Matt Lauer Interviews Ron Artest... OMG!!

[arwalden]

Mr. Artest is certainly not the most articulate person I've ever seen in an interview.

Matt Lauer would ask a specific question, and Mr. Artest would just start talking about whatever random thoughts happened to be in his head at the moment. He would seldom give a direct answer and always wandered off down a trail of disjointed thoughts that had little to do with the original subject.

Matt Lauer tried to pin him down and keep his answers focused on the ACTUAL question, but with limited success. He would have had more luck in herding cats.

I'm truly impressed, however, that Matt Lauer managed to keep a straight face throughout the interview.

[RivetJoint]

1. And that surprises you?

[kcwayne]

2. He is a mental midget and is functionally illiterate

Look for him to be appointed to a position in the Bush Administration, probably responsible for home schooling initiatives as a role model.

[petepillow]

3. lol

nice! :headbang:

[Algorem]

9. And what about Ron Artest?

[Forkboy]

23. LMAO

:)

[arwalden]

36. Bu-u-u-urn! (Good one!)

[SoCalDem]

4. Sports guys are not what they used to be

Unfortunately, over that last 20 years or so athletics has morphed into an ugly beast.. The gladiator mentality is rampant. There was a time when colleges actually expected their athletes to graduate with a degree. It was not always a lofty one , but at least it proved that they had SOME classes in the basics, and most could speak in coherent sentences (well except for the presidential scholarship)..

Lots of the guys in pro sports nowadays only went to college for a short time, in order to catch the eye of scouts..and then bolted asap..

I hate what college sports have become.. I liked it better when scholars played sports.. It's pretty ugly now.. It's got to be easier to teach a smart guy to play ball, than it is to teach a ball player to be intelligent..

[RivetJoint]

5. Johnny Wooden...where are ye???

[mark414]

6. part of that's linked to poorly funded inner city schools, etc.

a lot of these guys come from backgrounds that being good at basketball helped them escape

unfortunately, they saw basketball and not education as the way out, which for many young blacks is unfortunately true, because of abysmal inner city schools, among other problems that inner city kids have to deal with

a local columnist here in milwaukee also had this to say regarding the fight (but also note that he doesn't excuse artest's behavior):

"Today's young African-American men don't want any part of turning the other cheek or accepting "disrespect" from a predominantly white fan base, mainly because these are largely young men from the inner cities of America where your self-respect or "heart" can be a perishable quality that's hard to get back once it's lost.

Some of them are also the children of single mothers with no men in their lives to show them the true meaning of being a man. As recent visitor Bill Cosby told a Milwaukee audience, much of the violence found in these young men is the result of the hole in their souls that has never been filled.

They're not allowed to tell anyone they are hurting, so instead, they turn their anger outward, often with disastrous results."

http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/nov04/277725.asp

[SoCalDem]

10. That's true, and I feel for them, BUT

I fault the colleges and the Pro sports organizations even MORE.. If college is still going to be the route to the NBA or NFL or whatever, they need to re-instate some rules and stick to them.. Make it MANDATORY that they at least graduate first.. Even if they do not end up with a hoity-toity degree, the very nature of them BEING there for 4 years would educate them.. The sports curriculum should mandate courses in accounting/public speaking/english/ and maybe even include some psychological counseling for them to help them come to grips with what they have experienced in their young lives.

Colleges are not serving them well, and then they jump to the pros, totally unprepared for what's ahead of them..

and the slots that they occupy in college are slots that could go to academic students who WOULD study and graduate...and would cause a whole lot less trouble..

If the athletes are not going to be "real" students, then quit calling them students, and just PAY them as entertainers..:grr:

[AngryAmish]

12. Mandatory college graduation?

Many concerns:

1. Many people are too dim to graduate from college. A college degree is not mandatory to play professional basketball on a physical level.

2. It would be restraint of trade - illegal.

3. All college degree league would be illegal under civil rights law. (Disparate impact re race)

My solution? I have none other than having teachers, coaches, parents, hangers on, etc. to expect that young athletes have to follow the same rules as their peers. If one gets special treatment one expects it all the time. It is hard to develop character if one does not have to face adversity.

[SoCalDem]

13. Okay.. if "most" kids graduate at age 22, why couldn't the minimum

age for pro sports just be 22.. Then maybe more kids would figure that they might as well go to school, since they cannot join the pros until they were 22:)

[AngryAmish]

14. This is the reality

NBA & NFL have a vested interest in producing the best games with the best athletes. (I am going to leave out the NFL because football is not an international sport).

The dim kids could go overseas to play professionally. Or another league could form that has no such rules. So, NBA will lead the race to the bottom and have minimal rules to ensure its monopoly power.

Could they make a rule about age 22? Maybe. But it may be considered restaint of trade (I am not an expert on employment/anti-trust law). It is not in NBA's interest to make such a rule.

[Zuni]

19. actually, many inner city schools are among the best funded

Washington DC spends more per student than any state for example, but their schools are shitholes.
Part of the problem comes from the fact that many kids come from broken homes, and much of it is a total lack of responsibility among parents, teachers and officials in inner cities.

[skygazer]

22. Lack of responsibility

Or simply not getting the caliber of teachers and officials that other schools in better areas might get. I used to know a cop in NH who had been a teacher at an inner city school. He had gone into it as an idealist and gotten disillusioned because the only teachers and administrators these places could get (for the most part) were the ones who couldn't get or keep a job elsewhere. He left and became a cop because he felt like he was doing the same thing only for more money!

