NBA or WWE you decide...

[meaubry]

Nice job by the commissioner. If you think he was too harsh, just wait til the Law enforcement officers serve up the arrest warrants and the lawyers go after the really big money. Too bad - but, think how'd you feel if a guy as big as a pro basketball player hits you right in the face - for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guy he went after wasn't even the right guy. Think about it, what if that guy was your friend, brother, or uncle and he didn't do anything to cause this nut case to attack him. Think about what you'd do? Most normal people would just stand there and let the guy whamp on them - without cause - just because it's okay, because someone else dis-respected him? Sorry - get real, there is NO justification for that. I felt sorry for that guy - just glad it wasn't a woman or child. The action taken should justify assault and battery charges. Self defense would have held up nicely if he'd actually attacked the right guy. That guy that Artest hit will be laughing all the way to the bank. Now, after the next so called professional basketball player pushes another - we will see if it costs them 6 games. The actions that occurred during the game need to be separated from what happened in the stands. Ben wasn't in the stands, Ben was on the court - but Ron didn't want a piece of Ben after the foul. The actions on the court should have been mitigated by immediate removal of both Ron and Ben - the rest of the embarrassment would never have occurred. Why isn't that simply a rule in the NBA. If you cause a fight, immediate ejection AND immediate removal from the playing field. That is what should have happened - the rest wouldn't have happened and most of the players would be fined some money, miss a couple games - but not jeopardize their teams season. It just isn't fair to the Pacers fans.

My revised look on this and resons why the commissioner went too far.

1. Back in 1996, the NBA claimed to have "set the standard" because then Houston Rockets player Vernon Maxwell was suspended 10 games for going into the stands and attacking a fan who was making fun of his dead child.

What makes this different then what Artest did other then the fact that Steven Jackson followed him into the stands and the other fans attacked Artest and Jackson and it got totally out of control. If the fans wouldn't have blindsided Artest's face with a haymaker instead of just try to get him seperated, maybe that would be a different story. Suspensions make sense....but the length is what I do not agree with.

2. According to NBA commish David Stern, he suspended Jermaine O'neal for punching that fan on the floor. Ok i understand that. But 25 games? A. The fan shouldn't have even been out on the floor. Most arena's make rules saying that fans who come out on the floor will be arrested and prosecuted for tresspassing. Clearly fans who come out onto the floor proves that the players are in danger, especially when that fan came running out and made a move towards Ron Artest.

Personally I dont blame them


Although Kudos to Mr. Technical Foul (Rasheed Wallace). I never expected he would be the Pistons player to be the peacemaker....shows that all bad boys have a good side


Now that all the suspensions are in place and the NBA Players Association will come to the rescue, I don't see why any of the players will serve the full suspensions (with exception of the 1 game suspension guys).

I think this is now a dead issue and there is no reason to discuss it any further.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by meaubry

Nice job by the commissioner. If you think he was too harsh, just wait til the Law enforcement officers serve up the arrest warrants and the lawyers go after the really big money. Too bad - but, think how'd you feel if a guy as big as a pro basketball player hits you right in the face - for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The guy he went after wasn't even the right guy. Think about it, what if that guy was your friend, brother, or uncle and he didn't do anything to cause this nut case to attack him. Think about what you'd do? Most normal people would just stand there and let the guy whamp on them - without cause - just because it's okay, because someone else dis-respected him? Sorry - get real, there is NO justification for that. I felt sorry for that guy - just glad it wasn't a woman or child. The action taken should justify assault and battery charges. Self defense would have held up nicely if he'd actually attacked the right guy. That guy that Artest hit will be laughing all the way to the bank. Now, after the next so called professional basketball player pushes another - we will see if it costs them 6 games. The actions that occurred during the game need to be separated from what happened in the stands. Ben wasn't in the stands, Ben was on the court - but Ron didn't want a piece of Ben after the foul. The actions on the court should have been mitigated by immediate removal of both Ron and Ben - the rest of the embarrassment would never have occurred. Why isn't that simply a rule in the NBA. If you cause a fight, immediate ejection AND immediate removal from the playing field. That is what should have happened - the rest wouldn't have happened and most of the players would be fined some money, miss a couple games - but not jeopardize their teams season. It just isn't fair to the Pacers fans.

This disturbs me because fans are now going to think it's open season on athelets and they can say or do anything they please without any consequences for thier actions. Does anyone else have a problem with this?

