WHO SAID THAT? — Dr. Denny Haverschmidt, the chairman of the AIBR (American Institute of Bipolarism Research).
WHY DID HE SAY THAT? — Because Sunday's game between the Indiana Pacers and
Los Angeles Clippers marked the first time in NBA history that two players with full-blown, DEFCON-4 bipolarism faced eachother on the court.
WHY IS THAT IMPORTANT? — Because, according to Dr. Haverschmidt, the NBA was the last professional sports league to break this "bipolar-on-bipolar" barrier.
WHO WERE THE PLAYERS? — Ron Artest and Smeagol.
HOW DID THEY RESPOND TO ONE ANOTHER? — Very cautiously. But with obvious animosity. And according to Dr. Haverschmidt (who was in the Staples Center for the historic game), this was not totally unexpected. "For the most part, bipolars do not interact well with other bipolars," he explained.
EXAMPLES? — "Look, we all saw it," said
a perturbed Dr. Haverschmidt. "Ron had a
bunch of jibberish shaved into his head, which
was an obvious message to Smeagol...and
Smeagol kept yelling 'tricksy Fat Pacer!' at
Artest everytime Ron was on the free-throw
line. But that's not what is important here."
THEN WHAT IS? — "It's the fact that two
very disturbed, very bipolar athletes
shared the court together...and nobody
was killed," said Dr. Haverschmidt. "The
NBA is finally starting to catch up with the
organizations that blazed this trail long ago,
like the 'X Games' and the WNBA." |
