Gilbert Arenas Gun Scandal

If you are a NBA basketball fan, then you know who Gilbert Arenas is. Gilbert Arenas, a three-time NBA All Star has been the face of the Washington Wizard franchise since his rookie season in 2001. As a result, he has been a hero in the state of Washington because of his remarkable accomplishments on the Washington Wizards. Unfortunately, a dumb mistake by Arenas would cost him his sponsorship with a major company, the relationship with his teammates, and even worse, his image as a leader diminished.

So you may ask, what exactly did he do that consequently gave him such harsh punishments? The answer to this is rather mind-boggling considering the leadership icon that Arenas once was. On January 14, 2010 Arenas was charged with a single count of carrying a pistol without a license, a felony that carries a five-year sentence. However, Gilbert Arenas did agree to a plea agreement that could result in much less or even no jail time at all. Later on March 26, 2010 Arenas’s punishment was finalized. The NBA star was sentenced to two years of supervised probation and has to serve 30 days in a halfway house as well as serve 400 hours of community service and contribute $5,000 to a fund for victims of violence.

And THAT is what frustrates me.

If it weren’t for his career as an NBA basketball player, Gilbert Arenas would’ve been in jail for the standard 5 years just like everyone else. There is absolutely no reason why Gilbert should be treated any differently then everyone else. This is just one of many examples about the leniency that star athletes get when it comes to the law. Another example of this is Michael Vick and the dog fighting scandal. The star NFL quarterback was supposed to serve up to 6 years in prison for his crime but only ended up serving 23 months in prison instead. This frustrates me because athletes will only continue to abuse the law knowing the fact that they will end up serving far less then they actually deserve. I strongly believe that if the court were to be more black and white with these rules, then there would be far less problems that they would encounter in the future. With the way the court has been treating these sports icons, I wouldn’t be surprised if similar problems like these happened again in the future.

Despite receiving no jail time, Arenas still had other issues regarding his sponsorship with Adidas. Adidas, Arena’s major sponsorship had terminated its agreement with the Wizard’s star after he pleaded guilty of the gun scandal. Not only is Arenas losing thousands of dollars for this, but the Adidas Company is taking a big hit as well. Arenas not only created a bad image for him, but also created a bad image for Adidas. As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a decrease in sales for Adidas ever since the Gilbert Arena’s scandal occurred.

Gilbert Arenas Gun Scandal Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl9qjkV8bOI