[meaubry]

Ed - you really think this a new concept? People have been doing that for years - this is not new. It isn't right either - but, my point was that in todays litigation crazy country, any excuse for a lawsuit. How many times do you see folks go to court over accidental falls, or opportunities that shouldn't even be considered but are. Yep, it disturbs me that anyone would gain monetarily from this situation, but lets face it - you know its gonna happen. Let me tell ya about the time I was almost attacked by a Professional football player at the Silverdome - he was sure that I said something bad about his poor playing. This also was a case of mistaken identity. I used to have seats in Row 1 - Seat 1 and 2, at the 40 yard line behind the visitor bench. At the beginning of the 3rd quarter, some guy with the visiting teams jersey snuck down and sat in the row behind me - started giving his own team alot of guff (his own vulgar motivational speech about how pathetic they were playing) Must have hit a nerve with the player that turned around and threatened to rip my head off. I didn't say a word to him, I was shocked and was afraid for my life. The security guards were there in a second and luckily they saw the guy that was giving it to the opposing teams players and took that guy out. The player that screamed at me didn't say or do a thing - no apology, no nothing. Mistaken identity. The opponents QB (Trent Dilfer) also saw the entire thing that had happened and came over and apologized and gave me a set of wrist bands and some other stuff. I'll never forget how a person wrongly mistaken feels, and luckily I didn't get hit. I really don't know what I would have done - legally that is (if I had survived). So, as unfortunate as it is - there will be opportunities for people to sue others - some with merit, but many without.

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by Kyle45

Suspensions
Artest-rest of season
O'Neil- 25
Jackson-30
Wallace-6
Johnson-5
others were suspended just not sure who, I heard miller got one game.

Good.

I think that this is just and fair. The players have absolutely no business going into the stands. I don't care what any fan did to them, these players should know better. Fans and players are not equal during this situation. Were those fans idiots? Yes. Are the Pacer players fools? Absolutely. I think that it is good that Artest will lose $5 million for his foolish, idiodic reaction to a cup of ice being thrown at him.

Think twice about taking the side of the players position. They are paid an absurd amount of money to dribble a ball, bump in to other players, and put a ball through a hoop. The Pacers are ashamed, and they darn well better be. They have had chances to keep the "good guys" and they have let them go, over the years. What they have now are a core group of whiners. They should've moved Artest and kept Harrington at the end of last year.

Heck, give me $10 million a year, and you can throw cups of beer and ice on me all day long. Sheesh. These players sicken me.

This act shows what is wrong with sports. The athletes are spoiled, get too much attention, and are rewarded (with attention) for being fools. Spectators are stupid for paying gaudy prices to see this ridiculousness. In my opinion, the NBA stinks. I was a Pacers fan, but no more. The game is much better, from my spectator view at the college and high school level.

I hope Artest, Jackson and O'Neal get prosecuted. I also hope that the Palace and some idiot Detroit fans pay the price for allowing this to happen. Unfortuneately, some lawyers and these idiot fans are going to profit from this fiasco.

Andy B.

(former college and semi-pro athelete)

[Paul H]

Was Ben Wallace in the wrong? Absolutely, but even the NBA said in the head of the moment, especially in a rivalry as heated as this one, these things happen. Are a handfull of Detroit fans also to blame? No doubt, but don't go blaming Detroit fans in general. It's a shame that 100 or 200 fans in an arena of more than 22,000 can spoil some peoples' views of Detroit sports fans. But before I start, let me just say that I don't condone anything on the Detroit side of things.

The thing that I find kind of strange is that most of the national media left out the fact that Ron Artest was laying on the scorers' table with his legs spread toward the pistons with his hands cupped behind his head and a sly grin on his face. He even took a headset and started doing a radio interview....and this was before the game was even called! The game was technically still going on. I don't buy it for a second when people say that Artest removed himself from the altercation and someone just randomly threw a beer at him as he was sitting there being a little angel. He was doing his fair share of provoking. I saw that Shaq said that he would jump up into the stands too, but do you think that Shaq has the disregard for professionalism to lay down on the scorers' table? (even though it might not hold him anyways!)

I was proud of Rasheed Wallace for being one of the men trying and break this whole thing up, rather than provoke it. He has come a long way since his days in Atlanta and Portland.

Also, you can see former Bad Boy and current Pistons radio broadcaster Rick Mahorn in the stands trying to break things up as well.

I also heard that a majority of the fans involved were identified by Auburn Hills police, and Palace security has been stepped up to what they call playoff level for the rest of the season.

I just want to say, don't judge almost 5 million people (most of whome are Detroit sports fans) in Metro Detroit by 100 or so drunk guys at one Pistons game.

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by Corey Balint

Im not saying just because they are detroit fans this happened, im saying it was there stupid behavior that caused this.

