt Lauer that he wished the whole thing had never happened but that goshdarnit, he had been "frustrated.")

Artest had other things on his mind. Namely: "Giving the fans good music."

Music is his path, he says, as in, "I'm just trying to stay on the path that I was going. That's the only thing that I can do."

The path, he says, is one he's been on since he was 13 or so, and yesterday, finally, after four years of trying to get his record label, TruWarier, off the ground, and four years of trying to get some respect for his music, finally his path had been cleared. Tuesday, you see, is the day that new CD releases hit the market, and yesterday Artest entered the marketplace for the first time as a music mogul-in-making, proudly pushing "Chapter III," the latest effort of Allure, the R&B girl group that he's taken under his wing. (En Vogue they're not.)

"I just wanted to follow in the footsteps of these other labels," he told us, naming a few of the big boys: "Roc-A-Fella. Bad Boy. . . . I like giving the fans good music. . . . It's great. It's like a dream come true."

Of course dreaming of music isn't exactly a new thing for the NBA; there's something about the bling and bombast of the music world that players can't seem to resist. Usually the allure is found in the mine-is-bigger-than-yours world of rap, where a violent backstory and a shoe box stuffed with possibly ill-gotten gains makes for marketing magic.

Shaquille O'Neal had a run in the '90s with four rap albums, performing under the guidance of Fu-Schnickens, a hip-hop group that had some cred but no one seems to remember now, according to Billboard's Geoff Mayfield. (Only one of Shaq's CDs went platinum -- "Shaq Diesel" in 1993.)

Kobe Bryant tried his hand at spitting rhymes, as did Allen Iverson, whose allegedly homophobic verse had folks apoplectic even before his album hit the shelves. Neither Bryant nor Iverson actually released an album. (And then, from the other side, there was Master P, for whom having a gazillion-dollar rap empire was not enough; he had to play basketball, too, failing to make the NBA cut but playing starting guard for the American Basketball Association's Las Vegas Rattlers. Bow Wow tried to be "Like Mike," acting and playing basketball in his feature film in 2002.)

Not the same thing, Artest says: He's different.

And the difference would be?

"Our project is out, in the stores and selling copies right now. We're selling; they weren't selling copies." Not that Allure is a name on every music buyer's lips. It's enjoyed moderate success, according to Mayfield, releasing two albums since 1997 (the first one went gold).

Artest is different, too, in that he chose to debut an R&B album rather than take the more common route via rap. (He likes, he says, all kinds of music, from country to pop to rock.) Unusual, also, was his decision to take a back seat and executive-produce rather than shove himself in front of the mike. He raps, and he's spent some time recording tracks for a CD of his own.

Of course he's not too shy to appear in Allure's first video, "Uh Oh (Leaving With Me)," giving guest artist Elephant Man a pound. He also guest-raps on one of the songs. But most of his involvement was signing checks, working out a distribution deal with Lightyear Entertainment/WEA International, lining up producing talent like the Edmonds Group (Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds's production group) and coaching the trio, who had bounced around two different major labels before signing up with TruWarier.

It was, the women of Allure attest, an instant love connection.

"We had the same love for music," said Alia Davis. "He's very sentimental. He loves R&B love songs. . . . He's a perfectionist, but in a good way. He's not a hound. He's real laid-back."

So enough with the questions about this NBA mess! "It's about the music right now," Davis said. "We're concentrating on the positive."

So we'll let Artest have the last word, in his first words from "Intro," the first track on the CD:

"We in the house. Chapter III. Allure. TruWarier Records. And I be's, you know, Ron Artest. It's a new beginning for you girls."

Perhaps for Artest, too.

"It's hot baby," he raps. "Tell them I told you."


© 2004 The Washington Post Company

[GoldToe]

Artest simply does not get it.