Ron Artest, Role Model?

In case you don't know who Ron Artest is, he's a basketball player who hasn't had a very good reputation. He's caused problems on some of the teams he's played for, he spent 10 days in jail because of a domestic abuse charge, and he's best known for being part of a brawl in which he punched a fan at a game. So why am I saying that he is now a very important role model?

We're used to hearing athletes after a victory thanking their mothers, coaches, and sometimes even their teammates. They often thank God, and that always seems weird to me to think that God was rooting for one team rather than the other. I'm not even sure He's a sports fan. So when the Los Angeles Lakers recently won the NBA championship, it was a little shocking to hear Ron Artest saying, "I want to thank my psychiatrist."

Artest seems to have turned his life around. He hasn't gotten in trouble lately, he's involved in some philanthropic causes, and he has started a program called Xcel University to help high-risk kids. Maybe his deciding to see a psychiatrist was another step in turning his life around.

I was somewhat amused by Artest's thanking his shrink, but a week or so later, a friend of mine said what a great thing it was that Artest made that statement. My friend, Sandra, pointed out that it was good for an athlete like Artest to admit that he was seeing a psychiatrist.

I realized that Sandra couldn't have been more right. Here was a tough, manly, macho guy telling the world that he was getting psychiatric help -- and that it was working. That's why I think, at least because of that moment, that he is an important role model.

Most male athletes -- and maybe most males -- have learned to keep their emotions to themselves. Think about the famous movie line, "There's no crying in baseball." There's also no admission of fears, anxiety, or depression in any big-time sport. Players are taught to "man up" when something bothers them. When helmets were first mandated in hockey, many players said they didn't really need them. If they have to act like they don't care about their heads getting hit by a puck, they certainly aren't going to feel comfortable admitting that something is bothering them inside their heads.

When they turn pro, athletes suddenly earn more money than they ever dreamed of. Strangers cheer their every move. And before you know it, they're in a Holiday Inn with two hookers and enough drugs to sedate the entire population of Rhode Island.

I think teams should have a therapist on the payroll and make it mandatory that rookies see him or her at least once. After that, they should know that they can go to therapy as much or as little as they want. Maybe if they see that the veterans aren't embarrassed to get help, they won't be, either.

Like many people, athletes generally only get help after they've messed up big time. Maybe Ron Artest wouldn't have been in that brawl if hehad already admitted to himself that he needed help. Maybe some of those athletes who take their guns with them to nightclubs would stay home with their families if they got help for their unspoken insecurities. Who knows? Maybe Tiger Woods would have behaved himself -- or at least stopped at two or three.

Athletes are heroes to many people, especially kids. It's refreshing that for once the message from a big time athlete is not that it's cool to drive a car 100 miles per hour, that graduating is for geeks, or that the rules of marriage only apply to women. The message was that it's cool to get help if you need it.

If a six-foot, seven-inch sports figure feels that there's no reason to be ashamed about seeing a therapist, maybe at least a few people who are shorter than he is will feel the same way. Even if it's silly, people still seem to believe that truly manly men are big, strong guys. I guess society hasn't evolved enough to realize that the real manly men are those who look fear in the eyes and man up as they grind out a column every week, without even wearing a helmet.

Royalty In The U.S.?

One thing our Founding Fathers were sure of is that they didn't want a king in this new country. They didn't want one person to be regarded as something so special that people would have to bow down to him and treat him almost like a god. Well, I wonder how the founding fathers would feel right now as there is a campaign throughout the country regarding someone known as King James. In case you're one of those people I don't understand who's not a sports fan, this young man's name is actually LeBron James, he's a great basketball player, and his contract is up. As James decides where he'll play basketball next, ordinary citizens and government officials are treating him like, well, a king.

James is a fantastic player, he's charismatic, and would bring baskets full of cash to whatever city lands him. He wears Number 23 on his jersey, but in the free-agent market, he is Number One. He's only 25 years old, so he probably has many years of basketball left. If you have teenage kids that you'd like to pursue a higher education, don't let them hear LeBron's story. He never went to college, and his next contract will probably be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. That's nine-figures! The downside, of course, is that he has missed out on cramming for organic chemistry and analyzing "The Scarlet Letter."

Yet, some people think he's a bargain. His being on a team guarantees more people in the seats, and his being in a city means more visitors, more full hotels and restaurants, and more forged autographs being sold on the street. That's why so many people are kissing this king's ring, or something else of his.

For the past seven years, he's played in the not so flashy city of Cleveland. Now, flashier places like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles are trying to lure him away from that city on Lake Erie. James is from Akron, Ohio, just a few of his giant steps from Cleveland. This is one of the reasons that he just might stay and play in Cleveland. One Clevelander has started a website called pleasedontleave23.com. There's also a 212 member LeBron James Grandmother's Fan Club. The Cleveland Orchestra has made a video praising LeBron, as has Ohio's Governor Ted Strickland.

Chicago Bulls fans have a website called, "sendLeBrontochicago.com." David Geffen, media mogul, music producer, and all around rich guy has said that if he can buy 51% of the Los Angeles Clippers, he "guarantees" that he can get LeBron to join that hapless team. And then there's New York.

New York City has a campaign called "C'mon LeBron" that includes T-shirts, billboards, and messages on taxis begging James to come to New York. New York's Mayor Bloomberg actually made a video trying to get LeBron to take a bite of the Big Apple. Fortunately, it's not a music video, but it's still unseemly and embarrassing. Some might even think it's blasphemous (a word that I don't think I've ever used in a column before). At the end of the video, the mayor says, "As the Good Book says, lead us to the promised land." And then with a wink and bad comic timing he adds, "And that's a quote from the King James version."

I know what it is to be a sports fanatic. I admit that I have watched the exact same Sports Center show more than once in a four-hour period. But this goes way beyond the usual abnormal behavior of sports fans. I understand that it's about money and civic pride, but how much pride can a place have if it's willing to do anything to get a 25 year old kid to play a game in their city?

In case you don't think it's more than a bit weird that James has gotten all this attention, there's more: President Obama has weighed in on the subject. First he said that it would be great if James played in Obama's hometown of Chicago. Then I guess his advisers or pollsters told him that statement was a mistake, so Obama said it would be nice if James stayed in Cleveland.

That's right. The President of the United States actually gave his opinion on this issue of vital interest. Who's next? The Dalai Lama? Could be. "Come on, LeBron, play in Tibet. We won't just give you money. If you sign for five years with an option for six plus revenue sharing for public appearances, I'll throw in the secret of life."