Image, What Image?

The NBA has had trouble improving their image over the years.  NFL players have gone to jail for murder and major league baseball is in the center of the steroids scandal yet the NBA has the worst percieved image of the major sports league.  The biggest reason they have this bad image is because they continue to give bad characters chance after chance to play in the league.  In the early 90’s “The Bad Boy” Detroit Pistons were popular for their dirty style of play on the court. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s the Portland Jailblazers, were filled with great talent but poor character. The likes of Isiah Rider(Weed), Damon Stoudimire (Weed and Gun charges), and Rasheed Wallace (All-time Technical foul Leader) were the face of this franchise and all three have had their share of run ins with the law.   Then you have Ron Artest, this guy is just plain crazy.  The guy went into the stands after a fan which resulted the biggest malae in american sports history.  After that he requested time off from basketball so he could promote his new recording groups album.  This guy doesn’t have his head on straight at all.  That brings us to Stephen Jackson.  This is the guy who was the first player to go into the stands to protect Artest by throwing haymakers at anyone close to him.  His latest incident happened last week when he and some of his teammates were at a shoe modeling establishment when an altercation between the group of players and another group of men broke out.  One of the men tried to run over Jackson and his teammates so Jackson pulled out a hand gun and fired shots in the air.  In light of this incident, the NBA has yet to suspend Jackson for this.  Jackson has a long wrap sheet of character issues yet the NBA values talent over image. At the University of Arizona Jackson was kicked out of school for his conduct before he ever played a single game.  While in San Antonio he was viewed as uncoachable and no effort was made to resign him when he was a free agent despite the fact that he was the teams 3rd leading scorer and best clutch shooter.  He was pushed out of Atlanta because they didn’t want him influencing their young talent and he is still in the league because the Indiana Pacers have become the new Jailblazers