Ron Artest is a psychopath

Watching the Rockets in these playoffs, I have been very impressed with the play of Ron Artest. He is the shut down defender that he established way back in the day when he was a Bull. He plays physically, with enough fitness to score 25 points on any given night. It appeared as though he was turning his image around and finally growing up. That is until 10 minutes ago when he up and snapped into the old Ron Artest. After going for the offensive rebound against Kobe Bryant, he was called for the loose ball foul. To my eye, it initially looked like it was a foul on Kobe, but everyone knows that the superstars get all the calls in the NBA. On the replay, it actually showed Kobe giving Artest a half elbow to the throat. Artest immediately went to the ref to plead his case, but refs in the NBA are as arrogant as any other sport. Artest immediately went after Kobe, got in his face, and looked like he wanted to go hard. As artest got that psychotic look in his eye, he was dragged away by the refs and teammates, at which point he gave one of the biggest taboo signals possible. The throat slash.

This is one of most heinous gestures in sports. It used to be more accepted as athletes showing a killer instinct, but in the last decade, it has become an unacceptable signal showing the ultimate disrespect to your opponent. Not to mention an intent to kill when your dealing with people like Ron Artest. Theh throat slash has been heavily penalized in football, and i'm sure Artest will also receive a hefty penalty if he did indeed gesture the slash toward Kobe. It may even result in a suspension. Stranger things have happened.