Republished: In Praise of Ron Artest

In light of the tragic Junior Seau news, I'm republishing this article I wrote last summer. This is a column on Ron Artest's mental health and my mom's own problems with mental health. Read this with an open mind. Please visit this website for more information on depression and bipolar disease.

I've been struggling the past couple of weeks about how to talk about this issue. It's something I don't talk about everyday because I've never gone through this. How do you talk about something you don't really understand? But I can no longer delay this column, this issue must be talked about.

 What I want to talk about is mental health. Now I've never gone through much mental health problems in my short life. I never had parents or relatives who abused and scared me for life. The only dramatic thing that has happened in my life was when my brother was diagnosed with Leukemia.

 I never went through any mental anguish with my brother's diagnosis though. Maybe it's my positive outlook on life or my belief that my brother is stronger than I am, but I never went through any mental pain with his initial diagnosis.

My mother however has gone through mental anguish. Not only with my brother's diagnosis, but by being abused as a child which has severely damaged her mental health. My mother has found helped, been diagnosed as a Bipolar, and has dealt with her mental health with grace. She'll always have to deal with her mental health, but she seems to be able to control her emotions better than she once did.

 I bring this up because my mother wants to praise Ron Artest Metta World Peace. World Peace auctioned off his 2010 championship ring and donated the money to various mental health charities. The raffle ran since October and raised more than $650,000 to be distributed to various mental health charities.

Artest recently donated $50,000 to Pacific Clinics and the Kresge Foundation tripled his donation by pledging an additional $150,000 in grant money distributed via the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health to the clinic."It's a good feeling," Artest said about the raffle being over.

"It's cool to know we can slowly start donating money to different charities and things like that. It's cool." 

My mom praises Artest because he's brought awareness to an issue that doesn't have awareness already. A lot of people suffer from bad mental health but don't seek help.

 "You must forgive yourself first," my mother Donna says. "Then seek help and continue getting help.

 I'm ecstatic that Ron is bringing awareness to an issue that many people don't understand. Mental health needs more awareness from athletes. Hopefully Ron isn't the last athlete to bring awareness to this issue."

 It's certainly brought awareness to me. Even if you don't suffer from mental health, you should at least try to understand what people are going through. What makes a person suffer from mental health. And how can they help themselves.

 One of the ways not only athletes can get help, but everyone else can get help is by going to dbsa.org website and seeking help. Even if you don't need help yourself, maybe there's a person you know who needs help. Or maybe visit that site to learn more about bipolar disorder and how people can find help for that mental health.

 So get help if you need help and understand mental health to help someone if they're in need. It's not that hard.

In Praise of Ron Artest

I've been struggling the past couple of weeks about how to talk about this issue. It's something I don't talk about everyday because I've never gone through this. How do you talk about something you don't really understand? But I can no longer delay this column, this issue must be talked about.

What I want to talk about is mental health. Now I've never gone through much mental health problems in my short life. I never had parents or relatives who abused and scared me for life. The only dramatic thing that has happened in my life was when my brother was diagnosed with Leukemia.

I never went through any mental anguish with my brother's diagnosis though. Maybe it's my positive outlook on life or my belief that my brother is stronger than I am, but I never went through any mental pain with his initial diagnosis.

Ron-Ron Writes Tiger a Letter

I was just writing about Ron Artest a couple of weeks ago. I talked about him drinking Hennessy during halftime of his basketball games. The main part of the story though, I talked about Ron-Ron's honesty. He always speaks his mind and never holds anything back.

Well Ron-Ron's honesty prompted him to write a open letter to Tiger Woods. What follows is pure awesomeness.

Dear Tiger,
In reading the statements you have made, I can tell you are a stand up guy. Please remember only Jesus is perfect. You made a mistake and you admitted your infidelity.
I have made the same mistakes. Before I got married to my wife, I had a baby with another young lady, after I already had two by my girlfriend who is now my wife. We also had another baby which makes three for us and four for me. Two boys and two girls.
My wife is a much better wife than I am a husband. We still argue and disagree after being together 16 years. and I still cope with the fact that there are so many women out there and I choose to stay loyal to my wife.
I want to be home every night, but with traveling I can’t, and sometimes I might want to go to a bar or club and be one of the fellas. Most of the time I stay in, because I have my kids and wife.
I cannot sit here and say the thought to have many women has never crossed my mind. If I were Jesus I could.
I have known my wife for 16 years– since I was 14 years old.
She was my first.
On the way to 2010 we had many ups and downs on the way, mostly my fault. But I really choose to work hard and play ball to support her and my kids. The same reason you are building your legacy.
I have been disturbed by this because there are many people who are happy that this bad news has come out.
There are a lot of sports announcers and regular reporters who are not perfect in their own homes, yet they want to bring you down.
You have done so much for people, the sport of golf, and your family and you gave your wife a life that people can’t even dream of.
I thought you were 36 or 37 until I read the news today. A 33-year-old man who has been a model citizen with so much at stake. This is your first publicly known issue since you started your career, compared to my 50 or more publicly known issues and mistakes.
You have been the perfect role model for me and my sons for longer than anyone I have known.
With the exception of a few legends.
As your fan, I can’t wait to see you golf again.
And us athletes know how much you personally love your family.

