Bottles do not have to made of glass. Ask the ref who caught a full plastic bottle with the side of his head if it didn't hurt.
my 4 year old spilled his popcorn AND his drink on me at the Spongebob movie...i refrained from clocking him
http://www.detnews.com/2004/pistons/0411/19/pistons-11159.htm Brawl ends Pacers-Pistons game at The Palace By Chris McCosky / The Detroit News AUBURN HILLS -- The NBA community is wagging its finger and shaking its head in disgust at the Pistons, their fans and the Indiana Pacers today after an ugly brawl forced an early ending to the Pacers' 97-82 victory Friday night at The Palace. The game was halted with 45.9 seconds left, after a fight -- which started with a Ben Wallace push on Ron Artest -- nearly escalated into a riot, involving both benches and coaches and eventually spilling into the crowd. "It was a disgraceful situation," said ESPN analyst and NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton. "There were no winners whatsoever. There is no excuse for players to go into the stands. The privilege and honor that goes with being an NBA player prohibits you from ever crossing that line. It was a frightful, devastating experience and there will be major ramifications for both teams and will have an impact on the rest of this NBA season." The fans, most of whom had already left, were also far from blameless, throwing beer, food and even a chair at the players. The NBA issued a statement late Friday that they would not comment on the situation until they had more time to sift through the details. Players from both teams were told not to comment. Auburn Hills police, as well as state police, were on site and are continuing to investigate for possible criminal activity. One thing is certain -- there will be many suspensions and fines, and some players -- like Artest, Stephen Jackson and Ben Wallace -- could be out for an extended number of games. Every Pacers player was allowed to leave the building. They host Orlando Saturday. There was talk that Pacers forward Jermaine O'Neal might be arrested. He and teammate Anthony Johnson both punched a fan -- whose name was believed to be Charles Hadad -- who had run onto the court after O'Neal. Johnson hit him first, O'Neal knocked him cold. Then, after he was hit by a folding chair thrown by a fan as he was walking through the tunnel, O'Neal got into an altercation in the tunnel with another fan, in front of Auburn Hills police. Several fans were treated for minor injuries, including Pacers play-by-play man Mark Boyle, who was cut on the forehead when he tried to stop Artest from going into the crowd. Hadad was carted off on a stretcher. Women and children were crying. It was a terrifying situation. No arrests were made Friday and police will continue their investigation. "It was the ugliest thing I ever seen in my life," said Pistons Coach Larry Brown, who despite his ailing left hip, was trying to pull players off of each other. "I am embarrassed for our league and disappointed to be part of this." Here's how it started. The Pacers were up by 15. Wallace was going up for a shot and Artest shoved him hard in the back. Wallace responded by shoving Artest hard in the upper chest and face. "Artest never made an attempt for the ball," Brown said. "They were up 15 points with 45 seconds left. I don't think that's something you expect. Ben didn't throw a punch. He pushed him." The benches emptied quickly. Tayshaun Prince was the only player from both teams that remained on the bench. Leaving the bench in a fight brings an automatic one-game suspension. That means Chauncey Billups, Derrick Coleman, Elden Campbell, Darvin Ham and Antonio McDyess, all of whom left the bench, could get a one-game suspension. Wallace, too, will probably get several games. Lindsey Hunter, Rasheed Wallace, Richard Hamilton and Smush Parker were on the court at the time. Referees were unable to completely subdue Wallace, Artest or Pacers guard Stephen Jackson, who was going after several players. Artest laid down on the scorer's table and started goofing around. Lying on his back, he put on a Pacers radio broadcaster's headset and appeared to be granting an interview. That incensed Wallace, who threw his sweatband at Artest. Almost at the same time, a fan threw a plastic cup of beer on Artest. That set Artest off. He raced into the stands and started swinging. The first person he hit was Mike Ryan of Clarkston. "I have no idea," Ryan said of why Artest picked him. "He was on top of me, pummeling me and he said, "Did you do it? Did you do it?' And I said, 'No, man, no.' He kind of shoved me and went off on other people." Jackson was the first to join Artest in the crowd. He threw and landed several wild punches on fans. He was also hit hard across the head by a fan who attacked him from behind. At that point, numerous players, including Rasheed Wallace and the Pacers' Fred Jones and coaches jumped into the crowd to try and pull the players out. Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle was instrumental in getting both Artest and Jackson out of the crowd. Former Piston Rick Mahorn, who was broadcasting the game on WDFN-1130, also jumped in and helped police the situation. It took about 15 minutes before the players were removed from the stands. Fans pelted the Pacers players with beer and food as they walked through the tunnel to their locker room. A chair was thrown at O'Neal. "It was a terrible thing for sports and for basketball," said Tom Wilson, president of Palace Sports and Entertainment. "However upset you get as a player -- and they may have had reason to be very upset -- you don't cross that line. We're paid a whole lot of money to turn the other cheek." Wilson said there was no security failure. He said Palace security, as well as the police, reacted quickly and properly. "But for the last foul, none of this would have happened," Wilson said. "It's an emotional game because it's an emotional rivalry. You know, I've never seen this happen and I hope I never see it again. I think the consequences will be severe enough that it will never happen again." It was the first time in 47 years that a Pistons basketball game was not allowed to finish. The league could start issuing fines and suspensions as early as today.
