Metta World Peace is an ironically re-named basketball player who was a thrill to American fans for his hard-nosed, hard-hitting, hard luck career. He has since assumed the name “Panda’s Friend” while playing for Pallacanestro Cantù of the Italian League. As it turns out, the more gentle Ron Artest’s name becomes, the more violent and blunt his physical force is.
His offensive skills have diminished with creaky knees and almost non-existent speed, but MWP’s instincts on the defensive side are the same. He makes himself into a horrific obstacle, dressed in fists and knuckles and kneecaps. The rest is a lot of flailing and bumping until a whistle blows.
Panda’s Friends’ teammate took a hard foul. There was a scuffle, which was broken up, and then the former NBA player got involved. Teammates had to hold him back. Based on the official play-by-play, Artest was called for five (5!) fouls in less than a minute. At that point, he was asked to leave.
Basically, Ron Artest’s/Metta World Peace’s/Panda’s Friend’s job in professional sports leagues right now is to be asked to leave. The forward averaged 19 points for the Sichuan Blue Whales of the Chinese Basketball Association before packing his bags for Italy to finish the spring. He may never return to prominence as a game-changing contributor, but he can still alter the outcomes by fouling enough people to get ejected.
That’s good ol’ World Peace for you… a dream out of reach, but still worth aspiring to!
(Via The Big Lead, ESPN)