When that guy's lawyer (the guy who got blindsided) gets done with O Neal...he is going to with he was still making a few mill a year on the end of Portlands bench
Then you'd better be prepared to accept any and all consequences of your actions, which in this case would be assault. I understand that he was amped up, and acting on instinct, but that just goes to show, again, how much of a loose cannon he is.
Artest should be suspended for two to five games, but Ben Wallace is the real culprit. He over-reacted with the shove and then egged on the crowd with the towel toss. He is the one who should get a year's suspension. The participating fans should receive stiff fines of $1,000 to $10,000 depending on their levels of videotaped involvement.
Exactly....when you drive down 610 and some a-hole cuts you off...you have choices...you can give him the finger and go on about your business...or you can run him off the road and beat him with a bat...the ladder has consequences. My guess is that Artest doesn't understand that...but he will.
Are you serious? Wallace responded to a borderline flagrant, and unecessary rough foul with a shove and thats somehow worse than Artest and his teamates assaulting fans in the stands?? Players retaliate after hard fouls all the time. I don't see the player who commited the first foul running into the stands after fans.
What Artest did was nothing even close to beating some guy down with a bat. It's not like Artest threw any monster punches at the guy in the stands. All it looked like to me was Artest trying to wrestle the guy down. Nothing vicious.
Objects like that are clearly intended to cause injury. A plastic cup of beer can hardly be considered an object of assault. As I stated earlier, the only thing Artest was defending was his pride because there is no way he was in any danger. The same could be said, with a much stronger argument, that if Artest didn't bombrush a fan(the wrong fan) in the stands, the whole thing never would have occurred. I mean there really is no denying that is the single incident that triggered all of the chaos.
Ben Wallace did not only shove Artest in his throat area (very dangerous I must add), he also kept the melee going after that by refusing to be calmed down with a over a minutes into the nonsense. He was stupid for that. To make matters worse, he threw the towel again on Artest. What did Ron do to deserve all of that? His CD coming out on the 23rd of November? For starting the craziness, maintain & sustaining the tension and for throwing the towel Ben Wallace should get double of tripple what ever Ron Artest gets, period. Talking about suing, the NBA players should first sue the Palace of Auburn Hills, Detriot Pistons and their fans for starters - for lack of proper security and assault as it is deemed fit.
Leave it to Bigtexx to try to start up the race card. And don’t say your negative stereotype post isn’t about Black Basketball players, we know what you mean. I wonder what you had to say when some L.A. Dodgers went into the stands earlier this year to fight with fans. How did “mainstream America” feel about that.
I did not mean to say that his "past reputation' itself provoked the fan throwing at him, but cetainly played a big part role. I also did not mean that the fan's action by any measure is acceptable or tolerated. If it is Bender or Miller gave Big Ben a hard foul, people would think this is rather incidental. But in this case that Artest involved, many fans might think othervise based on his bad history. They may think he was trying to hurt Big Ben. I am even doubtful Wallace would react so strong if it was other player fouling him.
Yes I did. The worse I saw from him was when he grabbed the guy in the face and forced him into the ground. But he didn't throw any punches. Sure, part of that may be because so many people were grabbing on to him and holding him back. But the fact still remains, he did not throw any vicious puches that could seriously hurt anyone.
I don't know codell, it's real easy to determine that "he was not a threat" when you are watching the whole thing on TV. And he wasn't a threat. JO just had a chair flying at him, missing him by like a foot. He's hearing from the fans what they were going to do to his butt. He sees his teammates surrounded by piston fans in the stands. I think if you are in his situation, everyone is a threat. Especially the two guys that just fought Artest. Stern will be forced to handout very harsh penalties(for business purposes), but like people have said before: It's everyone's fault. Let's not just pin the blame on the players.
Thugs + Beer + Morons + Spoiled Brats + Rap Albums to Sell + Players that act like 10 year olds = Fight. I don't understand why anyone here would be surprised that there was a fight of this magnitude. Frankly, I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. With as many bad apples as you have in the NBA, this was just waiting to happen. This is what thugs do. They fight. They need to remember that their diamond earrings are paid for by ticket sales, tv contracts, and merchandise sales. Guess who buys that stuff? The fans. No fans = no money in the league. These players need to remember that. They also need to remember that they would be sweeping the floor at KFC if it weren't for the game of basketball. Ron Artest belongs in prison.
I saw that Jim Gray report too. But after watching the incident over and over again, I have come to conclude that the guy in the Blue wind breaker (with Wallace written on the back) and baseball hat could not have been the guy because when the video flashed in his direction he had both hands in his pocket. In my calculation it is almost imposible to throw the cup of liquid and put your hands back in your pocket that quickly unless you are one of the Incredibles. I think Artest got the riguy since he was look right at him but I wonder also because the same guy Artest charged had another cup of drink in his left hand when Artest charged. So did he have two cups? Maybe my view of all os this was distorted but all of this will be sorted out soon properly.
Artest's foul was not that bad -- hard but certainly not flagrant. Players like Wallace need to learn to let the refs assess the penalties -- and certainly not incite the crowd to violence.
