Ron Artest, humanitarian  

"I always follow my plan 100 percent, even if I know I'm going to fail."

Ron Artest.

I can't believe I would even consider blobbing about this jackass, this jerk who punched a paying customer in the stands, got himself run out of Chicago and Indianapolis...The Brawl at the Palace.

But he honestly sounds kind of great, if a little eccentric. Extended quote:

"[H]e's raffling off the $26,000 championship ring he won to pay for school psychiatry. So far, the raffle -- go to RonArtest.com -- has raised nearly half a million dollars...the money will pay for "at least eight school therapists," he says.

"I needed a therapist when I was a kid," says Artest, who was suspended every single year of his elementary school career. "I needed one real bad. I want kids to know that what they're going through, they're not alone."

Admirable. It's crazy...it's a totally not-crazy thing to fund help for kids that teachers call crazy. And we still call Ron-Ron crazy...as Rick Reilly says "Four parts crazy, one part brilliant".

Also: "Don't all Game 7 heroes thank their psychologists?" And: "There's 1,000 plays in the Triangle. It's such a challenge. I get so frustrated about it, I have to call my psychologist."

Who is this guy? Find out more, some bits less flattering than those here, from Rick Reilly's ESPN commentary page.

More:

"I ask Jackson why he's playing Artest fewer minutes this season. "I'm not," Jackson says. "Ron overheard [substitute forward Matt Barnes] asking me for more playing time, so he's been raising his hand just to get Matt more time."

Why, Ron Ron?

"Because we're a team. I just want to win another title. Who cares about minutes? Who cares about points?"

Uh, everybody else?"