A funny thing happened right as the Lakers were starting to celebrate their 16th NBA championship. Someone asked Ron Artest about his performance during the final and on National TV, Ron in his exuberance thanked his therapist who helped him overcome anger. Normally, such a statement would raise few eyebrows only for the fact that it is unusual for a professional NBA player to boldly proclaim this in front of an audience of millions. For those who are not aware, a few years ago, during a game against the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills, Ron Artest was involved in a major on court brawl while playing for the Indiana Pacers. Ron went after a spectator who had apparently thrown diet coke at him during the game. Ron was suspended for 70 games by the erstwhile NBA commissioner David Stern and lost about $7 million in salary that year.
Fast forward to the Lakers and this episode. The day after the championship, the airwaves were abuzz over Ron's comments. Radio sportscasters were asking listeners to call in and comment on the on air admission of therapy. I usually don’t listen to sports radio talk show but I had tuned on to the radio to catch a world cup soccer score and instead, what I heard was a constant mockery of what Ron said and other comments about Ron’s admission of drinking Hennessy during half time of games in the years past. I want to make something very clear. I am no big fan of Ron Artest and hardly know anything about the man but I did spend some time reading about Ron’s history, his upbringing and the trouble he has been in over the years. The media today focuses on labels. Ron Artest has been labeled as the “bad boy” of NBA and that label is likely to stick with him for the rest of his career. Never mind that he has upped every team’s performance that he has played for and his defensive intensity is an envy of many players. Why then does the media, specially the Sports Radio talk show hosts spend so much time on putting someone down who has the gumption to take steps in improve himself and admit openly that he has had problems and chooses the biggest stage to announce that his therapist has helped him. Isn’t getting help supposed to be a good thing? Half the men I know don’t have the courage to admit their wrong doings much less admit seeing a therapist. Hell, most men I know feel that going to a therapist a sign of weakness.
In the Celtics series alone, there were many instances where Ron was being baited to get into an altercation so that perhaps he could get technical fouls or better yet be ejected, but he showed poise and proved the Celtics wrong by making clutch shots and being instrumental in helping the Lakers win their 16th Championship.
I think our society likes to see people who are talented and successful, fail. Somewhere deep down inside, we take pleasure when the likes of Tiger, Ron or Kobe for that matter, stumble. We tend to forget that players and artists are human beings just like us and have weaknesses much like we do. We should instead try to remember that there is much to learn from them, such as their determination to get better and make amends.
Fast forward to the Lakers and this episode. The day after the championship, the airwaves were abuzz over Ron's comments. Radio sportscasters were asking listeners to call in and comment on the on air admission of therapy. I usually don’t listen to sports radio talk show but I had tuned on to the radio to catch a world cup soccer score and instead, what I heard was a constant mockery of what Ron said and other comments about Ron’s admission of drinking Hennessy during half time of games in the years past. I want to make something very clear. I am no big fan of Ron Artest and hardly know anything about the man but I did spend some time reading about Ron’s history, his upbringing and the trouble he has been in over the years. The media today focuses on labels. Ron Artest has been labeled as the “bad boy” of NBA and that label is likely to stick with him for the rest of his career. Never mind that he has upped every team’s performance that he has played for and his defensive intensity is an envy of many players. Why then does the media, specially the Sports Radio talk show hosts spend so much time on putting someone down who has the gumption to take steps in improve himself and admit openly that he has had problems and chooses the biggest stage to announce that his therapist has helped him. Isn’t getting help supposed to be a good thing? Half the men I know don’t have the courage to admit their wrong doings much less admit seeing a therapist. Hell, most men I know feel that going to a therapist a sign of weakness.
In the Celtics series alone, there were many instances where Ron was being baited to get into an altercation so that perhaps he could get technical fouls or better yet be ejected, but he showed poise and proved the Celtics wrong by making clutch shots and being instrumental in helping the Lakers win their 16th Championship.
I think our society likes to see people who are talented and successful, fail. Somewhere deep down inside, we take pleasure when the likes of Tiger, Ron or Kobe for that matter, stumble. We tend to forget that players and artists are human beings just like us and have weaknesses much like we do. We should instead try to remember that there is much to learn from them, such as their determination to get better and make amends.
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