Basketball may be no good for you

Some days ago I was talking with a friend about the NBA season. We do not meet very often and every opportunity we find is used for a quick interchange of views on players, teams,... However, this time, we were talking about some NBA players with weird behaviour, what can make you think that, after all, basketball is not so good for your health.

Let's start by the latest. Ron Artest made public this week that he used to drink French cognac in the locker room... He added that he played drunk some games. Ron Artest is the same player who, when he was playing for Indiana Pacers, took part in the big fight in Detroit (see picture below), even fighting with some spectators. Remembering this event, he said that every time he meets Ben Wallace (he played for Detroit Pistons and was the one who started everything), he wants to punch him, regardless of the consequences of this behaviour.Portland Trail Blazers were known for a time as "Jail Blazers", since its best players were continously having problems with the law. One of them (I am not sure about his name, so let's keep him anonymous) is responsible of one of the best sentences ever pronounced in front of a police officer. He was driving one night in a "strange" way, so he was stopped by the police, which started digging in his car looking for drugs. He replayed the policeman: "Don't look for marijuana, I've smoked it all".

Allen Iverson has had a brilliant carreer at NBA and a turbulent life outside NBA. One episode which seems to have happened some years ago involved a naked woman leaving his house running while he was after her with a gun in his hands... It has also been said that a big group of people (more than 30) lives in his house, with the his being the only income there. Can you imagine now why he is still playing?

I would like to finish this post with the most funny stories. Derrick Rose was picked in position 1 in 2008 Draft by Chicago Bulls. This fact was not a surprise for anybody since his university years had been really brilliant. However, he missed an important game (probably in the NCAA Final Four) because he had an indigestion of sweets the night before. Afterwards, once playing in the NBA, he missed some games because he was accidentaly injured in his shoulder by a knife forgotten on his bed. Yes, the big question is how on Earth can anybody forget a knife on his bed?

These are just four examples of the strange behaviour shown by some NBA players from time to time. Many of them did not have much opportunities in their youth and it has not been easy getting a place in the NBA. The change is so huge that some of them just cannot swallow it properly.