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)