In less than an hour, Gilbert's sentencing hearing will begin. Having read some of the prosecution's briefs, Agent Zero's cover-up, deceit, and sporadic understanding and regret
should lead to a jail sentence. Arenas has lost a lot of money due to his suspension from the team and has severely hurt his ability to make significant basketball money in the future, but he clearly doesn't get it.
Henry Abbott
brilliantly explains the initial incident between Arenas and Crittenton through Joe Pesci's "do I amuse you?" bit from
Goodfellas. Gilbert threatened Javaris. He did it under the guise of humor, but the threat was there. From the perspective of Javaris Crittenton, it must have seemed highly dangerous. There are many what-ifs resulting from the confrontation, but the biggest is "what if Javaris drew his own loaded gun in retaliation?"
Gilbert Arenas needs to go to jail.
His open letter in the Washington Post reeks of his inability to understand the gravity of the situation. Gilbert's public mea culpa is disingenuous at best. He is very sorry,
for the children. For. The. Children.
But if I help steer even just one young person away from violence and trouble, then I'll once again feel that I'm living up to Abe Pollin's legacy and to the responsibility I owe the kids of the District.
Clearly, Gilbert doesn't get it. Gilbert shouldn't speak to youth about gun violence. He's not qualified. This incident isn't about gun violence; it's about intimidation and deceit. Gilbert acted as a bully and pretended that he wasn't a bully, and claimed he made a mistake in the process of keeping his family safe.
Unfortunately, there's a chance Gilbert will receive a suspended sentence and be ordered to do community service. If Gilbert's going to do community service, it should be community service where he interacts with adults, not children. Any community service he does should not be publicized later. He shouldn't be able to use it to show how much he cares about the community. Required community service isn't a publicity stunt, which might not be something Gilbert Arenas understands.
As for the children? Gilbert Arenas is not a role model and, now, he never will be. And he has no one to thank for that but himself.
