And The Winner Is...

...Ron Artest. Yup! That's right, Ron Artest is the winner of the NBA's Kennedy Citizenship Award. "The award is named for the second commissioner of the league and honors an NBA player or coach for outstanding service and dedication to the community." (see the full article at nba.com). If you are well versed regarding Ron Ron's history in the league, you are probably sitting here laughing, scratching your head, and wondering how this happened given his ridiculous history. However, it seems as though our boy has turned over a new leaf, taking on the cause of mental illness, something which he is very familiar with as we look back on all of his antics. Despite his troubled past, he's trying to have a positive impact now, and regardless, he is one of the most unintentionally funny dudes in the public eye. That being said, I'd like to declare today, April 27th, 2011, "Ron Artest Day" here at "The Takeover". We will be celebrating the man, the myth, the legend, all day.

I'd like to start by recalling some of his funnier moments:

1. -After his rookie season playing for the Chicago Bulls, he applied for a job at Circuit City. On the application form, he listed "NBA Player" as his most recent job and then listed the president of the Bulls as a reference. When asked why he did this, he simply stated he wanted to get the employee discount.
2. -Suspended early on in the 2004-2005 season when he was playing for the Pacers after asking his coach for time off because he was really tuckered out from his efforts in promoting the R&B girl group "Allure". Guess he got what he wanted!
3. -When he was signed to the Lakers in July of 2009, he chose to wear the number 37 on his jersey. Why? Well this was done in order to honor Michael Jackson, whose album "Thriller" remained at the top of the charts for 37 straight weeks. I'm not kidding--if you don't believe me, head to Google right now.
4. -When the Lakers lost to the Celtics in the 2008 Championship series, Kobe Bryant was a baby about it. He stayed in the team's locker room, in the showers for a while after the loss drowning his sorrows. When he heard someone back there, he assumed it was a teammate, but instead, it was Ron Artest (prior to his signing with L.A.). According to an article on bleacherreport.com , Ron approached Kobe, stating “I want to come help you, If I can, I’m going to find a way to come to LA and give you the help you need to win a title.”. If you go to this site, you will also see a whole slew of other incidents that we haven't noted here.
5. -After the Lakers Championship win in 2010, Artest veered off the beaten path of traditional thank yous adding his psychologist and his 'hood warriors' to this very important list. He then took the opportunity to plug his then new single "Champions" while ESPN Analyst Doris Burke attempted to interview him (see below for interview and then "Champions" video).

This is just the beginning of a day long celebration of Ron Artest. Congrats homeboy! Raffling off your Championship Ring in order to raise money (over $500K!) to donate to the cause of mental illness was a great move! Look at you now!!!


Watch this video- it is simply remarkable:



-KC Jones

Big Ran:  Pic of Ron Ron with the baseball on his head?  Best picture ever.