One love,
Ron Artest
This is just a fan mail letter to Tiger Woods fans and indirectly to Tiger himself.
Please, everyone support Tiger in these tough times for his family.

Also if you are a sports announcer or regular everyday reporter or blogger please step up like Tiger and tell your wife or husband if you have any skeletons in your closet. Especially if you were one of the few attacking TIGER!!
One Love People

What's funny about this open letter, that's exactly how it is written on his website. There are no spaces for paragraphs.

Anyways you have to love Ron Artest posting an open fan letter to Tiger Woods. That Tiger is one of Ron-Ron's mentor's. Only Ron-Ron would do this sort of thing. He's the only athlete to post an open letter to Tiger Woods. Just another reason why I love him so much. He's one of a kind and I hope he never changes.

My Letter to Tiger (Ron Artest Blog)

Please Don't Change Ron-Ron

I make no bones about it, I love Ron Artest. I love how he plays defense on a basketball court. I love how he is crazy as hell, but in a lovable type of way. I love that he takes risks, like the time he dropped an album when he was suspended by the league, I love everything about him. More importantly though, I love the man's brute honesty.

He always says what he is thinking and is never shy about talking about his rough childhood. Take for instance his post-game interview after a playoff game last year. He was with the Rockets and he was tossed from a game while playing the Lakers. After the game he went into detail about how a pickup basketball game in his hometown got so rough, a man tore off a table leg and through it at somebody. The table leg pierced a guy's heart and killed him on the basketball court. Now before you go on and say that is fake, the New York Times wrote about this incident. So no matter how crazy his stories sound, they are most likely true. The man is brutally honest.

Well Ron-Ron did an interview with the Sporting News and he stayed true to his nature and was brutally honest. He mentioned in the interview that he used to drink Hennessy during halftime when he played for the Bulls.

"I used to drink Hennessy … at halftime," Artest says in the interview, which hits newsstands this week. "I (kept it) in my locker. I'd just walk to the liquor store (near the stadium) and get it."

Terrific! I've hear about players making halftime adjustments and maybe downing a Gatorade, but has anyone heard of a professional athlete drinking Cognac during halftime? And has anyone tried Hennessy before? It's one of the nastiest drinks I have ever tasted. And Ron-Ron used to drink it during halftime. This alone makes Ron-Ron one of my favorite athletes.

Artest goes on talk about his time in college at St. John's.

"When I was a 19-year-old father, whew. I was a single pimp! I was wild. A lot of marijuana and alcohol—even before (that age). … I (still) party and I have fun, but not like I used to. I used to drink every night and party every night."

I guess age slowed down Ron-Ron's wild ways. Also could you imagine Artest being a father at 19? I wasn't mature at 19 to raise a child and I never smoked marijuana. Artest though is a good father. I saw a lot of Kings games when Artest played for them and he was always with his children.

Ron-Ron also talked about his time in Chicago and Indiana.

"It was all my fault. The first team, in Chicago, I was a head case. I worked really hard but still had this ghetto thing in me that I could not get out. … I could've stayed at Indiana my whole career, but I said I wanted to be traded. I was getting more stable, but I was still unstable and I was a bad teammate. They had to get rid of me."

Takes a big man to say it was his fault and that he was a head case. And he is right. Some of the stunts he pulled in Indiana alone, made him a head case. Like the time where he pulled Paul Pierce's shorts down. If you saw that and didn't say to yourself, "This guy might be crazier than Dennis Rodman", then you are just plain ignorant. The guy was crazy and he even admits to so.

Now where I don't agree with Artest, is about his involvement in the Malice at the Palace.

"It wasn't my fault. … I don't see anything I could have done different. The only thing I could have done was have God pause time so I could have said, 'Oh, look, you're about to run in some stands, so stop.'"

Well you didn't start the fight, but you damned will finished it Ron. I know that some jerk in Detroit threw a cup of beer at you, but you should have never ran into the stands. That was were being a head case got you into the most trouble and where your involvement gave the NBA it's biggest black eye. You will never be off the hook for this incident, until you admit that you should have been a bigger man and not went into the stands and had security arrest that idiot.

Of course Ron-Ron couldn't go an entire interview without taking a shot at Trevor Ariza. These guys have a little personnel rivalry going on right now that is truly epic to watch. Ron-Ron even threw Ariza's shoe into the stands after it fell off during a Rockets-Lakers game.

"I really don't understand why people compare me to him, or try. With what I've done in this league already, I mean, seriously? … I think it's the hype behind (a championship)."

While that might certainly be the case, it's hard to ignore the comparisons between him and Ariza. Both are small forwards who are terrific perimeter shooters, who also play some of the toughest defense in the league. Just don't tell Ron-Ron that.

This interview alone though is why I love Ron-Ron. He's never been afraid to speak his mind and speak the truth. He's owned up to all his faults, except for the Detroit-Indiana brawl. But he admits that he was immature when he was younger and that he is trying to become a better person. I for one hopes Ron-Ron never changes.

SN Conversation with Ron Artest: 'I used to drink Hennessy at halftime' (Sporting News)