“Oh no…no,
no, no!” That was my reaction immediately following the Ron Artest/Metta (no)
World Peace’s elbow connection with James Harden’s head Sunday during the
Lakers game. Being a Lakers fan (and general Metta World Peace) fan at that
moment put me in quite a bind. On one hand, I genuinely like Metta World
Peace…or Ron Artest…whichever name he’s going by at this time. On the other
hand, he knows he’s working with two strikes already against him.
Metta makes
me feel like I’m back teaching. The same way I felt about a kid who obviously
had “good” in him and you were really pulling for him to walk the straight and
narrow. When Metta threw that elbow, I knew he’d drawn a line in the sand for
observers.
I don’t
think Metta acted with the intent to injure Harden…I think he suffers from the
same lack of impulse control that afflicts most of us sports fans. Adrenaline
causes people to behave inexplicably. Even though Metta is on my team, I can’t
exonerate him from all culpability. It seemed to me that Metta intended to
clear some space between himself and James Harden. I don’t think he intended to
clear space using Harden’s head as punching bag.
Some people think the brouhaha surrounding this is ridiculous. I don’t. Some think this
isn’t a big deal. I disagree there, too. Some people think the media is
pumping this story up without a good reason. I think the media is well within
their right.
Unequivocally,
nobody ever wants to see a repeat of the Malice in the Palace. But the
aftermath of that brawl is going to follow Ron Artest (and whatever incarnation
he takes) for the rest of his career, if not the rest of his life. It’s
definitely going to impact the suspension that is sure to be handed down by the
league.
For those who think Artest’s history should have nothing to do with how the Sunday incident
is viewed--I think it’s irresponsible for me to agree.
