Not to mention that Artest was legally assaulted by that fan. Yes, what that fan did was a prosecutable offense. At some point we need to quit blaming the players. They are human beings, there's only so much crap they should be forced to take from abusive fans.
I'm just glad that wasn't the Rockets in that fight. Can you imagine JVG holding on for dear life to Yao or Howards leg?
that was a different fan. there were two of them on the floor. the guy ron pounded in the stands has said he wasn't the guy who threw the bottle...
utterly f'ing ridiculous! crappy fans for an even crappier city. apparently yao wasn't to impressed with his first visit either. what in the hell makes a sports fan think that they can take on an nba player not named pau gasol?
the fan that threw the cup needs to get charged with assault. artest needs to get charged with assault and incite to riot. these people, fans and players that behave this way, are an embarrassment to the human race. People that blame security are freaking high. The blame goes on an entire mentality that permeates the NBA product. And to insinuate that Detroit fans are any different than other fans is preposterous. These were the acts of a few people that incited pack mentality. That same pack mentality would have happened in any city.
Lifetime bans are not enough. To stop future outbursts like this, each of the participating "fans" should be assessed $5,000 to $10,000 fines. There are lots of videotapes of the crowd showing exactly who was throwing punches, heaving bottles and pouring beer on players. If only players are punished, this type of activity will continue. Hate in America is boiling over. You can see it exhibited in road rage, politics, sports...even little league baseball.
The players should leave the court immediately when objects get thrown. It should be part of their job. They played right into the fan's hands.
Pretty much agree with this take, although charging someone for throwing water on someone else is a lil steep, but I think that fan should have his season tickets revoked. Overall, much have the blame has to be put at Artest's feet. 1) He committed a borderline flagrant foul (wasn't even going for the ball) when the game had clearly been decided, for the sole purpose of eliciting a response from Wallace. 2) He went into the stands to go after a fan. Its absolutely wrong for fans to throw water and popcorn at players. Its wrong for them to throw anything at players. But you know what? It happens and players have to be professional and just walk away and let security handle that fan for throwing whatever. Players just cant take matters into their own hands, and I certainly don't feel the need to start a riot because someone threw some liquid on me. Its also absolutely wrong for fans to come onto the court, so yes, the fan that came onto the with raised fists towards Artest got what he deserved. The other fan, the one who just pushed Artest away from his buddy, got the worst of it and I thought that O'Neal coming in and leveling him when he was halfway on the ground probably was a lil unecessary, but thats the fans fault for putting himself and his friend in that environment. Artest should probably get 10-15 games, and I wouldnt be suprised if it was as high as 20. I wouldnt be suprised to see Jackson get more than Artest, 10+ games. Not sure if O'Neal will get any suspension, even thought what he did was unecessary, but more understandable than what Artest did. B. Wallace should probably get 1 game for shoving Artest in the face, but I don't hold him accountable for inciting the riot, as what he did to Artest was hardly an worse than what Artest did to him. The bottom line is, having a cup of liquid thrown at you is no reason to provoke a riot, and thats why Artest will get hit hard (and while it may not be fair, his past history will be held against him).
BTW .....Stephen A. Smith is right that fan could try and sue Artest, but Artest will be plead not guilty by reason of insanity and win
That's the thing i hate about sports. Over zealous fans throwing **** and talking smack about a player's personal life until the player goes off the edge and starts beating the **** out of them. Then once the fan gets a thrashing, that they deserved, they go out and sue the player. You know what's going to end up happening? They are either going to put up plastic barricades like in the NHL or in games like baseball make the fans sit farther away. Everybody say thanks to the idiotic fans who will ruin it for the rest of us. Man, I hope that guy who threw the beer bottle gets his ass kicked in the worst way.
He wasn't. Look at the replay carefully. Bottle goes flying at Artest. Ron stands up and you can see the pounded guy, WITH A BEER IN HIS HAND, heckling. Behind the gal in the Pistons jersey, there is a man running away from the place where the bottle was thrown. Running rather quickly....considering the fight hadnt broken into the stands yet, why was he running so fast out of the sight range of Artest? Thats your boy.
I understand Artest getting pissed, but man, he really shouldn't have run up there. Most likely, the first guy he pounded wasn't even the one who threw the cup. If he had just let security handle it, they probably would have gotten that guy and he would have been banned.
I noticed that too. It seems Artest flew into the stands with blind rage, rather than going after the culprit.
Look for the league to use this as a negotiation issue in the impending labor battle. First, the league will impose severe sanctions against the players to appease the fans. Then the players union will fight the suspensions, saying the players need to protect themselves, as the league won't. The players and the union will come out of this looking like rich, whiny crybabies, like they always do. The league will then say at the next round of negotiations that the public is on the owners side, not the players side, and the the fans think the players are a bunch of young punks. So the union should yield concessions, to improve their image, the owners will say. Starting with giving up the long term contracts (like Artest has), and limiting the contracts to four years.
