Gilbert Arenas Could Have Learned A Thing Or Two From NHL Players

Professional athletes, by nature, with all the down time on the road, are subject to bouts of extreme boredom. When looking at the sad case of Gilbert Arenas, there are many places where you can speculate where things went wrong.
That’s where the NHL players, in particular Cal Clutterbuck and Derek Boogaard of the Minnesota Wild, come in. Instead of obsessively accumulating an arsenal that could have armed several state militias and getting into ill-advised and dangerous gunplay over what is being reported as disputes over gambling, Arenas could have found far better things to do with his time:
Make-believe gunplay while taking out teammates during a thrilling game of Call of Duty on PlayStation 3.

Derek Boogaard, the bruising enforcer for the Minnesota Wild, has a suggestion for NHL teams, and his sage advice should also be provided to NBA squads as well:

“Teams should buy everybody a PlayStation. Keeps us in,” Boogaard quipped.

Good call. In fact, Boogaard, along with roommate Cal Clutterbuck, pass the time on the road by playing online with relatives and even setting up big tournaments, creating teams of eight teammates to take on each other.
Boogaard, confirming the stereotype of the brutish, NHL goon, couldn’t figure out how to set up the PS3 when Clutterbuck had to stay an extra night in another town during a road trip due to an illness.

“I got to Phoenix, and Boogey was so upset because he spent the whole day trying to set up his PlayStation and couldn’t do it,” Clutterbuck said. “I got there and got it to work in three minutes. He was so mad.”

Said Boogaard, “Literally, me, [Greg] Zanon and [Shane] Hnidy and three or four maintenance guys at the hotel couldn’t set it up. Clutter shows up and goes, ‘These TVs are only set up for 1080i. Did you switch the PlayStation over from 1080p to 1080i?’ Me, Zans and Hnides are just like, ‘What?’

While amusing, given Boogaard’s ability to whoop even the meanest, thick-skulled NHL tough guys with minimal effort, I would hesitate to make fun of him regarding his technological ignorance – at least to his face. As you can see, the Boogeyman is not a man to be trifled with:

Sweet mercy. That is a compilation of savage beauty right there.
You know what? Maybe if Javaris Crittenton, Arenas’ Washington Wizards teammate whom with Gilbert allegedly engaged in handgun-related hijinks had the capacity for brutality that Boogaard possesses, perhaps Arenas would not have been so willing to highlight his “jokester” personality qualities. At the very least, they could have settled their differences with a rousing game of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Arenas could have avoided the felony charge.
Between games, some fun [Star Tribune]