New CBW Editorial

[Snoopy the Celtics Beagle]

I uploaded this to the CBW but for those without access to websites, 
I'm reprinting it here.

Do we support the right to arm bears, too?
Early this morning, October 6, four members of the Indiana Pacers 
were involved in what was described as "a verbal altercation ...that 
turned into a physical altercation".  This description was given by 
Sgt. Matthew Mount of the Indianapolis Police department.

This calm description glosses over the facts.  Four Pacers 
players--Stephen Jackson, Jamaal Tinsley, Marquis Daniels, and Jimmie 
Hunter--were inside a strip club, where an arguement began.  Even 
those of us who have never been inside a strip club know what goes on 
there.  Woman get naked to loud music while men watch, and pay money 
for looks and drinks.  Theoretically, they should be too busy 
checking out the women to talk, much less argue, about anything.

But someone found a way.  The pacers left the club, we are told, and 
"other club patrons followed them outside".   During this time, we 
are told, Jackson was hit in the mouth and someone tried to run him 
over with their car.  Jackson then pulled out his 9mm pistol and 
fired a shot in the air.  The police arrived and restored a semblance 
of order, and Jackson, who was limping, later was treated at a 
hospital.  Police reported that Tinsley and Daniels both had licensed 
guns in their cars.

So, let me see if I have this straight.  Less than a week after the 
start of training camp, four players are staying out late at 
night--well past midnight--at a strip club, three of them armed and 
one carrying his weapon on him.

Putting aside the question of why they're at a strip club to start 
with, or why they're out that late, consider the guys we're talking 
about.  Jackson, the gun toting Guard, is listed as 6'8" and 218 
pounds.  Tinsley is 6'3" and 183 pounds.  Daniels is 6'6"and 200 
pounds.  Hunter is 6'4" and 187 pounds.  They're all professional 
athletes.  Even if someone gets sufficiently blasted that they pick a 
fight with ANY of these guys--never mind ALL of them--you'd think 
some kind soul would point out the likelihood of said person geting 
squished like a bug on the window of a race car.   Two of these guys 
had guns in their cars.  God knows that anyone else was carrying.

Yet, for some reason, Jackson felt the need to pack a firearm.  How 
sad he was proven right.  We don't yet know who "started" it, and it 
doesn't matter.  Did no one learn from what happened LAST summer in 
Chicago?  Or did they think that Paul Pierce was stabbed by accident 
a few seasons back?

You'd think that grown men would not need to be told to be home at a 
reasonable hour.  That perhaps going to a strip club, and mixing 
booze and guns is a bad idea.  I don't generally object to the guys 
packing heat for personal protection.  But I have a SERIOUS problem 
when they take said weapon into a place where they will be 
drinking.  Finally, for the love of Linus and Lucy, these guys, 
between them, make enough to request a private room, or 
something.  Rick Carlisle and Larry Bird might not be fond of the 
idea, but I bet they much prefer a private strip joint to last night's antics.

Nobody behaved responsibly.  Not the players, and not the other "club 
patrons".  Do we really HAVE to set a curfew, like they were back in 
high school or college?  Does Rick Carlisle HAVE to drive around the 
city doing bed checks?  How much of this idiocy is prevalent among 
other teams--including, unfortunately, the Celtics?

If you need to go somewhere armed, DON'T GO.  Are these guys REALLY 
that stupid?  I know next to nothing about the Pacers players 
personal lives.  There may be wives or girlfriends reading about 
these guys in the paper...or hearing about it from friends and 
co-workers.   Their families must be thrilled to hear the comments 
too.  If you want to go to a strip club, there have to be places that 
cater to a less violent crowd.   If you want to see a woman get 
naked, rent a video, watch cable tv, bribe your wife/girlfriend, and 
make it a night to remember.

Chrales Barkley once publicly declaimed, "I am NOT a role 
model".  Fair enough.  But is it too much to ask a grown man to ACT 
like a grown man?  To go places where you don't have to pull a weapon 
and fire it after being hit by a car during an arguement?  And don't 
try the "he only fired a warning shot in the air" with me.  People 
have been injured and/or killed by such shots. When you draw a 
weapon, you are prepared to use it.  And nobody except Steve 
McGarrett shoots to wound.

We were lucky, all of us.  Jackson didn't get seriously hurt or 
killed.  He didn't shoot anybody.  Everyone walked away, embarrassed 
but alive.  The guy with the car will probably face charges, but 
since the odds were he was drunk at the time, he'll probably get a 
relatively light sentence.  But we're not mourning the loss of a 
player, or players.

If you need protection, get a bodyguard, and don't do stupid things 
like wander into a place where fights break out.  Turn the gun into 
the police and relieve yourself of wondering what you'd do if you 
ever used it on anyone.

We've all seen some horrific stories in the news lately.  Is it too 
much to ask we not deliberately add to the stupidity and 
misery?  Maybe professional atheletes aren't role models...but would 
it really kill them to TRY?

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle
Please visit the <http://www.celticsbeagle.net/>Celtics Beagle Website