Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer,
Charles Barkley, Metta World Peace (formerly Ron Artest), Chris Childs, Bruce
Bowen, and Carmelo Anthony, they all had one thing in common – trouble makers.
Names mentioned above were renowned bad asses in the hard court that fans of
the opposing teams would show disgust to them even by their mere presence alone.
Who would forget Rodman’s dirty
plays on Karl Malone during their 2 finals matches? It is also important to
note that prior to the Jazz-Bulls rivalry way back the Jordan era Rodman has
already earned the moniker “the worm” for his dirty plays on the court.
Rodman’s teammate, Bill Laimbeer, who he calls a thug in his book AS BAD AS I WANNA BE, was also involved
to a lot of fights throughout his NBA career. Only few sane men would dare to
ask for a fight against Shaquille O’neal who weighs more than 300 pounds and
standing as tall as 7 feet, Charles Barkley was one of them. Metta World Peace,
or forever remembered as the Ron Artest of the unforgettable ‘brawl at the
Palace’, would probably be the most hated player ever to play in the NBA. Chris
Childs, the dirty guard who punched Kobe in the face. Steve Nash’s best friend,
Bruce Bowen, whose jersey got retired and hanging from the rafters despite not having
exemplary numbers on his stat sheets but because of his lockdown causing dirty
defense. The man who choked Maria Sharapova’s ex-boyfriend Sasha Vujacic and
the same man who gave a jaw crushing right punch to Mardy Collins and then run
away – Carmelo Anthony, who turns out to be my current my idol of the sport.
They were known for initiating troubles, capable of inflicting excruciating
injuries, and frustrating their defensive assignments but never did they
attempt to annihilate the composure of people who are on the same jersey with
them.
Well, Renaldo Balkman, a forward
of the Puerto Rican national team uncharacteristically displayed a demeanour
that gave itch to everyone that saw the game between Petron Blaze Booster and
Alaska Aces.
“It was in the heat of the moment, I was frustrated, I hate myself for what I did. Everybody sees me as a bad person. But, that’s not me, that’s not me.” [...]
“I am a professional, I am not supposed to do that. I already apologized to Arwind (Santos), his family and my teammates, including our bosses."
“Everybody does something once in a life, they’re not supposed to do. At the time I blanked out and went at it.”
“It’s my first time ever in my entire life to do that."
Renaldo Balkman’s statement after the incident. Really?
Even NBA’s notorious animal
Latrell Sprewell who has reports of anger management issues has a very logical
explanation for causing him to do such unrealistic acts. On December of 97’,
Latrell Sprewell choked Warriors coach P.J Carlesimo, current interim coach of
Brooklyn Nets, the submission took 10-15 seconds before other players could
pacify the situation, Sprewell then returned to the court about 20 minutes later
and punched Carlesimo, landing a glancing blow before being dragged away.
"There was just a buildup of anger and frustration and having it all bottled up and not being able to express myself. At that point, it just came to a head," says Latrell Sprewell on ESPN Classic's SportsCentury series pertaining to the choke incident.
Spree was also reported to have fought team mates years
before his assault to a defenceless coach, he was reported to have fought Byron
Houston and Jerome Kersey, the former was said to have a Mike Tyson like
demeanour and physique while the latter made him brought a two-by-four lumber
and threatening him with a gun.
The choke incident ensued during
a practice game because of instructions from coach Carlesimo to Spree to make
crisper passes and the hot headed Sprewell warned the coach that wasn’t in the
mood for criticism. When Carlesimo, as what most coaches do and to whoever is
in-charge of an organization, approached Spree and the rest is history.
Oh, I remembered I mentioned logical
explanation. I’m taking it back. Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spur is an
absolute cool head on the hard court but in rare cases he also losses his
composure. Same with Roger Federer from a not-so-relative-sport, tennis, was
also seen to show anger towards officials. Even people outside the reigns of the sporting world would lose their temper but hitting almost everyone on their sight is totally unusual.
Renaldo Balkman, who was released
by the New York Knicks on February 17, 2012 to make
way for the acquisition of spitfire guard J.R. Smith, is a benchwarmer in the
NBA. I’ve also seen him on FIBA America playing alongside J.J Barea and
Carlos Arroyo of Puerto Rico, he still sucks. It was a blessing for him to play
overseas and averaging surprising numbers and also earning. Though I condemn
fights in and out the basketball court whoever is involved, it was Balkman’s
loss of discretion I hate the most. This has not just tapped the frontiers of
human behaviour dealing with frustrations but also racism. Seeing this incident
made me believe that western people, excuse to those who are not, see us
inferior to their race, still.
He (Balkman) may have lost his
cool, same with Sprewell, to all basketball bad boys, and including me but,
would it excuse an individual to exhibit full disrespect? Hell no! Listed below
are Spree and Balkman-manil’s differences and similarities based on my quick
research:
- Both Spree and Balkman played with the Knicks in their NBA venture; don’t pull out a joke. Okay? (laugh)
- They’re both on dreadlocks (Spree at one point of his career)
- Spree is a scorer and a terrific player. Balkman? You say it.
- Too bad all of Spree’s meltdowns were never caught on tape. I just wish Discovery Channel’s ‘Lost Tapes’ would show one someday.
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