Warning: Video contains some naughty language.

As you likely heard (or experienced), there was a great big storm named Hurricane Irene on the East Coast this last weekend. It felled trees, outaged power, and generally made a mess of everyone's weekend plans. A late August in New York has never been so dull.

Yet there was one fortunate byproduct: sitting around bored breeds creativity. So when young men went out to shoot some hoops after the storm, they had great plans in mind. In the video above, three friends hold a contest to see who can make a 3-pointer at the park. Whoever finishes last has to jump in a giant puddle. Or maybe it makes more sense to call it a small pond.

This is just good old-fashioned fun. And while this young man should probably go to the doctor to get checked for all sorts of weird diseases, at least he managed to make the best out of a meteorological calamity.

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At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.

Gilbert Arenas: ask yourself would i watch the agent zero show on reality tv..i used twitter to make my case i can care a show..TV here comes Gilly

Shawn Marion: Watching swimfan I forgot how crazy this girl is wtf

Bostjan Nachbar: Limp Bizkit - "My Generation" #nowplaying This song brings me back in time...the things we used to do...generation X !

Marquis Daniels: Anne Frank lmao RT @thepete2011: @Marquis_Daniels What celebrity would you like to play Twister with?

Danny Green: is there anybody out here in Ljubljana that unlocks phones?

You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric.

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Unfortunately, Ron Artest will not become Metta World Peace for several more weeks due to the state of California's draconian parking ticket laws. Nevertheless, this wonderful moment will happen eventually. Then the heavens will part and a higher power will smile upon the universe.

Whenever Mr. World Peace returns to the court (or hits the court for the first time? Help me, AP Stylebook!), he'll also have a new number: 70. In an interview with Yahoo! Sports' own Marc Spears, he explained the meaning of the number:

"I'm changing it to 70 because it's like something to do with the universe," Artest said. "Everything kind of repeats itself. The universe is one. It's the same thing. Healthy minds, just keeping the kids positive."

You may laugh at this answer, but it is technically correct. The number 70 does indeed have significance to the universe, and not just because it is a thing that exists in said universe. Earlier Friday, Trey Kerby gestured towards the concept of numerology as it applies to this case and produced a laughably incomplete study. But he did start the important work of divining the meaning of Ron-Ron's decision.

Fear not. Armed with expert analysis from the not-at-all-ridiculous site RidingTheBeast.com, I have deduced the meaning of this number as it applies to the universe and Metta World Peace's role therein. Check it out after the jump.

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Have you spent any time with @agentzeroshow this summer? It's the relatively new Twitter account of noted NBA eccentric Gilbert Arenas. He has not been shy about airing the specifics of his life: In addition to live-tweeting a terrible date, he has displayed the terribly misogynistic categories on his BlackBerry Messenger account and updated fans on all manner of irregular topics. Oh, and he also gives away shoes, presumably to prove he's not 100 percent insane.

Away from the computer, Arenas has some legal irons in the fire. One of them involves the involvement of his erstwhile paramour Laura Govan in the VH1 series "Basketball Wives LA." Arenas sought a court order to restrict Govan from mentioning details of their relationship on the show. Now, though, it appears his suit won't be successful. And it's because of his Twitter account. From TMZ (via TBJ):

Gilbert Arenas' ex-fiancee is free to talk smack and get in as many catfights as she wants on "Basketball Wives LA" — thanks to a federal court decision today.

A judge ruled against the NBA star's request to block Laura Govan from appearing on the show and mentioning his name.

The judge said Gilbert's claim that details of his family life should not be aired on the reality show — is undercut by the fact he has "tens of thousands of Twitter users who follow [him] as he tweets about a variety of mundane occurrences."

This ruling makes a lot of sense in isolation -- it's hard for Arenas to act like his personal life is off limits when he broadcasts all sorts of details to anyone who cares to follow his account. If Arenas is cool with telling everyone about his dates and propensity for random hookups, then Govan should be able to talk about what happened when they were a couple.

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Most NBA fans know Shane Battier as one of the league's great men, the kind of person who could branch out into politics after his athletic career is over. He has a real sense of the world outside of himself.

But to what extent did that disposition develop because Battier was born with a French-sounding last name. France, as we all know, is a haven for the life of the mind. If that name were all a sham, would the Battier mistake come crumbling down?

