I thought we had actually smashed through the looking glass when Tiger Woods and his over-active micky became valid topics of discussion around watercoolers, on bar stools and, weirdly, in golf clubhouses.
But just when you thought the world of sport couldn’t get any weirder, two NBA stars pull guns on each other. And then one of them makes a joke of it (above) in front a shocked audience. Bang bang.
It’s Deadwood meets Curb Your Enthusiasm as the Washington Wizards’ already embarrassing season (in last place, despite high expectations) has spiralled into farce thanks to an armed stand-off which was sparked by game of cards and an unpaid debt.
Essentially, Arenas and Jarvis Crittenton quarrelled over a post-game, in-flight game of poker. Reportedly, Arenas attempted to change the rules to suit himself mid-game and subsequently welshed on the debt.
When Crittenton demanded the $80,000 Arenas apparently owed, the more senior player presented three guns and a scibbled note, reading: ‘Pick one’.
Last night, before the Wizards game, Arenas was surrounded by his teammates as he knelt on the court and pointed his index fingers at them, as if he were firing guns. A photograph, above, shows nearly all the players laughing or smiling.
This is Jimmy Bullard and his Hull City teammates’ celebration for slow learners.
NBA officals went thermo-nucleur today and said the fines would be contingent in part on whether Arenas and his teammates planned it ahead of time.
The player is now under investigation by the feds and local authorities for possible violations of the strict gun laws in the US capital, and evidence is being presented to a grand jury. Because the Verizon Center in a designated “gun free zone” Arenas would be subject to twice the fine or jail sentence if he is convicted.
The Wizards leading scorer says he kept the guns in his locker and took them out in a “misguided effort to play a joke” on a teammate. Gotcha!
Aside from the off-court repercussion, the Wizards could well use this mess to get rid of one of the worst contracts in the league. Arenas’ six-year, $111 million deal could be cancelled by invoking a morals clause, and team president Ernie Grunfeld could break up the rest of the struggling team as the trade deadline approaches.
The New York Post is currently giving the Tiger situation front-page blanket coverage. Last year, I was in New York when the Giants’ Plaxico Burress was enduring the same treatement.
He was sentenced to jail time for taking a loaded handgun into a nightclub and accidentally shooting himself in the leg. He also faces a significant league suspension upon his attempt to return to the NFL. Could the same be in store for Arenas?
Like the majority of NBA players, Arenas has a rash of tattoos all over his body. On his leg, he boasts what he calls Mount Blackmore – depicting Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Barack Obama.
Obviously, two of those men, were killed by gunfire. It remains to be seen, if Arenas’ career recovers from this pistol-whipping.
