Star Spangled: Josh Howard, Mark Cuban, Ron Artest, and Desperate Sports Writers

One of the major problems with sports writers and with journalism in general, is that the writers want stories. In the eye of the sports reporter, the more controversial the story is, the better it is.

Houston Rockets small forward Ron Artest, though not a perfect angel himself, has been and continues to be somewhat of a victim to this desire to publish the latest trash on anything imaginable and it has taken the admittance of one small market sports reporter to prove this.

On September 17, Sacramento Bee sports reporter and Kings beat writer Sam Amick actually admitted that he missed Artest’s crazy antics because it gave him something to write about.

“As the summer neared an end and the reality sunk in that I won't have the joy of covering Ron Artest in this coming season,” exclaimed Amick, “I began to miss those days when Artest was saying something new and newsworthy almost every day.”

Just after these thoughts, Amick claims to have received an email out-of-the-blue from Artest which contained remarks on Josh Howard’s recent activity.

Howard, the speed racing, starting small forward for the Dallas Mavericks was featured in a cell phone video, at a powder puff charity football game put on by Allen Iverson. In the video, as the Star Spangled Banner is being played, Howard exclaimed that he doesn’t celebrate the song because he’s black.

Mark Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks, responded by saying, “We will be going through some advanced communication-skill sessions together this training camp.” Are you kidding me? An “advanced communication-skill session” with Mark—I’m nuts look at me on the side court yelling at my coach and the referee’s like a crazed lunatic—Cuban? That sounds like a riot.

So Artest emailed Sam Amick in response to the Howard situation. Here’s what he said:

I think Josh Howard's comment is a reflection on education. I think the schools need to teach deeper in the history classes and make the students aware of racism but also teach them that all people are not bad. I can relate to not feeling wanted by my own country at times but as I dug deeper I realized that America is divided and we need leaders to bring America closer together. An example where I felt unwanted by my country was when I didn't get a chance to tryout for my national team. I believed it was because my history.

So Sam Amick got his story. More important was the fact that he was guilty of looking towards Artest for stories while the small forward played for the Kings. I know because I read that garbage for the last two and a half years.

Amick’s desire to expect stories from Artest should be a lesson to Houston Rocket fans and Houston sports writers. Yeah, Artest gets readers, but his antics and the desires to attract readers can be detrimental to the team’s success. I also put Amick in this category.

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