The answer, of course, is yes. Prepare to have your world rocked with the real story of how Battier's last name came to pass. Here's what he had to say at a press conference for the apparel brand Peak in China (via SLAM and TBJ):

"My dad, Eddie Battle, born Eddie Battle, on his birth certificate, whoever wrote it down wrote B-A-T-T-scribble-scribble-scribble. So my dad grew up Eddie Battle his entire life, and then he joined the army when he was of age, the army recruiter actually had his own interpretation of what was on the birth certificate. They wrote down B-A-T-T-I-E-R.

"So the first day in the army, my dad says 'Private Battle reporting for duty.' The sergeant said, 'There's no Battle, there's a Battier [ed. note: pronounced 'batty-er'].' So my dad says, 'That's not my name.' The sergeant says, 'Well Uncle Sam says it is.' So my dad kept it.

"So he was Eddie Battier [still 'batty-er'], and he met his wife, my mom, in '75 and she said, 'It looks French. We'll call it French.' So from that point on they were Battier [bat-ee-ay]. So I'm a first generation Battier."

It's a bizarre story, especially when you consider that Battier's father could have easily gone back to being Eddie Battle when he left the armed forces. On the other hand, ad campaigns and action movies have taught me that men don't become men until they fight for their country, so maybe that name is the true representation of the man Eddie became.

When Omri Casspi entered the NBA in 2009, he was hailed for representing Jewish athletic dominance. Many cities held heritage nights when the Sacramento Kings came to town, and his trip to New York was a bona fide media event. Jews like to see their own kind succeed, no matter the field. Take it from me, a guy who grew up with lamb's blood smeared on his door and a pan of kugel in the oven at all times.

Oddly enough, Casspi was and is still not the only Jew in the NBA. Point guard Jordan Farmar was raised in a Jewish household and even had a bar mitzvah. Yet, for whatever reason, racial or otherwise, he was not embraced with the same fervor as Casspi.

In Israel, though, he's some kind of hero. Above, watch a video of Farmar, complete with "Nice Jewish Boy" T-shirt, arriving in Israel to finalize his agreement to play with Maccabi Tel Aviv during the NBA lockout. There's a sizable crowd to greet him at the airport, and Farmar seems legitimately excited to be there.

The length of his

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As NBA players look into the possibility of playing overseas, they're starting to learn more about foreign cultures. Playing in Turkey or Greece may seem nice when they field salary offers, but the reality could be less pleasant. For instance, did you know that satyrs and centaurs no longer roam around Greece? You learn new things about foreign lands every day!

Sometimes, though, the weirdness of an unknown country goes well beyond new food and confusing exchange rates. Because apparently coaches in Turkey sacrifice goats. From Rick Reilly on ESPN.com (via PBT):

It was about when one of his coaches chopped the head off a young goat for good luck that Jimmy Baron realized pro basketball in Turkey was unlike any hoops he'd ever played.

He was playing for Mercin of the Turkish Basketball League, the same league superstar NBA guard Deron Williams has agreed to play in during the lockout. They'd lost their first four games of the season and rumor was, if things didn't get better soon, heads were going to roll.

"The coach didn't speak any English," says Baron, a 3-point specialist from the University of Rhode Island. "But he motioned me to come out in front of the arena with the whole team. He put us in a circle and there's this goat standing there. All of a sudden one of the assistant coaches gets out this huge machete. And then -- whack! -- he cuts the goat's head off!"

The Turkish players immediately stuck their fingers in the blood of the neck and wiped it on their foreheads.

"Then they started motioning for me to do it," Baron remembers. "I'm like, 'You gotta be crazy!' And I got the heck out of there."

This story only sounds weird if you didn't know that Steve Smith once sacrificed a chicken in the Portland Trail Blazers locker room in 2000. Don't worry, he's not a pagan. He just wanted to fit in with his teammates.

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At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.

Spencer Hawes: Just got out of the gym with the reign man learning a ton by the minute.

Ty Lawson: Aahhsdkdoejwhahshhsh!!!!!!

JaVale McGee: went to wingstop last nite n ordered 80 wings... had 30 left and gave them to the 1st homeless dude i saw. but he was doped up on somethn.. so i gave it to the other homeless guy laying there..... he was tearin that chicken up.. lemon pepper never looked so good-P

David West: #manlaw No Ice Cream cones after 18!!

Steve Francis: Where can I get one of those electrical skateboards @?

You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric.