The Detroit paper has their own spin on it. http://www.freep.com/sports/pistons/mrosey20e_20041120.htm MICHAEL ROSENBERG: Malice at Palace Blame Artest for the entire mess; he started by going into stands November 20, 2004 BY MICHAEL ROSENBERG FREE PRESS COLUMNIST JULIAN H. GONZALEZ/DFP The Indiana Pacers' Ron Artest stands back after punching and knocking down a fan in a wide-open melee that erupted Friday night near the end of the Pacers game with the Pistons. The game was called with 45.9 seconds left after the altercation erupted. The Pacers were awarded the win, 97-82. Go away, Ron Artest. Go far, far away. Last week, you were an amusing circus act. For much of Friday night, you were the best player in the building. And then you were something beyond Idiot and several miles past Nuts. And now you need to disappear -- not for a week, not for a month, and not for any amount of time that can be defined in conventional basketball terms. We're not measuring this in games missed. It goes beyond that. An intense regular-season game morphed into one of the ugliest nights in sports history Friday, and it's all because of Artest, the Pacers forward. Without him, there is no riot at the Pistons-Pacers game. Period. Let's replay what happened: Artest committed a hard foul on Ben Wallace, which happens. Wallace retaliated with a shove to Artest's face, which was over the top, but it happens. Artest went to lie down on the scorer's table like a sunbather and briefly grabbed a headset from the Pacers' broadcast team -- which doesn't happen, but wasn't a huge deal. As other players scuffled, a fan threw a water bottle at Artest's head. That was stupid and irresponsible -- BUT IT HAPPENS. It shouldn't, but it does. And the expected level of decorum for players and coaches is higher than it is for fans. Then Artest jumped up and ran into the stands with fists flying. He got there so fast, he almost knocked me over before I knew he was there. Stupid me, I was watching the court. Then Pacers Jermaine O'Neal, Eddie Gill and Stephen Jackson jumped into the stands. Pistons broadcaster Rick Mahorn, trying to play peacemaker, followed. It was hard to tell who was trying to break up fights and who was trying to start one. Fans screamed "I punched Artest!" Or, if they were on the receiving end, "He hit me! He hit me!" The next thing you knew, Artest coldcocked somebody, and O'Neal was said to have done the same, and chairs flew at the Pacers. And a lot of it was inexcusable. But none of it would have happened if Artest had done what athletes are trained to do forever: Ignore the fans. You never, ever, EVER run into the stands. And if you dispute that, please tell me one time, just when, when a situation got better when a player bolted into the crowd. As Palace president Tom Wilson said, "we're paid a lot of money" to maintain poise in that situation. "I don't know that there was a security failure," Wilson said. Wrong. Somebody let Artest into the building. That can't happen for a long time, and it won't. Expect the longest suspension in NBA history. And expect police charges, although none was filed Friday. What Artest did has nothing to do with sports, nothing to do with the Pacers-Pistons rivalry and very little to do with the water bottle. He has teetered on the wall between sanity and insanity for a while, and Friday he fell on the wrong side. No, not fell. Jumped. This is obviously a man in need of some serious help. Last week, when he asked coach Rick Carlisle for some time off to promote his CD, he was an amusing sideshow. There goes Ron-Ron again. Ha-ha. And Friday, he played brilliantly. He was the reason the Pacers won, 97-82. Then he was the reason the game ended with 45.9 seconds left. Over the loudspeakers, fans were asked to leave the Palace. Then, and only then, did the clock wind down from 45.9. It was way, way, way too late. Finally, long after the game was officially over, the Pacers' team bus departed the parking lot. It moved past the Pistons' cars, all of which were running, so that the Detroit players could make a quick exit. (None spoke to the media.) Rain fell on the Palace parking lot. And as the bus wedged between a dozen or more police cars and a few ambulances, this much was clear: Ron Artest was in the wrong vehicle. Contact MICHAEL ROSENBERG at 313-222-6052 or rosenberg@freepress.com.
I like how the Detroit writer changes everything..saying it was a water bottle and how he shouldn't have been laying there on the table. Give me a break that is the most biased writing i have seen. The article is just trash to me.
Artest should be expelled from the NBA...O Neal and Jackson should be suspended for a minimum of 1 month. If they find which fans took part in the "flaming of the fire", they should be expelled from ever attending a sporting event. Artest is a baby...he has proved it time and time again. Notice how he chose to take his frustrations out on some 5'10" 175 lb fans instead of going after Big Ben Wallace who shoved him in the throat. To paraphrase....you can take him out of the hood...but you cant take the hood out of him. I hope Stern kicks him out of the league.
Man, where to start here. It's sounding like the guy Artest attacked was not the guy that threw the beer. DOH!!! If I were that guy, I'd be on the phone with my lawyer right now. Artest deserves whatever he gets if it turns out he jumped the gun and retaliated against the wrong guy. How is it the Pistons fault? They didn't take the game into the stands. Under no circumstances should Artest NEVER have set foot into the stands. Despite Wallace over-reacting and the fan that threw the beer, Artest is solely responsible for the events that unfolded. His responsibility was to let security handle the issue. He never gave them that opportunity. He took the matter into his own hands, possibly attacked the wrong person and in the process instigated an all out riot. Artest definitely deserves to be suspened, possibly for the rest of the season. Wrong. A basketball arena is not the street. It is supposed to be a controlled and regulated forum. Security is on hand to handle these situations. Artest never gave them that chance. The fan was completely in the wrong, but Artest was equally in the wrong. Many of you are arguing that "it's fair game" when a fan sets foot onto the court. I'd say a player has the right to defend himself if a fan attacks him on the court, but they do not have the right to go into the stands. It's not the player's place to police the stands. If any fans that were in the stands are prosecuted for throwing punches at players that went into the stands, then the players on the court that threw punches at fans on the court should equally be prosecuted.. I guess by that logic any player entering the stands is just asking for an ass kicking. O'neal sucker punched that guy on the court. He wasn't be threatened by the fan in any way. Now if the fan started to go after Jermaine, then I understand, but in this case he got in a cheap shot. I'm not saying the fan isn't at fault at all because he never should have been on the court. If O'neal's actions in that scenario are looked over, the actions of the fans in the stands should be looked over too because the players entered their playing field. Again, Artest never gave security a chance to control the situation with the fan that threw the beer. His life wasn't threatened unless assault with a deadly beer is now a capital offense. The only thing Artest was trying to preserve was his own pride. He let it get in the way of doing the right thing and letting security detain the fan. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OK, I don't feel like quoting more posts, but those who are saying the fan who threw the beer at Artest should be charged with assault are exactly what is wrong with our society. These days if you simply touch someone that has a grudge against you, they can file assault charges. This bull**** needs to end. Boo-hoo, he got hit with a damn beer. I'm so sure he was physically injured. His pride was the only thing hurt. What's next, a player getting a wadded up napkin thrown at them and a fan having assault charges filed? Give me a break! At best the fan should be brought up on disorderly conduct charges. Our judicial system is going to far with what we consider assault. The assault began when Artest went into the stands and attempted to physically injure the wrong fan.
Also...this thing about a bottle....aren't all bottles plastic these days? He got hit with a plastic bottle ....had no clue who threw it...and beat up a few fans.
Yes, he got hit with a bottle. I don't care if it's a bottle or a tissue if you throw something at somebody that's provoking them. I agree that Artest shouldn't have gone into the stands but the fan shouldn't get off as easy as some of you are letting him.
This was the worst act of the night, IMO. This guy was on the ground, being restrained.. and O'Neal came in and caught him on the blind side. Down goes Frazier!! Down goes Frazier!!
Artest was "posing" on the scorer's table. Thats not grounds for the fans to do what he did, but Artest was clearly trying to provoke a response. If he had just gone and leaned up against the scorers table or walked to the other end of the court, thats different, and I doubt that he would have had something thrown at him.
I can tell already, this is going to turn into another JFK/Seinfeld type thing where where the tape is going to be replayed and analyzed again and again to try and figure out who was the "lone gunman" that threw the water bottle.
More like that NY Football game a few years back where fans threw snow balls onto the field and one actually gave some dude a concussion.
Exactly. Artest's foul was classless and could have hurt Wallace, I mean, come on.. it was GARBAGE TIME.. no need for that crap. Wallace DID overreact and failed to restrain himself. Artest only made things worse by taunting on the scorers table. That fan should NOT have thrown that drink, but Artest also should NOT have ran into the stands. Stephen Jackson was obviously trying to help protect Artest, but he just ended up punching people that threw stuff at him too, instead of trying to break up the fight and restrain Artest. Those two fat mexicans that got onto the floor near the Pacers bench were out of line. But Artest should not have confronted them and punched one of them. Neither should have Jermaine O'Neal.. that is securities job. Lots of blame to go around here, but the worst offenders here are the drink throwing fan, Artest, and O'Neal.
Talk about reinforcing negative stereotypes of this league. If mainstream America wasn't already turned off by this garbage, this should do the trick. Fans shouldn't throw stuff at players. Players getting paid millions of dollars should not act like the spoiled brats they are and go throw punches at fans. I can't believe some of you people defending Artest. He gets hit by a water bottle, so he goes and attacks some random fan in the stands (not even the one who threw the bottle)?? He's got to be the bigger man there, but he most certainly wasn't. Back to college football and the NFL...
I guarantee you had the player that gone into the stands had BENDER on the back of the jersey, some of the responses would be different. If anyone throws a beer on me, wherever I am, you better watch the **** out. I don't care if I'm "posing" or not. That may not be right, but it's how I'd react. I'm not saying Artest was right, but I can sure understand doing what he did. Also, I don't buy that Artest was posing to get a response, I think he was trying to be funny by showing the NBA that he wasn't doing anything. Remember last year when he got suspended for taking two steps on the court while a player on a different team did not? I think that's why he was doing what he was doing. Wallace should get a few games for keeping the brawl alive. He started it with he shove to Artest's neck and just when it appeared that everything was over, he started it back up again and got the fans into it by throwing a towel at Artest. I hope the police are able to identify the fans. If they can't, I don't think the players should be arrested either.
Yeah, where students get knocked out by players in warm-ups and players get ejected before the game ever starts!
btw, its not like this is the first time that players have been pelted with objects from the stands Doesn't this pretty much happen all the time, especially in San Francisco and Yankee Stadium?? Also, its not coincidenc that the only 3 NBA players in recent memory to charge into the stands to fight fans are: Rasheed Wallace, Vernon Maxwell and Ron Artest, three of the biggest knuckleheads in NBA history. Artest will ended up getting penalized more than he probably should, because the NBA is going to look as his past behavior and decide to finally lay down the law. Artest is out of control and its time for the NBA to do something about it.
Yeah, you're probably right. However, I do think that had that been almost any other player, they'd have a similar reaction. Oh yeah, O'Neal should have the biggest suspension, IMO.
Wasn't Bender wearing a suit on the sidelines? Lying on the scorers table, hands behind your head, with headphones on is taunting. He might have been trying to show he wasn't getting involved, but he was doing it in a way that just SCREAMED "F*CK YOU". He should have just went and sat down on the bench, as Wallace should have. I don't feel one way or the other about Artest, but he was not helping the situation. P.S. Anyone see Jamaal Tinsley run into the tunnel, grab a dustpan, and come out lookin' for someone to lay the wood to?
