Gilbert Areans Kicks Off 2010 With A Bang

What better way to start off the new year then with one of the craziest stories I have ever heard. The story goes something like this:

It was Christmas Eve in Washington DC and the members of the Washington Wizards were at the Verizon Center for a scheduled practice. After practice an argument broke out in the locker room. The argument was between Gilbert Arenas and fellow teammate Javaris Crittenton and was supposedly about a gambling debt.

The report is that Arenas refused to pay Crittenton money he owed he from a bet the two had made. Arenas was clearly upset with Crittenton and so naturally he pulled a gun on him. Wait it gets crazier. Not to be outdone Crittenton then pulled a gun on Arenas.

Imagine this for a second. It is Christmas Eve and two professional basketball players are standing in the middle of the locker room of their arena with guns pointed at one another like a Mexican standoff from a western movie. You couldn't make this up if you tried.

So many questions arise from this story:

How did these guys get guns into the arena?

The guns belong to Arenas who moved them from his home to a lockbox which he keeps in his locker at the arena. Arenas moved the guns to the arena because of the birth of his latest child. He felt that he shouldn't have weapons in the house if there were going to be children around.

By the way the Wizards knew he had loaded guns in the building and were in the process of going through an investigation by the NBA into the whole matter.

Who Intervened?

I really want to know who the person was that stood up and defused the situation. It's not as if someone would have bolted up and lunged at one of these guys so who eventually calmed them down? Or was it one of those situations there they both lowered their guns slowly and then left the room without saying a word?

If you look at the other players on the team it becomes even harder to figure out. The team is composed of 3 stars (Arenas, Caron Butler, and Antawn Jameion) and then a bunch of role players. That means there is no real leader in the locker room.

If this had happened with the Celtics then KG would have been the one to step in but I don't think the Wizards have a guy with a strong enough personality to be that bold. I really hope it was Fabricio Oberto or the 5"5 Earl Boykins.

What Do the Wizards Do Now?

Is it possible that the Washington Wizards have just become the luckiest team in professional sports?

I say this because Arenas is currently in the 2nd year of a 6-year $111 million deal that is crippling the Wizards financially.

Arenas was hurt almost all of last season playing in only 2 games. This year he has played in all 30 games and is averaging 22.7 points per game. Still he is a lazy player and is a a cancer to the Wizards and now he has given them cause to void his contract. If he gets charged with a felony then they no longer have to pay him anything and can free themselves to sign some players or even one of the major free agents upcoming this off-season.

However if Arenas doesn't get charged then what do the Wizards do? No one will want him on their team and if they release him they will have to pay him millions of dollars. Right now they can only hope he gets charged and maybe gets thrown in jail.

Either way their organization is now the focus of major negative attention but you know what they say, any publicity is good publicity. Especially if your 10-20 and one of the more irrelevant teams in the league.

What Did They Bet On?

Football, horses, the winner of AP Female Athlete of the Year? This is the kind of information fans needs to know.

This also speaks to a major issue involving the NBA, gambling. Conspiracy theorists say the reason Jordan retired for the first time was because he was "forced out" by the league for betting on basketball. We all know the story of Charles Barkley and his obsession with gambling and how Antoine Walker lost over $80 million gambling.

Bill Simmons wrote in his book The Book of Basketball that almost every fight or feud in NBA history between teammates is about a woman or gambling. Seems like this is proof he may be right about that.

Who Is Javaris Crittenton?

Seriously who is he?

According to his Wikipedia page he is 22 years old, he is from Atlanta, went to Georgia Tech, plays guard, makes $1,477,920 a year, and was originally drafted in the 1st round 19th overall by the Lakers back in 2007.

Is there a better way to become famous than being involved in a armed showdown in an NBA arena locker room? Obviously this isn't going to end well for Crittenton but now at least instead of not being remembered for being mediocre or for being a draft bust he will be the answer to the trivia question, "aside from Gilbert Arenas who is stupid enough to pull a gun on someone in an NBA locker room?"

How Did Arenas Respond To The Report?

Via Twtter how else? Here are some of the tweets he has ripped off in the past 24 hours:

"i wake up this morning and seen i was the new JOHN WAYNE..lmao media is too funny"

"and again if ur not laughing i dont think u should follow me becuz im never serious and i will never not say anything dumb and silly"

"i hav media outside my house...sumone tell them its to cold to be sittin out there they might get frost bite...it is winter still..."

So I guess he is claiming the whole thing isn't true. I find that hard to believe only because how could such a crazy story not be true? I mean which media source would ever run something like this if it was based off unreliable information? If it turned out to be a lie Arenas could sue for liable and I am sure the New York Post and Yahoo Sports (the two sources that broke the story) wouldn't be dumb enough to let that happen.

Is It Still OK To Call Him Agent 0?

For those of you that don't know Arenas' nickname is 'Agent 0.' The guy that is referred to as Agent 0 is the one NBA player that pulls a gun on somebody after practice. Like I said before you can't make this stuff up.

I guess he takes his nickname really seriously.

Final Thoughts

I find this story really fascinating and I can't wait for more details to be released. It boggles my mind that two professional athletes would pull guns on each other, IN THE LOCKER ROOM. How does this happen? It took so many things coming together for this to take place.

I mean because Arenas was keeping his guns there weapons were readily available. I would bet that there isn't 1 gun, not belonging to security, in any other sporting arena in North America. That means that this could only have happened to the Washington Wizards.

Could it be that the craziest sports story of 2010 broke on January 1st? By the way if you go to http://www.nba.com/wizards/intro_jerseypack.html the main picture is of Arenas and it says 'Character. Commitment. Connection.' It is just too easy.

Happy New Year to Everyone!

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