The worst drug known to man
It’s stronger than, heroin
When you could look in the mirror like, ‘There I am’
And still not see, what you’ve become
I know I’m guilty of it too but, not like them
You lost one
*JAY-Z
I have become more convinced that the Celtics need to make a move. What that move is, I don’t know, but I think the team needs to be shaken up and some new energy and a new high quality player would be a very welcome addition. There’s no real point in speculating about who that player should be and who the Celtics should give up to get him, because as an outsider, I have no idea what negotiations Danny Ainge and co are engaged in.
There were brief rumors that the Celtics were looking to swap Ray Allen/Brian Scalabrine/JR Giddens for Caron Butler/Antawn Jamison from Washington. That would have been great, but it seems like Butler is going to Dallas for Josh Howard. Which leads me to this: the NBA’s “commitment” to being a league of stand up gentlemen- and even it’s commitment for holding its players accountable for their actions- is a complete and total farce. For all intensive purposes, Gilbert Arenas has been crucified for pulling a gun on his teammate over a gambling dispute. Were his actions reprehensible? Very. But Gilbert Arenas is far from being the lone perpetrator, and I’m willing to say that it’s bull that he be treated as if he is. The NBA should either take real steps to making sure its players are, at the bare minimum, law abiding, and ideally, are “good” people, or they should drop the act and say it like it really is: The NBA is not a league of role models, and treating it as such is a grave misstep. Professional basketball is great entertainment. It’s such great entertainment that we reward the players with millions of dollars, and put them on towering pedestals, excusing them from the standards the rest of us are expected to live by. That is not to say that there aren’t great guys in the NBA- of course there are. But fame is a strong narcotic and can quickly bring out the ugly side of human nature- narcissistic, self entitled and self destructive behavior that reeks of thinking you can do whatever you want with no consequence.
So I ask this: how outraged could the Wizards possibly be at Gilbert Arenas’ behavior if they are willing to, mere weeks later, trade Caron Butler for Josh Howard, guilty of publicly admitting to smoking weed, which, you know, is illegal, and guilty of drag racing? Howards’ indiscretions, in the grand scheme of things, rank less ghastly than Arenas’, but it is indisputable that it’s not exactly the stuff that role models are made of.
