Citizen's Artest

Memo to Ron Artest: you have too much of a bad side for anyone to care about your good side.

One day after being suspended for pleading no contest to domestic violence charges, Artest and his agent want you to know how great of a guy he is.

Here are his comments e-mailed to ESPN.com writer Marc Stein. Let me save you the time: Artest basically says, "I travel to Kenya and work with wheelchair charities to offset the beating of my wife and Piston fans."

I don't think there's a person in the world that doesn't get annoyed by this. An athlete in somewhat poor standing using charity work to improve his image. If Ron Artest was a clean-cut player with no history, do you really thing he would be "holding HIV babies" in Kenya? Me neither.

If Stern and Co. lower Artest's (or Stephen Jackson's, for that matter) suspension, it will be a huge PR gaffe. Both of these players are repeated offenders, and should not be cut any slack. Take a lesson from Roger Goodell and the NFL brass and put your foot down.

And besides, who doesn't like their charity spokesman in a rap video smoking cigars at a strip club?