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    Ron Artest Requests Name Change; Asks for Metta World Peace

    By Robert Dougherty | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Fri, Jun 24, 2011
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
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    Metta World Peace is a name that almost no one would have dreamed up. Yet the future Peace -- the Lakers' Ron Artest -- is not most people. Artest has always been unconventional, which has landed him in quite a lot of trouble in the past. But as he faces an uncertain future with the Lakers, the star is looking to start over from scratch, right down to his name.

    According to TMZ, Metta filed his request to the L.A. County Superior Court Thursday,and is expected to get his name change eventually. If he does, then "Peace" will be on the back of his Lakers jersey, although it's unclear if that would help his career on the court.

    At this time last year, the controversial star had become an unlikely hero, having helped sealed the championship with clutch play in Game 7 against the Celtics. It may not have redeemed his infamous brawl in the stands in Detroit years ago, but it served as a much better career highlight. A year later, the Lakers are looking to start over, and everyone shy of Kobe Bryant could be offered up.

    Yet this stressful time for the Lakers, and the NBA as a whole thanks to the lockout, doesn't blend together with Artest's new name. Metta is described as the Buddhist virtue of kindness, so combining it with World Peace is a no-brainer. If kindness and peace were more at hand in Los Angeles, the Lakers might not panic so much whenever they don't win a championship -- and maybe the NBA wouldn't melt down in a costly lockout either.

    If Artest stays in Los Angeles and gets to play in 2011, it shouldn't be a problem for the Lakers to adapt to his name. After all, one of their most iconic stars, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, started out as Lew Alcindor years before coming to Los Angeles.

    The most famous sports name change was undertaken by Cassius Clay, who became Muhammad Ali soon after becoming heavyweight champion of the world. However, while his and Jabbar's change took place because of their conversion to Islam, latter day name swaps have been a bit more bizarre.

    These days, the biggest new name in sports has been Chad Ochocinco, a.k.a. Chad Johnson. The flamboyant Bengals receiver changed his last name to the Spanish equivalent of his jersey number rather than for religious reasons. But that was more of a sideshow, and Ochocinco is planning to become Johnson again.

    But for Artest, becoming Metta World Peace is more of a statement, a reflection on how far he's come from his heated past. Yet can the new name help him bounce back on the court in Los Angeles, assuming that he'll have the chance to play for the Lakers anytime soon?

    Sources

    TMZ- "Ron Artest: I'm Changing My Name....RADICALLY"

    Washington Post- "Metta is Ron Artest's new name, and other celebrity name changes"

     

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