Ron Artest is one of my favorite figures in sports and I often get asked the question why. The answer is pretty simple: he’s just an incredible personality. Most people know him for his role in the Malice at the Palace, and he didn’t help matters when he quit on the Indiana Pacers to promote his record label. But Artest has grown up so much since then and become a truly fascinating, charitable person.
Artest made headlines when he announced he was auctioning his championship ring off (the rings are beautiful) for mental health charity. As if that wasn’t generous enough, he also says he may donate his entire salary from the Lakers to charity as well. He says he’s going to pursue a career in the NFL and boxing when he’s done with basketball, and if that doesn’t blow you away, there’s also this and this.
If you don’t already understand what is so fun about Ron Artest, then you have to read this “day in the life” journal by Rick Reilly. Here are some of the highlights. “See, I can’t really understand the Triangle [offense],” Artest admits. “There’s 1,000 plays in the Triangle. It’s such a challenge. I get so frustrated about it, I have to call my psychiatrist. So I just stay in my one spot in the corner. If I leave my spot, I get yelled at. Phil’s gonna say, ‘What are you doing over there?!?’ So I just don’t move.”
There’s more and it only gets better:
“[Artest] favors right turns from the far left lane. And he’s always lost. One time, he left Milwaukee by car to go to Chicago and didn’t realize he was going the wrong way until he hit the Iowa line. “I need my GPS a lot,” he admits.
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Ron Ron is carrying a large bag of food for his lunch — all vegan. But Ron Ron is not entirely vegan. “About 80 percent,” he says. “I like pork chops.”
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He drank hard the night before games, he admits. Drank mornings of games, too. Previously, he has admitted to drinking Hennessy at halftimes of games. “Hennessy should give me a damn endorsement,” he says.
I’m not saying someone needs to give him a TV show, but that guy is a walking comedy show. The best part is most of it is intentional — he’s just being himself — and he’s full of innocent charm.
