I'm glad Ben Wallace is listed separately. His actions were not nearly as bad as the other guys'. Did he even throw a punch? And if he did, at least he didn't attack any fans.
the whole thing was completely stupid but just watching the breakdown on espnews, watching those coward fans dump stuff on the pacers as they're going to the lockeroom was just pathetic.
Just one of those stupid times where everyone wants to put their 2 cents in and in this case their 2 cents involved attacking the players on their way out while the rest of security is worrying about on the court activities. They knew could get away with it at that time so they started throwing stuff while they were leaving.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_y...dw-artestnotouching111904&prov=yhoo&type=lgns When you take a long, emotionless look at it – which is what first David Stern and later a Michigan court surely will do – the fault for the wildness that erupted at the end of the Indiana Pacers' victory at the Detroit Pistons on Friday will land at the feet of one guy, Ron Artest. The Indiana forward made a serious and intolerable (no matter how understandable) mistake when his reaction to getting hit with a cup of beer was to hunt down the perpetrator. Enraged, he climbed over press row, jumped the hockey boards and proceeded to attack a spectator in the stands. A near-riot broke out afterward. It is an act that no athlete should ever, ever engage in, no matter how much a fan may deserve it. To make matters worse in this case, no camera angle or eyewitness account I am aware of suggests that the fan Artest got a hold of – the guy in the black shirt – threw the beer. That guy seems way too far away to even make the throw. ESPN's Jim Gray reported it was the fan with the white hat, which seems plausible since he later punched Artest from behind. And if you watch closely, the moment Artest grabs the guy in the black shirt, it is clear the fan is holding his drink in his left hand. This looks like an innocent bystander. Which is why David Stern has two choices. He either turns a deaf ear to all of the hysterical apologists out there and slaps Artest with a historic suspension, or says that when players are confronted by one out-of-control fan they have the right to charge into the stands and beat the hell out of the first guy they see. Know this: When the video is played in the calm of a courtroom, Artest had better hope the guy in the black shirt was double fisting or he is cooked. Teammate Stephen Jackson won't fare much better. After the black shirt's friend understandably threw a drink at Artest in an effort to stop the attack, the eager-to-fight Jackson raced over to throw a sucker punch that his career and bank account are likely to regret. On a side note, Jermaine O'Neal can thank his lucky stars that his front leg slipped on the wet floor when he later threw that running haymaker at the clueless fat guy in the Pistons shirt who had gotten into it with Artest. Watch that punch again on the video. If O'Neal's left leg plants and he gets full force behind the punch, that fan gets hit harder than Rudy T. The entire episode made for impossible-to-ignore video and will keep the chattering class going just as the Terrell Owens-"Desperate Housewives" debate was playing out. But in the end this has to go back to Artest's reaction. Not to excuse the original beer-throwing hooligan (here is hoping he's arrested), but nutcase fans are nothing new. Artest isn't the first athlete to get hit by a beer. None of the real craziness happens if Artest doesn't blow his stack. Everything dies down if Artest doesn't break the cardinal rule of athlete/fan interaction – no touching. This is nothing more than a satisfying victory for the Pacers if Artest acts like a professional. NBA player is one of many jobs in which restraint is a prerequisite. Police officers deal with it on a nightly basis. Ditto for bartenders, bouncers, soldiers and so on. The public occasionally may be drunken, pathetic idiots who lash out full of the courage that comes from the crowd. Getting hit with a beer may not be fun. But sadly that is one of the tradeoffs of the job. When a fan crosses the line, you leave it up to security, you press charges, you turn the other cheek. No matter how tough that is. You never, ever go into the stands to attack a fan. Ever. Because you might punch an innocent person, incite a riot, break the law, get sued and give your sport as black of an eye as it's seen. If David Stern doesn't want to teach Ron Artest that lesson, the legal system almost assuredly will.
Well heres my take on it: It didnt look like artest "pummeled" the guy he first charged at, looked like he got his hands on him and before he could throw a punch all the other fans restrained him, so i doubt he could get that much money from artest if at all. And the guy that artest actually clocked that was on the court approaching artest. Theres no reason for the fan to be on the court, its not like the fan wanted to go on the court and go over and pat artest on the back and tell him to calm down, he was on there to get a peice of artest. For you of those who completely blame artest you have to understand his mindset. After being shoved, chocked, getting towel and wristband thrown at him, not to mention all the stuff they take from fans all game long and walking away from it all the last thing you need is a dumba ss fan throwing a beer at him. You guys actually expect artest or anybody else who got a beer thrown at them to go to the ushers or security and ask "excuse me, can you guys please detain the fan who just threw a beer at me." These NBA players are human and theres so much they can take, just because they get paid millions doesnt mean that have to stand there and take everything up the ass. They are held to a higher standard and already show remarkable restraint during games when they are getting heckled and such. I could see multigame suspesnions and fines going to jackson, oneal, wallace and artest. Also expect the piston organization to get fined several miliion dollars in lapses in security. Everything looked defendable in court so i doubt any of the players will face jail time, except for jackson who decked out anybody in sight and was looking for a fight as seen early on in the incident.
Stephen jackson is the guy who clocked the guy in the black shirt after he threw his beer in defense when Artest was grabbing him.
yeah i know that's what pisses me off, they'd run the other way if put one-on-one against any of those guys.
True or False: Ron Artest needs the NBA more than the NBA needs Ron Artest. Answer: TRUE Ron is going away for a long time. Bye bye.
Hey I have a lil bit more respect for Rasheed Wallace than I used to. hes one of the few that did nothing wrong and did everything to try and control the situation.
Exactly, and I'm not defending Artest, but I'm not going to blast him for not taking the high road either.
I think im tired of NBA players getting away with everything.. if they did a crime they should serve the penalty as anyone else. someone made the point if you get doused w/ a beer so you whoop on that guy. Your the one that goes to jail, because what you did is so much worse than getting hit with a beer. J
If he is going to flagrant foul someone during garbage time and then lay on the scorer's table like a clown, then he should expect some sort of retaliation by people. Was he really surprised that people would get mad at his stupidity? It doesn't make what the fans did right, but if he is going to dish it out he should be able to take it.
What's so offensive about laying on the scorer's table right after an altercation that Ben Wallace started. The arena was half empty, including the area around the scorer's table.
