Ron Artest Video: Watch Ron-Ron Battle Zoophobia on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Ron Artest is from Queensbridge and he makes sure everyone knows that, especially Craig Saiger.  He grew up in a rough neighborhood.  He's seen a lot of scary stuff.

Back when he was a Houston Rocket, he told talked to the media after one of his postseason battles with Kobe Bryant in 2009.  He described to the press the tough environment he grew up in saying,

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"I remember one time, one of my friends, you know, he was playin' basketball and he was winnin' the game, and it was so competitive, they broke piece of a leg from a table, and they threw it and it went right through his heart and he died, right on the court."

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Now, I don't know if Artest is getting that story confused with a scene he's watched in a movie or what, but his stories of the hood doesn't stop there.  When the Lakers implemented a bonus for the players in which they would get paid extra for every offensive charge they drew on defense, Artest responded to the media saying: 

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"If you flop and they refs call an offensive foul, somebody is going to get stabbed or something.  You can't call an offensive charge.  If you call an offensive foul, there possibly could be a fight.  They call that a non-existent call.  That's the way we grew up playing basketball.  But you get to the NBA it's a different kind of basketball."

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Well, apparently Artest's upbringing didn't make him tough to the point he's fearless, to say the least.

A puppy?  No big deal, Ron Artest takes puppies to the strip club with him.  Beyond the common house pet though, don't bring an animal near Ron-Ron.

He stuck a pillow in the face of a possum, got stiff in the presence of a king vulture, begged for vodka when he saw an anaconda, ducked for cover when a porcupine entered the room, and was just as excited when he figured out that bear was fake as when he won his first NBA championship and announced the release of his new single.

And that's why we love Ron Artest.