[mark414]

24. um...

no

[Zuni]

25. Look up the figures

DC students have more spent on them than students at the High School I went to in Maryland.

[sir_captain]

27. How many kids were in the classroom on average

in your school in MD?

[Zuni]

28. 20-30 actually

My high school was considered overcrowded

[sir_captain]

29. That's not that bad

I'd bet that you still had the books you needed...

Honestly, having a class size below 30 in most urban public schools is kind of a miracle.

[Zuni]

32. we were also in an old building with no air conditioning

and we had lack of luxuries that many newer schools in the county had.
Not as bad as the defecit that schools in DC or baltimore have, but the problem is bigger than the amount of money spent---it is how it is spent and the quality of the teachers.
A huge problem is that many of these kids come from broken homes, or have absent parents.

[sir_captain]

33. again, you are partially correct

if you look back at my posts, i agreed with you that the absolute dollar value is kind of meaningless.

and yes, coming from broken homes is a problem and has been pretty much for the last 50 years. it's just that this statement isn't that helpful--it's a lot more difficult to address the decline of urban family structure than it is to address the method in which urban school are funded--particularly in cases where parents are not going to be a major part of the child's educational life, it is morally imperative that the school system be a safe haven--and there is no question that most urban school systems--new york being the prime example, as both the most segregated, and largest school system by far in the country--need a hell of a lot more money.

[mark414]

35. that's an isolated example

if you look at national figures, you'll find quite the opposite

[sir_captain]

26. You're partly right and partly wrong

right that the situation is more complicated than simply school funding

wrong in the idea that lots of inner city schools are the best funded--even that is more complicated. the costs of running a school in a place like DC are much much higher than in, say, the midwest. one needs to look at the allocation of funds within the school to get a real idea of how much impact that money is having--ie, is it even available for schoolbooks, teacher salaries, etc

[Zuni]

30. I was just pointing out that many inner city schools recieve more money

than schools in suburbs or in the sticks.
Yes, the inner city school systems cost more to run and are plagued with more problems (old buildings without proper facilities for new technology)/resources like computers scarce, etc.
I was just saying that DC pays more money per pupil than anywhere in Maryland, including my highschool.

[sir_captain]

34. that's not strictly true

some do...

In lots of other urban school systems, NYC, for instance, it is completely the opposite.

[Wilber_Stool]

7. Sounds like

Secretary of Defense material to me.

[underpants]

8. The player union reps first comment was "Well he isn't very articulate"

Artest was fully promoting his CD (he acked for time off before this to promote it-seriously).

He di dhave a good point about not wanting his kids to see the video either..."But YOU played it"

[NamVetsWeeLass]

11. This story kind of reminds me of a movie...

The Movie was Bedazzled with Brendan Frasier who sells his soul to the Devil (Liz Hurley) in exchange for 7 wishes... One of the wishes ended up making him a basketball player that was dumber than a Bag of Hammers, But THE best basketball player EVER.

As far as Matt Lauer, He cracks up all the time, I am surprised he held it together.

[joeybee12]

15. Did Matt offer a Rim Job in return for a straight answer? That media whor

does stuff like that for celebrities and Repukes. Or maybe the rim job was offered just to get him on the show!

[jrthin]

16. If what Arwalden descibes

is accurate, then I say Artest is fully qualified to be president of the USA. Heck, he may be a bit over qualified but, we'll take him.

[CO Liberal]

17. The Only Rhodes Scholar I Know Of Who Played Pro Basketball...

..was "Dollar" Bill Bradley, former NY Knick and US Senator from New Jersey.


Source: http://www.webcom.com/


Source: http://www.alligator.org/

[underpants]

18. You forgot Tom MacMillen

Gee they both are Dems :think:
http://politicalgraveyard.com/special/rhodes-scholars.html

Charles Thomas McMillen (b. 1952) -- also known as C. Thomas McMillen -- of Crofton, Anne Arundel County, Md. Born in Elmira, Chemung County, N.Y., May 26, 1952. Democrat. Rhodes scholar; U.S. Representative from Maryland 4th District, 1987-93; defeated, 1992. Catholic. Professional basketball player, National Basketball Association, 1975-86. Still living as of 1998. See also: congressional biography.

[CO Liberal]

20. I Didn't Know About Tom MacMillen

I knew about Bill Bradley because I lived in NJ for 42 years.

[Zuni]

21. I grew up in AA County---My folks knew him

I remember when I was a kid at a 4th of july fireworks display at the Naval Academy he carried me on his shoulders. He was VERY tall.

[arwalden]

31. ... and he barely sounded like he was sorry about it too.

Obviously he was not pleased with his stiff punishment, but from my perspective, he certainly didn't seem to express much regret about his actions. All the smiling and levity and hemming and hawing made it seem like it was more of a game of avoidance and not accepting responsibility.

[THUNDER HANDS]

37. did you know

that he actually qualified for college after three years of high school?

The dude is smart, but he may be one of those 'eccentric' type of smart people.

[Champ]

39. Yup

Also majored in mathematics. He may have a short fuse but he isn't dumb.

[TeddyKGB]

38. What an asshat.

As poised and intelligent off the court as he is on it (and in the stands).