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that's a "you're an asshat get the away from me" smileYeah, he looks terrified and finds no humor in the situation at all:
so again, why do you think Stern suspended an all star caliber player?
that's a "you're an asshat get the away from me" smileYeah, he looks terrified and finds no humor in the situation at all:
Because he thought Arenas was mocking him:
"I initially thought it prudent to refrain from taking immediate action because of the pendency of a criminal investigation involving the office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and the Metropolitan Police Department, and the consideration of this matter by a grand jury sitting in the District of Columbia. For the same reason, I directed the Wizards to refrain from taking any action.
Although it is clear that the actions of Mr. Arenas will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse, his ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game. Accordingly, I am suspending Mr. Arenas indefinitely, without pay, effective immediately pending the completion of the investigation by the NBA."
Ok mind reader.
eh. opinion based off what he said about the incident......same way you are reading Stern's mind.
He's [Jamison] never been the biggest Arenas fan any way.
I'm not sure that you guys get that Arenas was going to get suspended anyway, just for bringing the guns to the Arena (it's a contract violation)...but Stern was going to let the investigation run its course before doing that. He decided to suspend him now because of Arenas' mockery of the incident on Twitter, in Philly, etc.
It doesn't matter wether the 'NBA has a thug problem on it's hands'. The sole perception that it might have is terrible for bussiness. If Führer Stern wouldn't need to deal with the pesky CBA and the Player's union, he would probably have had Arena's contract voided, torn into pieces and already shipped out Gilbert to Gitmo...
If Arenas had shut up, I doubt he'd face a suspension longer or harsher than a few games without payment. A Telfair like penalty.
Btw, that's the reason I don't believe this suspension won't last till the rest of the season or isn't overturned.
Judge ehz33 has spoken! LAW!
If he was white, no one would give a about this.
not according to Al
...Sharpton also said reaction to reports that Arenas drew a gun on teammate Javaris Crittenton on Dec. 21 has been tempered because the players involved are black.
"If it had been a white player pointing a gun at a black player, there would have been much more of an uproar," he said. "It's almost as if people are saying, 'Well, we don't expect anything better from our black athletes.' "
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/wiz...-stern-to.html
This is spot on. Arenas mocking the situation and joking about it was the last straw. He will end up being suspended the remainder of the year. If the federal authorities charge and convict him he will do jail time and his contract will be voided.
Great suspension by Stern IMO..
Arenas thinks this is some kind of joke..the pre-game celebration was just ridiculously stupid..this guy isn't 18, he needs to learn some life lessons..
It's kind of weird to me how these gamer dudes become like this..it's ed up..I say this because one of my best friends that I went to High School with was a hardcore gamer that lived in the hood..he was a good dude, really funny, everybody liked him..he lived in the hood, but he wasn't a "thug" or "gangster" or anything, he would always stay in his house, burn DVDs and play games like GTA and whatever all day..I would rarely see him out on the block, even though everybody liked him..
So we both eventually got expelled from HS(he was kicked out a year before me..nothing bad on his part to get expelled, he just missed way too many classes and had poor grades, so they kicked him out)..so I hadn't talked to him in over a year..then one day, I get text messages from some of the people I went to HS with asking me if I heard the news..I checked it out, and it turned out he was arrested for murdering 2 people in the lobby of an apartment building..now he's in jail..
This guy was EXACTLY like Arenas..a goofy joker type of guy, loved video games and like that, was into guns, but you would never picture him doing anything like that, so we were all shocked..I guess everybody has that in them somewhere..
As for Crittenton, I would expect a serious suspension and potential jail time..he's in a tough position though..I absolutely HATE when guys owe me $ and duck me, it's disgusting..he was owed 150K and he wasn't getting his $..that's how the dispute began..he DID make a stupid move, but he wasn't alone in this..he's going to get it a lot worse than Arenas IMO, partly due to him being an unknown guy..
Nothing fancy here, Stern is sending a message to Arenas (stfu), to would-be idiots (bring guns and you're screwed), and to casual fan (Gilbert Arenas is being searched more on the internet with each day).
"Although it is clear that the actions of Mr. Arenas will ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse, his ongoing conduct has led me to conclude that he is not currently fit to take the court in an NBA game. Accordingly, I am suspending Mr. Arenas indefinitely, without pay, effective immediately pending the completion of the investigation by the NBA."
Stern may have more news than he's letting out, which is what my gut has been telling me all along. And I agree the twittering and 'gunshow' has something to do with this - but it was inevitable anyway.
http://www.cbssports.com/columns/sto...-ludicrous/rss
Once the Rev. Al Sharpton crawled out from under his rock to kick dirt onto the Washington Wizards' Gilbert Arenas for bringing guns to the arena, it was safe for anyone and everyone to pile on. And anyone and everyone did just that as they awaited NBA commissioner David Stern's choice of punishment, which he partially delivered Wednesday as an indefinite suspension that he said would "ultimately result in a substantial suspension, and perhaps worse."
