Utah Jazz players still confident they can put it together

Malone wasn't amused by what Arenas claimed was "a misguided effort to play a joke" and called the incident "one of the worst things I've ever seen come across the TV."

Malone couldn't wrap his mind around why an NBA player would bring guns into a locker room.

"You can't tell me one good thing that can happen with a gun in an arena," Malone wrote, "but I can tell you a thousand bad things."

Malone believes NBA commissioner David Stern needs to be stern in disciplining the pair to help the league improve its reputation.

"This is nothing to be laughing about," Malone wrote. "Once again, gun owners get a bad rap. We're good people; we're not back in the Old West. ... If I seem a little fired up, I am. It's a privilege to own a firearm and I take offense when people don't handle their business the right way."

e-mail: jody@desnews.com