I think it's a major stretch to say that Harrell had "no control" of himself. If that were the case, he would've undoubtedly done a lot more than merely shove. He attempted to respond to a shove from an opposing player with a similar shove, and unfortunately in the heat of the moment, he didn't see everything in his peripheral vision clearly. Should there be consequences for that? Absolutely. However, I think your language is severely overstating the magnitude of what happened. I'm in my 30s now, but I certainly watched my fair share of schoolyard scrapes growing up -- and those attempting to "break up" the situations were occasionally subject to shoves (including teachers/coaches). As long as no one was injured and the action wasn't severe (i.e. no punches thrown), it generally wasn't seen as a huge deal. Certainly not "temporary insanity," as you put it. The reason I mention the counsel is because everything appears to be being framed within the context of the NBRA's press release. The call for the multi-game suspension, setting a precedent for violence, the "battery" reference, etc. Let's pretend this thread were started with what beat writer Dennis Silva wrote in his third paragraph following the game (scroll a few posts up). Do you think the reaction in this thread would be anywhere near as severe if that was the reference point? Personally, I don't. I see people constantly using terms from the press release, which was crafted by a general counsel with a very spotty reputation. To me, that makes it very relevant.
Dennis Silva, who was there in person with a front-row seat, didn't come to that conclusion. Neither did Jonathan Feigen, who posted his Chronicle story after viewing the video. Are they protecting Harrell? P.S. If Harrell truly had "blind rage", I'm pretty sure he would've done a lot more than shove in that situation. The world isn't black and white. Many more shades of gray on this one than you seem to acknowledge.
Feigen said the ref was in front of Harrell. He's siding with me on that one, not you. And before he steps in front of Harrell, he has already yelled at him and engaged him with arms pre-shove and during the first shove and after the shove. Don't care if Feigen failed to mention that, the photo evidence of the ref engaging and yelling before the first shove is there to see. My vote is everyone should know that is a ref. He made his presence known in multiple fashions throughout. Harrell's intent is besides the point.
Some fans will defend good players to death. If they wear your colors they can't be a bad person. I've seen people defend a player involved in an armed robbery and that's just high school football level. Harrell is not a criminal, but he pushed a man down to the floor who did nothing, got into a shoving match with an opposing coach (both ejected), and punched a Western Kentucky player last season. He has a temper problem, plain and simple. I see a bunch of excuses here: didn't see him, frustrated with D-league, ref agenda. Give me a break.
This is Feigen's quote: Feigen says it appears that Harrell didn't realize who was stepping in front of him. That is in no way compatible with your version of events. Sorry.
Let's assume that he did not know it was a referee. What he DID know is it was NOT the player who shoved him, yet he took the opportunity to viciously shove that person out of the way. This was no "get out of my way shove". That shove had intent behind it. There is one of two scenarios: 1. He knew exactly what he was doing. 2. His rage blinded him to what he was doing. Both of the above are bad. Sugar coat it all you want, but that was a vicious shove.
fwiw Texas is among the states that specifically addresses physical assaults against sports officials: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2006/rpt/2006-r-0747.htm This includes officials at all levels: "Interscholastic, intercollegiate, or organized amateur or professional athletic competition."
You said the ref wasn't in front of him. Feigen says he was, just like the photos/video show. Maybe I'm misunderstanding your statement And again, reminding you that the ref didn't pop out of nowhere, he was on the scene yelling and engaging Harrell with arms the whole time.
Does Morey have some sort of metric he uses to calculate knuckle-headedness and, if so, does he use said metric to acquire the biggest boneheads possible. Seriously, this team has had more questionable characters, low IQ guys and flat out lazy players than any team in the league over the last five years.
The point of what I'm saying is that it's entirely plausible that Harrell didn't know that was an official when he shoved him. To be clear, Feigen doesn't say the official was in front of him. He says he was "was stepping in front of him", which I agree the official was attempting to do (however, he was shoved out of the way before getting there). However, at the end of the day, that aspect is semantics and fairly irrelevant. The spirit of my argument, and I think you know this, is that I don't believe Harrell was knowingly shoving an official. Feigen and Silva seem to concur with that assessment. Will that matter for his punishment? Probably not much. And from a practical standpoint, as Dave said earlier, it doesn't change the fact that Harrell has a very real issue with his temper that needs to be improved. Perhaps the suspension will be good for him over the long run. I just think some of the reaction here is piling on and based partly on a statement from a general counsel with a spotty reputation. As with most debates, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
I'm sure the whole game it was chippy down low, on that last play one of MH's teammate throws a bow and the back of head of the player MH gets into with and I bet he thought MH was the one throwing bows.
I don't comment much but I had to on this one. 1. 'Trez obviously did NOT instigate the conflict 2. 'Trez is obviously NOT pushing the ref down a. violently b. with intent to cause damage to the ref c. with all his might I would really be mad if he gets some kind of long-term hate for this. He clearly doesn't deserve that amount of hate.
are you serious? I don't mean that disrespectfully, either. The shove is (a) "violent" in that it is a shove, hard to know how it could be otherwise; (b) there does not have to be "intent to cause damage" to the ref/victim for the law to have been broken; and (c) "with all his might" is clearly beside the point (and how would one measure or gauge "with all his might," anyway?). I am unclear about what you are trying to add here to the discussion. Again, I don't mean that to be simply argumentative, I honestly don't see what you are trying to convey. This is not a conversation about "long-term hate," which is also beside the point. This is about the actions of Harrell in this particular instance and how to interpret them.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Montrezl Harrell suspended 5 games w/out pay for shoving referee to the floor in a D-League game. <a href="https://t.co/dK2zixfVRL">pic.twitter.com/dK2zixfVRL</a></p>— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) <a href="https://twitter.com/HowardBeck/status/714921436968841216">March 29, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Just place the report in the thread, your personal feelings aren't needed. No one doesn't know what Harrell is going through with this inept organization from the front office to the bottom. This league is rigged and the officials deserve many more shoves to make up for decades of injustice.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">NBA D-League: Montrezl Harrell suspended 5games 4pushing official while playing for Vipers.Had altercation with Bakersfield F Derek Cooke Jr</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/714926063566979073">March 29, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">With Montrezl Harrell suspended 5 games while playing for Vipers he's ineligible to return to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash">#Rockets</a> during suspension</p>— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/714926472046059520">March 29, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