According to anyone and everyone, "substantial" was a good place to start, but "perhaps worse" was more like it. Before Wednesday, some critics had said Arenas' suspension should last the rest of this season. Others said it should last the rest of Arenas' life.
To which I say: Has everyone lost their mind? Not Sharpton. He doesn't count. Of course that guy has lost his mind, assuming his was ever in working order in the first place.
But everyone else: Are you insane? You want to make an example of Gilbert Freaking Arenas?
Listen, I'm not here to minimize violence in the workplace. Nor am I here to minimize the image problem of the NBA or professional sports as a whole, which even the manipulative, insincere Sharpton noted has a "culture of violence."
"The NBA," Sharpton told the New York Daily News, "needs to stand up and send a strong message."
To this guy? For this incident?
Arenas isn't evil or even, if you ask me, dangerous. He's a dork, is what he is. He's immature and inappropriate. He's the class clown, the guy who will inch right up to that line in search of a laugh and then, if you're not laughing yet, will sprint willingly over it. We all know people like Arenas, people who hide behind corners and scream "boo!" and seem genuinely baffled that the victim of their prank was more irritated than amused. Arenas is annoying, not nefarious.
And don't, whatever you do, try to counter that position -- Arenas is annoying but not nefarious -- with the garbage reporting of the New York Post's Peter Vecsey, a longtime NBA writer who hasn't gotten a story right in years, including this one. Not a single witness has backed Vecsey's mind-blowing version from Jan. 1 that Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton had drawn guns on each other in the locker room less than two weeks earlier. That's because it didn't happen.
The problem is, first impressions are lasting. They're stubborn. The first thing most of us heard of this incident was the Post's version of events, and while that version was so fictional and over-the-top that it should have been co-authored by James Patterson, that's the version that sticks.
Arenas and Crittenton drew down! Did you hear?
Yeah. I heard. And it didn't happen. So where do we go from here?
We go to the actual crime committed, assuming a crime was committed -- and I'm assuming it was, given that Arenas has admitted to bringing his four guns to the Verizon Center and storing them in a locked container in his locker. That's a crime, considering his guns aren't licensed in Washington, D.C. That crime should be punished. No question.
Did you read what I just wrote? I wrote: That crime should be punished. No question.
Don't make me out to be soft on crime, because I'm not. The NBA has a rule against guns at the workplace, and for breaking that rule Arenas should be suspended. For how long? I don't know. Maybe 10 games. Maybe 20. Enough that he knows, and other NBA players know, never to do it again. But not so much where Stern will have cowed to the mania of public anger created by the shoddy reporting of the Post.
If you want to be angry, be angry with Vecsey. That clown, after screwing up the story from Day 1, has built upon his house of cards with a column advising Stern to give Arenas a lifetime suspension. You want to read that story? Find it yourself. I'm not linking to a malicious pissant like Vecsey.
The NBA should send a strong signal about guns, but to the right person and at the right time. This is neither. When habitual idiot Stephen Jackson -- less than two years after climbing into the stands and punching out a fan during that 2004 riot -- shot a gun five times into the air outside a nightclub, he should have been suspended a lot more than seven games. Those bullets came down somewhere, Stephen. You idiot.
When Sebastian Telfair took a loaded gun onto the team plane in 2006, even if that was an innocent mistake, he should have been suspended a lot more than two games. Other than a school, an airport is just about the worst place to bring a gun. Telfair's two-game suspension was laughably soft.
When Golden State's Chris Mills fought with Portland's Bonzi Wells in 2002 and took the fight from the court to the parking lot, allegedly brandishing his gun at Portland's team bus, he should have been suspended a lot more than three games.
Delonte West was caught in September with three loaded guns, including a shotgun stashed in a guitar case. Stern hasn't acted on that, because Maryland police are still investigating and because West didn't -- as Arenas did -- bring the guns to work. But when Stern is ready to act, West should be suspended a long, long time. Longer than Arenas. West's guns were loaded. Arenas' guns were not. Major distinction.
It's not just Vecsey who wants Arenas' head on a platter. Media members everywhere are suggesting a suspension for the rest of the season, while the incredibly reasonable Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post says the Arenas incident warrants breaking up the entire damn team. Some say the Wizards could use this incident to invoke the "morals clause" in standard NBA contracts and have the bulk of Arenas' $111 million contract voided. Mitch Lawrence from the New York Daily News says Arenas should be suspended for life.
I repeat: Are people crazy?
Ron Artest went into the crowd and beat up a paying customer in 2004. Stephen Jackson did the same. Latrell Sprewell choked his coach. Tim Donaghy bet on games he refereed. Those were heinous offenses, and those miscreants deserved to have Stern throw the entire bookshelf at them. But a goofball like Arenas deserves one of the worst punishments in NBA history? For this?
