So, what you are telling me that any minor can do whatever the hell they want since they are "protected by the law"?? No offense, Jackie, that is a bunch of bull****. What if a minor kills someone? Are they not prosecuted like an adult? I am seriously asking since I don't know. Once again, I don't condone what O'Neal did; all I am saying, is that scene was a riot. It can be argued that it was just as safe to be on the court than to be in the stands but that is pushing it. I just don't think it is right if the fat kid gets a lot of money for being somewhere that he never should have been in the first place. If he stayed in his seat and got clocked by Stephen Jackson or O'Neal or someone else, then yea, he deserves to get some kind of settlement. But technically he was trespassing, was he not by being on the court? So if that is true, he is going to get a lot of money by breaking the law?? Unbelievable and only in this country does something like that happen...
And how was either, O'Neal or Artest, supposed to know that the guy was 16 years old? Exactly, he didn't. He saw two guys running at him with thier fists in the air. Besides, you can throw his age out there all you want, but he is the one who wanted to act bigger and older than his age by running out to start something with a grown man twice his size. So, you would run onto the court to get away from "gangsta" players in the stands? You do know how many exits there are around an arena don't you, all of which don't have players acting "gangsta" involved? So, let me ask you a question? Someone comes out and physically tries to attack you friend or, better yet, your brother; you wouldn't get involved in any way to defend him? You would sit there and just watch? And you say that O'Neal came flying from another part of the court to attack this guy as the AGRESSOR, isn't this exactly what these "fans" did as well? It doesn't matter whether this guy was on one knee trying to get up or doing a one-legged karate stance with his arms in the air, he was out the with the intention to go after Artest. O'Neal was helping out and defending his "brother" (ie: teammate).
Just because a fan steps on the court doesnt allow the athlete to do dentistry on a fat kid. Oneal was way out of line. Then that mean when ever an away player jumps into the stand to you get stomp on him or throw beer on him. What happened is that so called professionals were not professional and I hold them completely at fault. All Artest had to do was point the guy out and I am sure security would have gladly escorted him out. What Artest test did would be like a COP getting water thrown on him and started shooting at people. If you look at the replay a COP almost pepper sprayed Artest on the court. If a COP is on the court is the athlete able to pounbd on him too. I belive that Jackson and Oneal are lucky they got off easy because ifI was Stern I was sent them on vacation for the year. The players are told from day one NEVER go into the stands. I can tell you this next time this happens god forbid somebody is going to be seriously hurt.
Unrelated to the O'Neal punch ... did you see his friend try and sucker punch Artest? That was the funniest (yes, funny) part of the video. He was totally like, "Artest isn't looking, I'm gonna sucker punch his arse (hopping forward, hands beginning to raise in girly fashion) ... uh oh, he's looking (hands go down)". BLAAAM! Artest saw right through that bull****. That dude's intentions were plain as day. As for the guy's buddy, I feel bad for him. Shouldn't have been on the court in the first place, but also shouldn't get clocked while he's getting up. Kind of like getting both barrels of a shot gun for light B&E. I can see a back hand, maybe a titty twister, but O'Neal really crossed the line.
I don't think anybody can argue that O'Neal wasn't out of line. The person punched by O'Neal was still on his knees, at the very least, when getting punched as well as being surrounded by several people who could've stopped him from pursuing any other player, coach, etc. Now if said person were standing and going after somebody else then maybe, just maybe, O'Neal's action could be justified. Maybe, by a very, very small margin, O'Neal's actions can be justified to someone, the incidences given earlier in this thread about the coach being attacked by Chicago fans and Seles being stabbed by a fan, you never know what kind of loon is out there, what they plan to do, what they have with them. When fans end up places they're not supposed to be, the court for example, that's trouble waiting to happen for either a player, a fan, or both. Artest really surprised me by taking a calmer than normal stance towards this whole thing, by his means anyway. He was laying on the table trying to stay away from the first conflict then some idiot throws his cup, he goes and pins the fan down but as soon as other players show up Artest backs off and gets out the stands, then two idiots come down and clearly threaten, provoke, challenge, or whatever you want to say Artest. Artest strikes first but is quickly pulled from the ruckus. He then sits back and watches then a dumbass security guard comes up and threatens to mace him and Artest keeps his cool with a little help and is guided to the back, then it seems to me like when they are in the tunnel he is telling his teammates that he is cool and to let him go. I am not justifying what Artest did but as I said, by Artest's means he did pretty cool at keeping his cool. I was upset that Stern didn't take note of that regarding his punishment instead of remembering his past. I also think everybody realizes that Artest needs some help and I hope he gets it as well as getting his punishment reduced. Another person that surprised me was Rasheed Wallace, man he did a great job considering his past reputation, I believe the whole time he was just trying to break everything up and not get involved with the melee at all. Kudos to Wallace, unless others saw something I didn't.
i think it is sad that those idiotic fans can get alot of money this way. IMO the fans that were on the court aren't allowed to be there, so they were trespassing, they should get no money. I do not think that anybody believes that they got on court to avoid the fight. They wanted to fight, and they got a fight, so do not wine about it. If you get on a court with alot of pumped up giants accept that you will be beaten. Like i said in other threads the pacer players did alot wrong and should be punished, but the crowd on the court should not be rewarded. What mesage will we give fans then: ok if you are in the finals and you are behind 3-0 and you play on your homecourt, just start a roit, go on the court and try to start a fight with the best players on the opponent teams, they will hit you, they will be suspended, your team will win the finals because the opponents have no good players left, and you will get millions of dollars from the player that hit you. looks like a win-win situation to me
It depends on the jurisdiction you are in and on the age of the minor. E.g., in some jurisdictions like Germany, if a minor below the age of 14 kills someone, they cannot be sentenced like an adult (which I think is wrong). Nobody said they can do whatever the hell they want. But if an adult acts against a minor, the fact that it was a minor needs to be taken into account.
Its equivalent to the police trying to arrest someone who just punched you and you diving into the pile and punching him while they are trying to subdue him. The guy was on the court, yes. Its too much of a stretech to say that he got what he deserved because of it and that any player has carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants to that fan as long as he is on the court. Thats just, flat out, not the case.
Wrong. Try again. I'm no fan apologist. I'm just trying to state that it's not the players place to start pounding fans just because they are standing on the court. They did not lunge at anyone. Yes they were wrong for being there but does that give O'neal the absolute right to bust an UNSUSPECTING kid in the grill while on his knees and already being restrained. It just comes down to being proffessional and mature. Bottom line, if they seriously felt in danger then they wouldn't have been hanging around the court with cocked fists. They should have all been smart and retreated into the locker rooms from the start. It's evident they were just trying to show the world what tough guys they are. You've got to be smarter than. Violence was totally preventable all the way around had the players allowed security to do their jobs. The headlines would have been different. We should be reading "Drunken idiot arrested and tossed out of game".
Sorry codell, that was supposed to say wasn't out of line. If you read my post I think it states that I think he was out of line. Sorry about the confusion.