Unofficial suspensions are out(and i hope they are complete bulldunky)
Artest-gone for season
O'Neal-25 games
Jackson-30
Wallace-6
Anth Johnson-4
and reports of another 4 with one gamers.
Miller-Billups-Coleman-Campbell.


I think its complete nonsense that the person who started it all gets 5 games. It was pointless for him to fight back-i hope the NBA rethinks there decision and gives him something worse.

Good for the NBA. Jeez... Artest was an idiot for randomly attacking people in the stands. Sure he got hit in the head with a cup but he didn't even attack the person that hit him. He was just looking for a reason to attack someone.

[Jack Jones]

OMG!!!! NBA players acting like criminals? Say it isn’t so! Next thing you know they’ll be coming down with AIDs.

The NBA has done its very best over the years to ignore the fact that it’s really the other way around; criminals acting like basketball players? How could they ever have gotten that way? Could it be that, because they could bounce a ball and put it through a hoop, they never had to conjugate a verb, pay tuition, or actually pass a test in high school or college? What could be the reason that over 40% of NBA players have arrest records?

As for records, Artest can add the latest to his “how not to be a role model” resume:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=230103018
http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2003/0129/1500878.html
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slu...v=ap&type=lgns
http://espn.go.com/nba/news/2003/0320/1526815.html

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

Good for the NBA. Jeez... Artest was an idiot for randomly attacking people in the stands. Sure he got hit in the head with a cup but he didn't even attack the person that hit him. He was just looking for a reason to attack someone.

I would say the same for the fan who threw the cup. How was he NOT looking for a reason to fight?

Everyone snaps at some point, and that's just what happened. It's all over, those who are going to be punished are punished, and that's that. I think this is really a dead issue now.

[Raul]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

I would say the same for the fan who threw the cup. How was he NOT looking for a reason to fight?

Everyone snaps at some point, and that's just what happened. It's all over, those who are going to be punished are punished, and that's that. I think this is really a dead issue now.

Frankly, I do not care at all who was a fault as much that it happened at all.

It was quite sad watching highlights of what happened. Anyone associated with FIRST who was watching could easily see why Gracious Professionalism is so important to the FIRST culture.

The saddest part was seeing the highlights of a poor little boy crying in the stands, frightened among the mayhem. What a horrible example for our youth.

Raul

[Adam Y.]

? People have been doing that for years - this is not new. It isn't right either - but, my point was that in todays litigation crazy country, any excuse for a lawsuit. How many times do you see folks go to court over accidental falls, or opportunities that shouldn't even be considered but are. Yep, it disturbs me that anyone would gain monetarily from this situation, but lets face it - you know its gonna happen.

Why? If I got hit with a chair someone threw I would certainly sue. The one factor being that I didn't start the fight nor involved in it. Also, aparently the guy who had the cup thrown has had a very bad record.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

Why? If I got hit with a chair someone threw I would certainly sue. The one factor being that I didn't start the fight nor involved in it. Also, aparently the guy who had the cup thrown has had a very bad record.

Sue for what, and who? I would most likely press charges against whoever threw the chair, but sue for what? And who? The Palace? If you build a wall around the players, you can't see. Well, hockey, has a plexi wall, but fans have still gone over, and players have used their sticks at fans.

The reaction that someone hurt me, I'm suing <i>is</i> a problem in America today. You have car accidents where the first reaction is calling a lawyer - I've seen it. A guy got rear ended by another car, first thing he did was call his lawyer. He was still on the phone with him when PD arrived and found an unconscious diabetic in the car behind him.

He was more concerned about how to go about getting money from someone then being concerned if they were ok.

The person who threw the chair needs help. They likely need help dealing with anger management, and taking them to court for all their worth is probably not the best way to help them deal with that.


Wetzel

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

The game is much better, from my spectator view at the college and high school level.

I agree. I love college hoops. They're playing for love of the game, not because they're getting paid millions. You won't hear them whining about their salary or sponsors or any of the other BS the professional players pull.

[Adam Y.]

Sue for what, and who? I would most likely press charges against whoever threw the chair, but sue for what? And who? The Palace? If you build a wall around the players, you can't see. Well, hockey, has a plexi wall, but fans have still gone over, and players have used their sticks at fans.

After reading this for a while I don't think we are on the same wavelength. The person who threw the chair was not a basketball player. It was some guy who decided to rip the chair up off the concrete ground and throw it. Plexiglass would have stoped nothing. Artest should not be sued nor anyone who actually was involved with the fighting.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

And don't forget that Cleveland/Jacksonville fiasco a few years ago...

And then... NY Giants fans invented the "battery powered snowball."
Remember they knocked the camera guy off his boom?

Lots of season ticket holders got suspended.