They should have stuck with "Bullets"

The Washington Wizards, formerly known as the Washington Bullets, have been the centre of a recent media circus thanks to the supposed locker-room altercation between blogger/comedian/Agent Zero Gilbert Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton. Although much of the rumours are speculative and replete with denials, the story that is being reported right now is that Arenas and Crittenton were arguing in the locker room about Arenas' gambling debt, at which point they drew guns on each other. Ok gentlemen, you are professional basketball players. The fact that you would be willing to draw a gun on your own teammate is one thing but there's a more serious issue here: why were there guns in the locker room in the first place?! According to ESPN, here is what happened.

"Multiple sources told ESPN.com that an argument commenced during a card game on the team's overnight flight back to Washington from Phoenix on Dec. 19 and escalated into a heated exchange between Arenas and Crittenton. The Wizards had Dec. 20 off, but sources say hostilities between the two Wizards guards resumed Dec. 21 in the locker room on a practice day.

Sources say that Arenas, in response to what was said on the flight, placed the three guns on a chair near Crittenton's locker stall and invited him to pick one before practice on Dec. 21. Sources said that Crittenton subsequently let Arenas know that he had his own gun."

This is serious. These men are role-models playing in the United States' capital, a city not exactly known for being safe. They have a responsibility to their fans, families and most important their team to play at the highest level and keep all off-court drama to a minimum.

Granted, at this point everything remains unconfirmed. Arenas plans on meeting with law officials Monday and could face suspension and possibly jail time. What seems to be undeniable at this point is that Arenas brought guns with him to the locker room (Wizards security anyone??). But Crittenton's role in this has been cast in doubt by his agent Mark Bartelstein who said ""I think that once the investigation is completed and everyone's done their work, it will be shown that Javaris has done nothing wrong." He declined to shed light on any specifics. Regardless of what comes from this, the NBA has some serious damage control to take care of, considering in recent years the league has done an OK job distancing themselves from the perspective that all NBA players are thugs.

I'm excited to see where this story goes once all the b.s. gets sorted through and the public learns what really happened (if it is in fact different than the current reports). Until then, watch Arenas shy away from questions in the video below.


With files from ESPN and a special thanks to Truthaboutit.net for the epic picture up top.