Ron Artest deciding to change his name to Metta World Peace—effective, I'm guessing, as soon as the NBA realizes how many jerseys it's likely to sell—is a classic rebranding decision, and one I think a lot of St. Louis athletes could stand to emulate. Now people who want to run Artest down—and there are plenty of reasons to want to do that—will have to disentangle themselves from the much messier prospect of running down world peace.
↵Among the athletes who should consider renaming themselves after hazy, universally popular concepts, Tony La Russa would probably be somewhat less derided for his weird decisions if his name were Tony Courage Of Your Convictions; Mardy Gilyard might be less troubled by questions about his commitment if he were Mardy Be Yourself Every Day. Would Jaroslav Halak have been a disappointment after all if he had come advertised as Jaroslav Bringing Everybody Together?
↵Of course, for a special case like Ron Artest two new names are required, but I don't think anyone's in that much trouble here in town. Even Ryan Franklin would be much tougher to boo if his name were Ryan Intact Families.
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