Boo hoo. It turns out Lonny Baxter, the Maryland alum and NBA journeyman who you may remember decided to bust a few caps from his Glock within shouting distance of the White House last week, did so because he was upset that he’d have to spend the next basketball season playing in Italy, far away from friends and family. At least that’s what local blogger The Upsate Life quoted from a WJZ.com report on the incident. However, the story he links to has apparently been updated with the cited passages removed. No matter Baxter’s motivation, this much is clear: Baxter plead guilty to charges and will spend the next 53 days behind bars, seriously jeopardizing his basketball career in the process.

Montepaschi Siena general manager Ferdinando Minucci, who recently signed Baxter to a one year contract to play professionally in Italy, told WJZ earlier today before the sentencing, “If (Baxter) arrives soon there won’t be any problems. But if he can’t come for a month or two, we can’t wait that long. The season starts in October.” Ouch.

Even testimony from Maryland head coach Gary Williams couldn’t spare Baxter his fate. Judge Craig Iscoe cited a firearms offense from two years ago at the sentencing, knowing full well that jail time could be disasterous for Baxter’s career.

I can’t speak for the rest of the staff, but I personally find it hard to sympathize with Baxter. There is plenty of money to made playing basketball overseas, and plenty of worse places than Italy to do it. If this morning’s USA v. Italy matchup is any indication, Italy has some serious competition in their basketball leagues. Hopefully Baxter can do his time, put this episode behind him and get his career, and his life, back on track.