COMMENTARY: Bad athletes are tolerated if they win

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if the Rockets had enough guts to take a stand with Rafer Alston? Don’t hold your breath. Hell will freeze over before a professional sports team holds an athlete accountable for bad behavior. Yes, the Chicago Bears waived Cedric Benson after his second arrest this year, but the fact Benson had been a bust on the field surely made it easier for them to take action regarding his behavior off it.

Maybe teams don’t care what kind of people they have in uniform because they know you don’t care. The Rockets were widely praised for obtaining a guy with baggage ranging from domestic violence to animal cruelty to an assortment of suspensions, fines and other bad behavior. Who’ll remember that stuff if Ron Artest smothers Kobe Bryant in the playoffs? That’s when Artest will become misunderstood.

An NFL guy recently joked, “If Jeffrey Dahmer could play, we’d say he had an eating disorder.” That’s especially true of the Rockets. A team that just acquired Ron Artest isn’t likely to get tough about a measly little misdemeanor drunk driving charge.

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