by Stop Mike Lupica on September 14 at 2:15PM
Let's start with John Green: He's the guy who threw the cup of beer at Ron Artest at the Auburn Hills Palace, leading to an angry Artest charging into the stands. The riot broke out... you know the deal.
Well, John Green is "that guy". He's the same guy that went on ABC's Good Morning America, with his lawyer, and called Ron Artest "a thug":
"Ron Artest went through the stadium punching people the whole night," Green said. "He was being a thug."
He tried to pass himself as an innocent bystander, stating that he didn't throw the cup, and adding this:
"I don't go around breaking the law," he said. "If they have found that I broke the law, I'll pay the price."
In almost every article you read about John Green, he's describe as "the fan who threw the cup". He also is the fan who punches Artest when he gets into the stands.
Green was convicted of misdemeanor assault for punching Artest. He got 30 days in jail, plus a $500 fine and two years probation, and mandatory AA and anger management counseling.
"I'm the fall guy, no doubt about it," he told USA Today at the time.
Of course he neglected to talk about his long criminal history: 2003 - DUI; 1989 - assault; 1989 - escaped from prison; 1986 - carrying concealed weapon, counterfeiting.
And today, the Detroit Free Press reports that he was once again arrest for drunk driving, after failing a sobriety test. He now faces up to 15 years in prison, as this is his third felony offense.
What's Ron Artest's "troubled" history look like?
-He got ripped for trying to work at Circuit City his rookie season, so he could "get the employee discount". Okay, I threw that into the list because it still cracks me up. Actual criminal offenses:
-2002: Accused of getting into fight with his girlfriend, grabbing her neck and arm. Charges later dropped.
-2002: Accused his new girlfriend of hitting and scratching him.
-2003: Suspended three games for smashing a video camera. I'm not including on-court incidents, like various suspensions for flipping fans off or flagrant fouls or fighting. But this one involved an innocent bystander, so I listed here.
-2004: Pleaded no contest to charges of assault and battery for his part in the riot at Auburn Hills. This is the first criminal charge he pleaded guilty to.
-2007: Charged with four misdemeanor charges - battery, false imprisonment, etc. - for a domestic dispute incident at his home. He was sentenced to 20 days in jail in May, and community service.
That's the extent of his criminal record - a few misdemeanor charges in 2004, 2007. Total of 20 days in jail. That's your super-thug right there.
Ron Artest spent the early part of the summer in Africa (as we wrote about here) with Feed The Children, and last week participated in the 17th Annual Wheelchairs Charity Inc game.
Ron Artest also took a three-day trip in August to Honduras to work some more with Feed The Children. It's worth noting that some of his charity work (the Africa trip) was to fulfill his community service debt, but the trip to Honduras and the Wheelchair game do not.
I'm not here to make Ron Artest seem like a hero - he's still a bad role model to a lot of kids, and he obviously has on-court anger management problems. He's made a lot of bad decisions in his life, too. But too often athletes are typecast as two-dimensional characters - the villain, the psycho, the cheater, etc. I'm just trying to remind ya'll that athletes are people, and people are three-dimensional. They do bad and good things. What they do on the basketball court, or on the field, is not the end all of their contributions to society - good and bad.
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Well, John Green is "that guy". He's the same guy that went on ABC's Good Morning America, with his lawyer, and called Ron Artest "a thug":
"Ron Artest went through the stadium punching people the whole night," Green said. "He was being a thug."
He tried to pass himself as an innocent bystander, stating that he didn't throw the cup, and adding this:
"I don't go around breaking the law," he said. "If they have found that I broke the law, I'll pay the price."
In almost every article you read about John Green, he's describe as "the fan who threw the cup". He also is the fan who punches Artest when he gets into the stands.
Green was convicted of misdemeanor assault for punching Artest. He got 30 days in jail, plus a $500 fine and two years probation, and mandatory AA and anger management counseling.
"I'm the fall guy, no doubt about it," he told USA Today at the time.
Of course he neglected to talk about his long criminal history: 2003 - DUI; 1989 - assault; 1989 - escaped from prison; 1986 - carrying concealed weapon, counterfeiting.
And today, the Detroit Free Press reports that he was once again arrest for drunk driving, after failing a sobriety test. He now faces up to 15 years in prison, as this is his third felony offense.
What's Ron Artest's "troubled" history look like?
-He got ripped for trying to work at Circuit City his rookie season, so he could "get the employee discount". Okay, I threw that into the list because it still cracks me up. Actual criminal offenses:
-2002: Accused of getting into fight with his girlfriend, grabbing her neck and arm. Charges later dropped.
-2002: Accused his new girlfriend of hitting and scratching him.
-2003: Suspended three games for smashing a video camera. I'm not including on-court incidents, like various suspensions for flipping fans off or flagrant fouls or fighting. But this one involved an innocent bystander, so I listed here.
-2004: Pleaded no contest to charges of assault and battery for his part in the riot at Auburn Hills. This is the first criminal charge he pleaded guilty to.
-2007: Charged with four misdemeanor charges - battery, false imprisonment, etc. - for a domestic dispute incident at his home. He was sentenced to 20 days in jail in May, and community service.
That's the extent of his criminal record - a few misdemeanor charges in 2004, 2007. Total of 20 days in jail. That's your super-thug right there.
Ron Artest spent the early part of the summer in Africa (as we wrote about here) with Feed The Children, and last week participated in the 17th Annual Wheelchairs Charity Inc game.
"We've donated 30 this year, and most of these people
can't move their body. We couldn't have done this without Ron," said Hank
Carter, founder of Wheelchair Charities.
The event has personal ties for Artest, who lived with Carter for a year while attending La Salle High School in Manhattan
That's not all... check this part out:
The event has personal ties for Artest, who lived with Carter for a year while attending La Salle High School in Manhattan
That's not all... check this part out:
"Ron is special. He's always given. When he was a junior and a senior, he had a chance to go to Paris with (his Amateur Athletic Union team) ... but he stayed and played for the people in the wheelchair.
"He's one of the few guys who plays in this game who pays for his own (plane) ticket and his own hotel. We've had years where we didn't have enough players, and he always rounds up enough guys to make it work."
I'm not here to make Ron Artest seem like a hero - he's still a bad role model to a lot of kids, and he obviously has on-court anger management problems. He's made a lot of bad decisions in his life, too. But too often athletes are typecast as two-dimensional characters - the villain, the psycho, the cheater, etc. I'm just trying to remind ya'll that athletes are people, and people are three-dimensional. They do bad and good things. What they do on the basketball court, or on the field, is not the end all of their contributions to society - good and bad.
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Great shit SML. You nailed it.
Did I read that right? John Green ESCAPED from prison?