Arenas getting off easy
I’m a little shocked that David Stern is letting Gilbert Arenas off the hook this easy. According to an official report on the NBA’s website, Arenas will be suspended the rest of the season. For the record, so will Javaris Crittenton. Also, for the record, that only 38 more games!
Can you imagine any other workplace environment allowing someone to return to work after they bring a gun into the office? Or in Arenas’ case, four guns? I used to think David Stern was the best commissioner in all of sports, but I think he got this one wrong. For the love of discipline, what would Roger Goodell do?
I’ve had this discussion with many friends, and people surprisingly tend to be on both sides of the issue, saying well, the guns weren’t loaded. And that may be true, but how would anyone know that when the incident was actually taking place? That’s why reports say Crittenton pulled out his own gun, put a bullet in the chamber and cocked it. Hell, I’m not sure I can blame him.
Still, other people say, yes, Arenas messed up, but is it a $90 million mistake? I think it is, and I don’t think you can bring his contract into play. It’s an illogical argument. If someone who has a $200,000 contract did the same thing, would a severe punishment be ok then?
Of course, he will be sentenced after pleading guilty to gun charges on March 26, though after Crittenton’s unsupervised probation plea deal, don’t expect Arenas’ sentence to be too harsh.
Dan Fegan, one of the NBA’s top player agents who has been working as one of Arenas’ advisers, told Yahoo! Sports earlier Wednesday, “It’s a shame that a series of serious lapses in judgment will have such dramatic consequences for Gilbert, but this incident provides a singular opportunity for the union and NBA to focus not on punishment as a deterrent, but implement a zero-tolerance gun policy with clearly defined major penalties for even minor infractions. Let’s treat the system, not the symptom.”
Arenas used to be one of my favorite players in the league. He was original, entertaining, and damn, he was good. But this is getting silly. I can’t imagine Fegan’s argument even being remotely relevant in any other professional workplace. In essence, he wants Arenas to have a mulligan, and it appears he got one.
