Metta World Peace: Suspended Laker Doesn't Sound Sorry for Vicious Elbow

The Metta World Peace elbow-gate of 2012 has outraged millions of sports fans, and it seems like the player formerly known as Ron Artest doesn’t understand why.

He recorded a two minute podcast on iTunes talking about the seven game suspension he received, and sounded like a man that had no clue how severe his actions were (via LA Times’ Mike Bresnahan):

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World Peace speaks in 2-minute iTunes podcast: "I didn't expect to get seven games. I also didn't expect James Harden to be right behind me."

— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) April 25, 2012"

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More Metta podcast: "I ain't dunked like that really in the last three years. Usually people contest my shot and they can block my shot."

— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) April 25, 2012"

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Metta: "I was just way hyped up...do push-ups, jump up + down, do muscles, flex for the crowd. Unfortunately, I hit Harden with the elbow."

— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) April 25, 2012"

So having a strong dunk for the first time in a while warrants a potentially career-threatening elbow to an innocent players head? The outcome could have been much worse, and James Harden could have missed the entire postseason…or maybe even more.

We still don’t know how long Harden will be out for, and there is a significant chance he'll miss time in the playoffs as he attempts to pass the NBA's thankfully stringent concussion test.

While Harden is unlikely to experience long lasting repercussions, World Peace should have sounded much more apologetic. Some analysts were calling for a suspension for the rest of the year. Others believed it would be a minimum of 10 games.  World Peace should consider himself lucky.

Factoring in that World Peace is a repeat offender who has been suspended for over 100 games in his career, he should have his apology down to a tee. He should know that nobody feels sorry for him or gives him a pass for getting excited for dunking the ball.

It clearly wasn’t an accident, so World Peace should accept his penalty and move on instead of coming off as a guy looking for pity points.

That’s unacceptable.

So while you may agree or disagree with the length of the suspension, it’s appalling to hear World Peace's response.

Did he learn his lesson?

It doesn’t sound like it. 

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