Wallace should have been man enough to just shoot his free throws. That fan should have been man enough to keep his drink in his hand. I've never said I agreed with him going in the stands at all. In fact thinking rationally I wouldn't have done it, but again, for every action there is a reaction, and they only took a split second, they didn't think, they just reacted. No one thought about the consequences before they did what they did, Artest with the hard foul, Wallace with the push, the fan with the thrown object, or Artest again with the charging the stands. The only thing I've said is that I understand the reactions from everyone, not the initial actions.
Imagine the ratings if Stern would have timed Artest’s return from suspension to coincide with an away game at Detroit… ____________________________________ In the bar where I was watching, I don't recall seeing anyone weeping inconsolably about the stain on the NBA, sport, and human civilization. If anyone was crying, it was from laughing so hard after seeing that rotund, souvenir-jersey-clad fan run onto the court and try to show Artest who was boss. When was the last time you remember your co-workers, your parents—anyone except Bill Walton—talking about the NBA in November? ____________________________________ Fight! Fight! Fight! Why we need more NBA brawls. If I had to reconstruct what happened during Friday night's Pacers-Pistons game based solely on the reactions of sports columnists, I'd probably come up with something like this: Ron Artest beats his own coach with a club, Stephen Jackson shows a homemade sex tape on the Palace's Jumbotron, and Jermaine O'Neal grabs a mike and makes disparaging remarks about John Wooden, Mother Teresa, and "the troops." Luckily, I saw everything happen with my own eyes. I was in a bar on Friday night when the fight began streaming in an infinite loop. Many of us had been primed for the highlights by enthusiastic cell-phone calls. When it finally came on, most every patron in the establishment enjoyed, thoroughly and loudly, all of the hot-and-heavy action. That's right, we loved it. Sure, it was wrong for Artest to run into the stands, and wrong for Jackson to run in after him throwing haymakers, and wrong for the fans to douse the Indiana players with beer. But when a crazy basketball player charges into the stands and tries to pounce on some drunk jerks, I don't fly into a rage on behalf of the nation's children. Nope, I just kick back and enjoy the spectacle. In the bar where I was watching, I don't recall seeing anyone weeping inconsolably about the stain on the NBA, sport, and human civilization. If anyone was crying, it was from laughing so hard after seeing that rotund, souvenir-jersey-clad fan run onto the court and try to show Artest who was boss. (Connoisseurs should also note that one of the first peacemakers onto the scene, running in from Artest's left, was a clown. Another was, of all people, Rasheed Wallace.) The very few people in the crowd who weren't interested in the fracas seemed like the kind of people who refuse to be entertained under any circumstance. Immediately after the brawl, the talking heads on ESPN's NBA Shootaround all said that disgusted fans would stop watching NBA games in droves. At this exact moment, millions of people were talking, probably for the first time in history, about a regular season NBA game. Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee wrote that "drastic and perhaps even draconian" measures were now required to salvage the NBA's image. But this once-in-a-lifetime brawl has, quite obviously, increased fan interest in the league. The fight was still the lead item on the local news last night—and I live in Brooklyn. When was the last time you remember your co-workers, your parents—anyone except Bill Walton—talking about the NBA in November? Rather than acknowledge that the brawl was a freak occurrence—and a funny one to boot—the sports commentariat have heralded the apocalypse and rapturously praised NBA Commissioner David Stern's predictably harsh suspensions. Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News wrote that the fight "was more than just a black eye. It was Stern's Black Sox scandal." No, this was his Disco Demolition Night. Not that I disagree with Sterns's actions, or think that the players or fans behaved admirably. (Except for the clown; he is a hero.) Stern wasn't "a great commissioner when we needed him to be," as Lupica wrote, just a competent one. The fans drank too much and made a scene and Stern made a sanctimonious speech about how society is in decline. That's it. The biggest lesson that we can take away from this mega-fight is that Ron Artest is really, really loony, just like Dennis Rodman was loony, and Vernon Maxwell was loony. This is a guy who, after becoming a national villain, appeared on the Today Show to explain himself while decked out in gear promoting his rap album. Rather than herald a plague of sports-related violence, the Pacers-Pistons brawl has just reinforced how rare this kind of behavior is. Now it'll be even rarer because the mental and physical boundaries that keep fans and players apart will be far stronger. I bet you'll think twice about tossing a beer the next time you go to a basketball game. I haven't met, nor can I even imagine, someone who actually feels harmed by what happened. If the players had beaten somebody bloody or unconscious or worse, everyone in the bar would have stopped cheering. That we're thrilled by the occasional flash of violence in sports doesn't mean we're one step away from prime-time cockfights. Bill Conlin of the Philadelphia Daily News wrote that the fight showed that "America in general and American sports in particular" are at the same stage as Rome when it was overrun by the "lean and hungry subjects of the Empire." If this is the first sign of the apocalypse, then the ride to hell will be pretty smooth. link
The only people who think this is a stain on the NBA are the same people who probably don't watch the NBA anyway. All my friends who actually watch the NBA thought the fight was hysterical. Of course, I'm not including NBA officials and those directly involved with the NBA like announcers or commentators. I'm talking about the fans.
Not all videos showed that part, there are 5 different videos of the whole thing, and some are edited by the network i think, but that guy definately did a little boxing move which i thought was hilarious at the time
yeah the initial videos that showed this basically showed him come on to the court in a show down with artest and he basically walked up and bucked up to him like he wanted to fight and Artest just threw a punch before the other guy had a chance to throw a punch.
Original article seems to want to give the benefit of the doubt on every turn. He at least recognizes that Artest went into the stands to avenge a humiliation, not for defense. But, to say, "And here's a lost point: Though Artest pushed the innocent fan, HE DID NOT STRIKE HIM," something that been repeated ad naseum btw, is not defensible if you saw how forcibly Artest shoved that guy. A prosecutor won't consider it less of an assault just because he didn't ball his fist before dashing that guy against the pavement. And to say that Artest backed off when the fan denied involvement is too hard to call. He was being grabbed by a half dozen guys. I don't see how you can conclude anything about what he was thinking when he was being forcibly pulled away. And, to say Jackson was in the stands because Artest was "stuck" in a crowd of unfriendly fans is disingenuous. He trailed Artest by maybe a second getting up there. He was there as a wingman, out for revenge just as much as Artest was, not a defender. Pat has already pointed out the fallacy that anyone on the court is "fair-game." I can understand Artest decking the one guy who confronts him, not because he's on the court, but because he initiated the confrontation. I don't know if he was willing to take the first swing himself, but Artest doesn't need to wait for it. But, I busted a gut reading how he couldn't blame Jermaine O'Neal for his Mortal Kombat punch because the guy was on the court. He was on the floor, getting up, apparently losing in his fight with the players, no threat at all to O'Neal and likely not to anyone else either, and O'Neal decks him. He should have lost the season for that needless punch. (Plus, I did see security in the video. They wear black suits.)
compared to european sports riots...not even close. but come on...there has been nothing like this in my lifetime in U.S. pro sports. nothing. it was out of control and dangerous. no one got REALLY hurt so it's no big deal?? give me a freaking break. the funny thing to me about this article is where it comes from and when it was written. the network that showed this thing 24/7 for the past couple of weeks now has a web columnist write about how we've all been led down the path by the media to think this thing was worse than it was. huh??? what a joke. when players go into the stands to attack fans, that sucks. it just does. the fans' actions were inexcusable as well. there are no good guys in this story. just crappy behavior run amuck. and if you're the commissioner of the league, you come down on that crap because it's not what you want your league to be associated with.
