Give World Peace a Chance

No justice for World Peace

It is always easy to go along with popular opinions, old cliché’s and what the media beats into our heads each day. Some people like to be contrarians JUST to get attention and it discredits the people who are truly independent thinkers.

Since the incident involving Metta World Peace last Sunday, the entire media and general population wants to vilify him and use words like “disgraceful” and question his mental state. I personally have read several articles, watched several experts including my hero Magic Johnson all advocating long and severe punishment.

First, does anyone think MWP REALLY wanted to get suspended especially at this time of the season with the playoffs looming? Oh, I get it. You think MWP is so crazy and “messed up in the head” that he wasn’t thinking at all. Well, he certainly wasn’t thinking about getting suspended or doing anything to jeopardize playing the in the postseason.

Next, some of these experts actually PLAYED the game so I am at a loss as to how they can’t understand EXACTLY what happened and why. Basketball often involves scrums under the basket with crowds of very large men. People who aren’t fans of the sport think it isn’t physical but they are clearly wrong. A lot of things happen in those scrums just like they do in football at the bottom of the pile. If someone emerges from that scrum and puts the ball in the hoop despite all of the arms, bumps etc going on, they usually get pretty excited and want to flex their muscles. If someone is in the way, they may not notice and accidentally hit someone while they are flexing. Heck, as a fan, I  got a bit too excited, swung my fist in celebration after Kobe made a big basket a few weeks ago and almost punched a friend in the face.

We should also consider James Harden’s involvement in the situation. Let me be clear, I am NOT blaming him at all but he DOES deserve to be brought into a discussion since this would not have happened if Harden didn’t PURPOSELY run into MWP as he was celebrating. Harden is a trash talker, a guy who does little things to irritate and get under the opposing player’s skin. Knowing how volatile and emotional MWP can be, he clearly tried to instigate something by running into MWP.

So here’s exactly what happened: World Peace comes through with a HUGE dunk in the face of Ibaka and Durrant and gets the crowd excited. In turn, he wants to flex his muscles, beat his chest and someone runs into him as he is running down court. He uses his elbow to clear some space, doesn’t care WHO it is and ultimately hits Harden square in the face. Had this been Kendrick Perkins, he gets hit in the shoulder and nothing is mentioned unless KP43 gets upset and reacts. If this was Pau Gasol, he gets hit in the chest and no one talks about it. It was 6’5” James Harden who stands 2 inches shorter than MWP and purposely ran into MWP while he was beating his chest.

People are trying to accuse me of being biased since I am a Laker fan but I defended Ron Artest in the brawl in Detroit also, long before he became a Laker. When I say “defend” him, I am not condoning his actions but I am saying they are understandable and he doesn’t deserve to be called all the names he is being called and treated like he is an insane criminal. If someone threw a beer on you, you wouldn’t be very happy about it and a fight would most likely be the result in most of the cases. The only difference here is Ron is a professional and is “supposed to be able to handle” this type of stuff.

Raja Bell purposely clothes lined Kobe a few years ago and got 1 game suspension. Metta World Peace, last year’s winner of the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award, has been suspended for what could be the first 2 games into the 2^nd round for an ACCIDENTAL elbow. I think a 3 game suspension would have been fair. Last game against the Kings which could have had playoff implications until little brother lost last night to Atlanta and gave the Lakers the Pacific division crown and 2 games of the 1^st round would have fit the crime. Not 7 games and all this name calling.