No. Not this guy, who gives more than $100,000 annually to local schools (among other charitable acts), and not for this. I believe he brought his guns to work for the reason he said: to get them away from his three children, all under 5, including a baby born days before he brought the guns to the arena. I believe he used a gun as a prop in a joke gone bad directed at Crittenton. I believe Arenas, who just the other day mocked his own predicament by shooting imaginary pistols -- his fingers -- at teammates, is a misguided, but harmless, goofball. All of his teammates laughed at his finger-shooting joke, which apparently ticked off Stern but which tells me the other Wizards know the entire incident was just what Arenas says it was: a poorly conceived joke.
That said, it was a pretty damn awful joke. And bringing the guns to work was an awful mistake. And Arenas should pay a stiff penalty for those lapses in judgment.
But if we're talking about banning anyone from the NBA, for a year or even longer, Stern could do worse than to start the line at Peter Vecsey.
some good points, but I think, as most do, he is being suspended for his at ude after the incident more than what he actually did.
....but for you to say that Stern is taking this as a personal attack is somewhat ridiculous.
Ever heard the biblical passage "to whom much is given, much is expected"?
Every NBA contract has a morality clause that basically stipulates that all players MUST adhere to a policy of reasonably, acceptable behavior and good conduct. They cannot behave or conduct themselves in a way that casts any negative light on themselves, their team, or the NBA, as a whole.
Every NBA team has community service activities that ALL players are required to take part in. In doing so, they are representing their team and the league. With all the numerous activities these guys take part in, it's natural for kids look up to them, whether they like it or not. These cats may not sign up to be role models directly, but that's is exactly the platform they occupy in being professional athletes. It comes with the territory.
Call it role model or whatever you want, but these millionaire athletes are employees of an organization and must follow whatever rules and guidelines of conduct that are in place.
oh fabrico is thereYeah, he looks terrified and finds no humor in the situation at all:
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?bl...pup=true&pli=1
According to two first-hand accounts of the confrontation, Crittenton responded to Arenas's action -- which included laying the four unloaded weapons in Crittenton's cubicle with a note that read, "Pick One" -- by brandishing his own firearm, loading a clip of ammunition into the gun and ing the weapon.
...
The dispute between Arenas and Crittenton began on the team plane during a popular card game between players called "Boo-ray." [AHL note: It's Bourré.] Crittenton lost roughly $1,100 to JaVale McGee, a Wizards center, in the game, according to a player who watched the game and who also spoke on condition of anonymity. Crittenton, already angry over a dispute over the game's rules, became irate when Arenas began needling him.
Their barbs escalated to a point where Arenas, smiling, said he would blow up Crittenton's car, according to two players on the flight, who requested anonymity. Crittenton replied that he would shoot Arenas in his surgically repaired knee.
Walking into the locker room by himself two days after the dispute on the team plane, according to two witnesses, Arenas laid out the guns in Crittenton's locker. Two other teammates eventually sauntered in and, while Arenas was writing the note in front of Crittenton's cubicle, in walked Crittenton, according to their account.
Asking Arenas what he was doing, Arenas replied, "If you want to shoot me, I'd just thought I'd make it easy for you." As other teammates laughed, Crittenton crumpled up the paper, tossed one of Arenas's guns across the room, where it bounced in front of a team trainer, and said he didn't need any of Arenas' firearms because he had his own, according to the witness accounts.
Crittenton then drew his weapon, loaded the clip into the chamber and ed the bar, the witnesses said.
Neither witness said the gun was ever pointed at Arenas, but both said Crittenton began singing as he held the gun.
Arenas began laughing, the witnesses said, telling Crittenton, "Look at that little shiny gun," as two other players slowly retreated to the training room."
If Stern doesn't come down hard on Crittenton as well, then it will be obvious that Arenas is getting suspended for drawing the ire of sports journalists and bloggers, which is not exactly a sin in my book.
I agree with the person who said that "Stern's punishments are usually related to the amount of attention drawn to the situation."
Fortunately for Gilbert that means if he were to ever commit a crime with those guns (like kill 6 million Jews for instance), Fabricio could be the connection that smuggles him into Argentina so he can bribe their government for a safe haven.
This I can agree with.
Critter brandished? Wow.
I don't understand why this is still being debated. I own three guns (and a license to carry them), but I would never be stupid enough to bring them to work if the rules didn't allow it. I would also understand if I were terminated for doing so. I'm not outraged by what he did, but I also understand that he broke the rules that he agreed to by signing his contract. His contract should be voided simply because he didn't abide by his contract IMHO. I don't think Gilbert is a bad guy, he just decided to do something stupid, and he has nobody but himself to blame for the consequences he brought upon himself.
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