World Peace Indeed

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Do you know the story of the professional basketball player Ron Artest?

He's a multi-millionaire, of course. He's won a championship with the Lakers. He's a pretty good player, actually.

Seven years ago he was suspended for 73 games for punching fans, the other players, his own players, a coach and one of the guys selling hot dogs.

That was one of 14 total suspensions.

He's been to anger management, therapy, group therapy, family therapy and Tibet to get in touch with his inner soul.

He even changed his name, no kidding, to Metta World Peace.

And still, no one took him off and hauled him away for a nice long stretch in a rubber room.

When the Lakers won the championship he thanked his therapist.

Seriously.

And he looks absolutely ridiculous with World Peace on the back of his uniform.

Especially when he's throwing elbows that tear the heads off the guys running up court beside him.

Have you seen the film of it? If it happened on the street he'd be charged with a felony.

After the game World Peace explained that he didn't really mean it, calling it an incidental elbow. He apologized to the guy he concussed, but what would you expect from World Peace? He even apologized for wanting to fight the guy who wanted to fight him for throwing the elbow in the first place.

Poor Metta World Peace...his inner Ron Artest came out.

He was suspended for 7 games and a whole bunch of talking heads were wondering if it was too strict.

And all of this comes in the backdrop of the NHL playoffs where nightly brutal assaults are carried out on a every-three-minute basis. Do we really need grown men dropping their gloves and fighting? Do we need two-handed whacks across the melon or pile-drives into the board that can potentially paralyze another player? One of the best talents in the sport, Sidney Crosby, hasn't played much in the last two years because of concussions. Danny Briere, a fine man and a great talent from the Flyers has had about a half-dozen concussions. There are probably fifty examples of it.

It won't end until there's a death on the ice, mark my words.

All I am saying, is give peace a chance.

Ron Artest truly believes in it.

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