Ron Artest: Travis Bickle (Taxi Driver)
“The idea had been growing in my brain for some time: TRUE force. All the king’s men cannot put it back together again.”
Crazy can be a scary thing. Crazy can make you talk to yourself in the mirror. Crazy can make you shave your head into a Mohawk. Crazy can win you a championship.
I know we keep coming back to this, but Dennis Rodman was one of the craziest dudes the NBA has ever seen. He’s also one of the greatest champions in professional sports. Ron Artest has the opportunity to join him.
In Taxi Driver Bob DeNiro played a crazy, war torn loner who drove a cab around 1970s NYC. He was misunderstood, but extremely loyal. From the opening credits, we watched as he was wound up tighter and tighter by what he saw as the degradation of society. It wasn’t a matter of if he would snap, but when.
But in the end it wasn’t a rampage at a political rally that would define him, but the sort of vigilante justice that only DeNiro could pull off. He saved the life of a teenage Jodie Foster, took a few bullets for good measure, and wound up as the unlikeliest of heroes.
When Lamar Odom talks about his childhood friend Ron Artest, he often uses the words misunderstood and loyal. No one on the Lakers wants to fit in more than Ron Ron. He’s had a rough go in the NBA Finals, but before all is said and done I expect Ron Ron to give us a moment or two that we will remember for years to come.
Ron Artest, the unlikely hero. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
