What is Metta World Peace up to these days?
Done with his run in the NBA -- and subsequent stint as Key & Peele's main newsman -- the man formerly known as Ron Artest signed in March with Italian Serie A club Pallacanestro Cantu. The often-fiery 35-year-old even talked up his maturity.
"When you play angry you can't focus," he told the Associated Press. "I've got five more years to have a great time, so I will be playing with a lot of fire but not anger, just passion."
So much for that. In the decisive fifth game of their quarterfinal with Reyer Venezia Mestre, World Peace got involved in a skirmish (what a great series of seven words) and was booted in the fourth quarter with his team down eight. Here it is, from the Italian broadcast.
Espulso Metta!
Not only was Metta World Peace ejected, according to the play-by-play he was charged with five fouls in less than a minute (although not in a hack-a-DeAndre sense, as evidenced in the video).
Cantu went on to lose 88-73, while their opponents advanced to the semifinals. According to calcioweb.eu, World Peace will be suspended two games if he returns to Italy next season.
But not all was lost: The best item to emerge from this video was the fact that World Peace, as promised, wore a jersey that said "The Panda's Friend" on the back (even though he's still officially listed under World Peace).
Fiery, not fiery, mature or immature, The Panda's Friend will always be our friend.
H/T The Big Lead
