Dear Gilbert Arenas & Javaris Crittenton
Replace the sneakers with a gambling debt, and you have the story below...
via Associated Press:
The investigation of Gilbert Arenas(notes) and the guns he brought to the Verizon Center took a much more serious turn on Friday amid a report that he and Washington Wizards teammate Javaris Crittenton(notes) allegedly drew on each other during a locker-room argument over a gambling debt.
Arenas responded with a flurry of messages on Twitter, at times making light of the news but also making one tweet that read somewhat like a denial: “I understand this is serious..but if u ever met me you know i dont do serious things im a goof ball this story today dont sound goofy to me.”
If there's one thing that the NBA was known for last decade, it was being the home of the most thuggish athletes in all of sports. That said, David Stern (as much as I dislike some of his practices) has made a valiant effort to try and shed that image. By placing emphasis on character, community service, and imposing some questionable rules (eg: dress code, Twitter, personal conduct, etc.), he's cleaned up the way the game is viewed. And after all of that, we have to turn a locker room into the Wild West??
Gilbert and Javaris, you guys are on one of the most disappointing teams in the league, (sad that DC is the home of two disappointing teams) and haven't been able to put together more than two wins in a row all season. You're in the bottom of your division and 12th in the East. That being the case, why the hell were the two of you making high stakes bets?? Shouldn't you guys be, you know, lamenting in your mediocrity, or maybe even practicing?? And then to make matters worse, the two of you got so engrossed in the bet that you decided to pull guns out on one another. What kind of bet was that imperative, that it would require the use of firearms to defend or acquire one's winnings? Javaris, I guess being a bust, and all, you decided to take up a second career as a bookie. And Gilbert, in addition to getting your wife snatched by Shaq, you're drowning your sorrows in gambling? Come on, guys. This is sad.
It's even funnier that both of you had unloaded guns. So in addition to being trigger-happy gambling addicts, neither of you even had the sense to know how to work them. This is a damn shame, not only for the both of you, but for the Wizards and the NBA. Gilbert, you've always been one of my favorite players on and off the court, and Javaris, I always loved your potential. But, DAMN. Nothing can erase a 'nigga moment' in the NBA...