Just Call Him Bullet Head

By Rizwaan Zahid
Gilbert Arenas is simply the latest professional athlete to be tied in with firearms one way or another. The difference is, the rest of the athletes brought one to clubs, houses etc… not their own locker room.

There are many other nicknames we could give to Gilbert, including my personal favourite, 007, instead of Agent 0. Worse thing is, Arenas made light of the episode thinking this is perfectly normal conduct of a professional athlete. Not only has Arenas probably ruined his stint with the Wizards, he has likely tarnished his career to a degree. Arenas had barely played at all the last two years and just when he seemed to be getting back on track playing in 32 games so far this season, Arenas has put himself in the category of failed potential.

What is it about athletes and firearms? You’d think they would be able to hire security guards with the money they make but apparently not. T.J. Ford recently said that he believes many NBA players have guns for protection. Where does the problem lie? I would think enforcement. Ford says he doesn’t take his gun outside his home, a policy that David Stern prefers the players take. Prefers? Perhaps it’s time to order certain rules in the NBA outside of the court. The association is not merely an organization but a league of highly paid players many of which need to have rules set so they do not break them. On the other hand, rules are meant to be broken, and broken they will be. Despite my belief that Stern needs to enforce more rules for the players, I do agree with his suspension of Arenas for the incident. The problem is however, he suspended him after Arenas mocked the incident, not right after the incident occurred.

That is the real issue. A man bringing a gun into a locker room of other athletes who are part of a team. Team being they key word. It’s hard to see Arenas being part of a team anytime soon. At least a winning one.