This is a pure assumption. How do you know that the fans would do such things. I can also assume that if Artest chose to take high road after that crazy fan throwing at him, the other fans will give him a round of applause.
Let's look at faults here. Artest gives Wallace the everyday hard foul. (It could be said that Boki's foul on malone last year is similar, although artest used more direct forearm-to-body than boki). No flagrant was called. Artest says nothing to Ben but ben shoves Artest in the neck/face area. Artest does not even ake a step toward Wallace and is retreating from the conflict. FAULT #1 = BEN WALLACE Rasheed Wallace does a good job of holding everyone back but Ben Wallace continues to start more trouble still trying to approach or harm Artest. Artest is making a statement to the NBA by laying down looking relaxed (Reggie Miller is actually telling Artest to stay there and was holding him there on the table). Ben Wallace mouths off and is still trying to get at Artest, he then throws a towel at artest to intensify the situation. FAULT #2 = BEN WALLACE. Just when everything was beginning to calm down between wallace and artest, a fan throws a cup full of beer/water at artest head. FAULT #3 = THE "FAN" Artest charges the person he thought did it, he gets a hold of him and holds him down yelling "Did you do it?!?! Did you do it?!?!" and after the fan pleaded he wasn't the one artest was letting him loose. At that time, Steph Jackson took matters into his own hands by TKOing the mistaken fan. Artest did not throw or land a punch on the fan. Watch the video closely, he did not have a fist at all. S.Jackson was clearly the aggressor in this situation as he chased the fan down more even after Artest let him loose, you could make the arguement that Artest was trying to chase Jackson down to tell him he wasn't the one. FAULT #4 = S. JACKSON After that event, it's Fans VS Players. Artest feels threatened after hearing threats and taunts and things thrown at him from what feels like everywhere. Everything after that was Artest defending himself. Anyone on the court was subject to a beat down, any player in the stands was subject to a beat down. FAULT #5 = It gets complicated at this point because chaos is everywhere. Artest was defending himself clearly after he got back onto the court. All of you who are blamming artest for any of this just do not like him and are too quick to judge.
So you didn't see the many fans who were throwing stuff at the players in the tunnel? Those fans wouldn't have thrown stuff if security had been able to get at the guy? They would have the mentality of "hey, security can't get ALL of us..." And as for your 4 year old, humorous analogy, but was your kid maliciousy throwing stuff at you in the movie theater?
One other thought on Wallace. Severely punishing Ben Wallace for his role (and he went into the stands as well) would hurt the Pistons and, de facto, their fans.
Excellent take even though I do not agree with everything you said. The key word is SPORTS. I hate it when people here and around the country throw subtle jabs at the NBA or Soccer but they don't do the same for the equally filty and r****ded NFL. Money is the problem at the root of all of this problems in sports starting with beer sales and other gratuitous gestures & promotions. Every sport must learn from this and the hypocrisy must stop. On the NHL and the barricade thing, I do not agree with that suggestion because the main reason the NHL put that in place is because of the puck injurying fans in the "stands" not because of security. It could work but I think it will take away from the fans fun of the game. Also what about the court sits? What do you do about those? I suggest better train security officers and more of them.
If you’re talking about the chubby dude that went out on the court, Artest had every right to beat that guy down. I've seen plenty of times where a fan will run on to a football field and get completely pummeled or a fan will jump into a wrestling ring and get his ass handed to him. If you enter an athlete's domain, you're going to get beat down whether you’re intending to hurt them or not. It's just like if your trespassing into someone's home, they have the right to shoot you.
Well I just saw the whole thing ~ yes it was bad, but it wasn't that bad... Did Artest really even throw one real blow? O'Neal's punch was by far the worst of it all. Drama.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/chris_mannix/11/20/pacers.react/ A new low Only solution for NBA is to get rid of the guy who's the problem Chris Mannix-The daily blog In 1977, Los Angeles power forward Kermit Washington landed a punch on Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich that fractured Tomjanovich's face and skull, causing spinal fluid to leak into his nose. Up until last night that incident was described by many NBA experts as single most serious event of that kind to ever happen in the sport. Unfortunately, thanks to the events of last night, history might now have a new low point. First, let's look at the play that set things in motion. With the Pacers holding a commanding 15-point lead with less than a minute to go, Pistons center Ben Wallace took the ball to the basket for what clearly was nothing more than a garbage-time bucket. Even Wallace's initial defender, Stephen Jackson, recognized the insignificance of Wallace scoring and stepped back, preferring to give up the score in exchange for regaining possession. But once again, Ron Artest interjected himself into a play that had no bearing on the outcome of the game, fouling Wallace from behind as he went up for the lay-up. I listened to ESPN analysts last night talk about how Artest's foul wasn't of the flagrant variety, but that's hardly the point. At no time during that possession did Artest make any kind of play on the basketball. What he did was purposefully shove Wallace in the back and take a swipe with his off hand at the back of his head. I worked in the NBA for 10 years, and one of the players I feel like I know the best is Ben Wallace, so believe me when I tell you that there is not a more gentle giant playing the game. I can recall a number of times when Wallace was placed in a situation where he or a teammate was being attacked and he chose to help diffuse the situation rather than engage in a physical confrontation. But just a week prior to Friday night's game, Wallace had just buried his oldest brother, 61-year old Sam Wallace, making it all the more likely his emotions were riding higher than usual. Wallace is no fool. He knew Artest's intention was not to prevent a basket, but to invoke a response. If you look closely as Wallace is advancing, Artest lowers his head as if anticipating the shot that Wallace delivered to his neck. He knew what he was doing, and he got the result he wanted. Pushing and shoving is relatively commonplace in most NBA games. Even the alleged "fights" of recent years have been nothing more than one big shoving match (you remember Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson in the 1998 playoffs?). Rarely is the case when you will see a player actually throw a closed-fist punch at another player. At the end of the day, the NBA is like one big fraternity, a place where your bitter enemy one year could wind up as your teammate the next. What Wallace did to Artest was not a punch, no matter how many analysts describe it as one. It was a shove, a hard shove to be sure, but nothing even close to resembling a punch. If Wallace, who's nickname in NBA circles is "body," a reference to his chiseled frame, actually did throw a punch, then Ron Artest wouldn't have walked out of Auburn Hills, he would have been carried on a stretcher. Most of what happened next is open to interpretation. There is no question in my mind that Artest's body language, lying on his back on the scorer's table with his arms behind his head, did nothing to calm Wallace, who was fighting off teammates trying to get to him. Stephen Jackson, who besides Wallace was probably the most animated, only provoked things by taking a fighter's stance and squaring off with Lindsey Hunter. By this time several Pacers and Pistons players not on the floor when the play happened, including Reggie Miller and Derrick Coleman, had wandered onto the court, an NBA no-no that by rule results in an automatic one-game suspension. Any time you have a blowout situation, which at that point in the game was happening, fans begin to get antsy and look for other ways to entertain themselves, which is why I was hardly surprised when Artest was nailed with the cup filled with beer. Here are Detroit fans watching their team get smacked around by their most bitter rival and were seeing their best player being antagonized by the resident NBA bad boy. It's like if Bill Laimbeer clothes-lined Larry Bird and then walked up to the concession stand to buy a hot dog. You expect something to happen. Players have had things thrown at them before, in every sport, but it's like Pistons CEO Tom Wilson says, "no one goes down on the floor, and no one leaves the floor." I'm sure Artest saw who threw the beer at him -- he went directly after one fan in particular. But when you do something as stupid as running into the stands, you not only put yourself at risk, you put the rest of your teammates at risk as well. While Artest was being restrained by security, Fred Jones was getting pounded in the back of the head by a man twice his size. Jackson went in right after Artest and started swinging wildly at a fan who doused Artest with his beer. And in what might have been the most vicious moment of all, Jermaine O'Neal, responding to a fan walking onto the court and confronting Artest, charged towards the fan and landed a punch that hit the man squarely in the jaw. That shot alone should earn O'Neal a 15-game suspension. It's the old mob mentality: When a fight breaks out, it's survival of the fittest. It will be interesting to see how the NBA responds to this. Wallace should get five games because it was his blow that incited the melee. Jackson should get seven or eight because he was one of the fight's biggest instigators and was one of the first to go into the stands. O'Neal should get double digits because it was his punch that seemed to connect with the most force and it landed on a fan who at the time was not involved directly in any altercation. But Artest should be thrown out of the league. How many chances can you give a guy that blatantly doesn't care about the consequences? Time after time we have seen this man suffer meltdowns both on and off the court. Throw him out. He doesn't want to be there anyways. Earlier this season Artest hinted to reporters that if the Pacers won the championship this season, he'd retire. Let the NBA help him out the door. You think his teammates enjoy spending countless hours defending him not only on the court, but to the media as well? Let him go work on his music label. What's the NBA waiting for? Artest to kill someone? After last night does anyone out there not think something like that is out of the realm of possibility? It's not the players for whom the NBA should feel sorry. It's not the angry fans, either, whose behavior was both disgusting and completely inexcusable. Who the NBA should feel sorry for is the father in the crowd huddled over his daughter, desperately trying to prevent her from being hit by the debris falling from the crowd. Those are the fans the NBA is targeting in its media campaigns, and they are part of the constituency the NBA continu es to lose.
Yes, the chubby dude , who probably felt it was safer to get out of the stands where Stephen Jackson was systematically going through each row and pummeling fans.
its alslo very easy to see that the guy didnt even attempt to throw a punch...he could have easily been standing there defending what was about to happen
Ahhhh, so no big deal then. Not really a problem that needs fixing. Lets just wait until some people lose their lives, and then we will know that there really is a problem. After all, we sure dont want to lose perspective here.
This type of crap will stop if either the player commiting the act is banned for life...or if the player suffers a career ending injury as a result of the fight.
He went on the court looking for a fight and got one, plain and simple. What other reason would he go on the court? He got what he deserved.
