NBA or WWE you decide...

[Kyle Love]

OK I just saw the Pacers vs Pistons vs Fans fight. I think this is totally ridiculous! These pro athletes need to show themselves as a role model. The fans were a bit over the line though. Theres no need for fans to throw bottles, cups, etc on the court or at the players. Artest and all the Pacers did go over the line when they went into the stands, I can't really blame them though...sounds sad yes I know but put yourself in their shoes. The Detroit fans were way out of line. This whole thing was started by Ben Wallace who was fouled by Artest with like 49 sends left. If he would have had some self-discipline he wouldn't have punched Artest. So, I just want to know everyones input on this thing that just happened. If you haven't seen it yet I am sure you will see it on the news....

[Cory]

I really couldn't care less... although I am pretty pissed about the ramifications for my fantasy team since I have Artest...

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Kyle45

OK I just saw the Pacers vs Pistons vs Fans fight. I think this is totally ridiculous! These pro athletes need to show themselves as a role model. The fans were a bit over the line though. Theres no need for fans to throw bottles, cups, etc on the court or at the players. Artest and all the Pacers did go over the line when they went into the stands, I can't really blame them though...sounds sad yes I know but put yourself in their shoes. The Detroit fans were way out of line. This whole thing was started by Ben Wallace who was fouled by Artest with like 49 sends left. If he would have had some self-discipline he wouldn't have punched Artest. So, I just want to know everyones input on this thing that just happened. If you haven't seen it yet I am sure you will see it on the news....

The fans were totally wrong. They think purchasing a ticket gives them the right to behave in any manner they please whether that is abusing atheletes or other fans ( I go to Bills games and there have been fights and ejections at every game. Some people have written the local people about how nasty the fans have been including the motehr of an 11 year old boy who was verbally abused after his Jacksonville Jaguars defeated the Bills in the opening game). Fan behavior has deteriorated to dangerous levels.
I just hope we never see that in FIRST (even though we had issues with a grumpy mentor at the championships who was snapping at everyone around him. Gracious Professionalism won out and there was no problem).

[Karthik]

I've watched the footage of the melee a few times now, and I can't stop shaking my head. The whole situation was ridiculous. Here's list of all the culprits.

The Fans -- You can't start throwing things at the players. It's stupid and immature, amd dangerous. Not just dangerous for the target, but as we saw tonight, dangerous for the thrower and for anyone sitting near him.

Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson et. al. -- I don't care if you got hit with a water bottle, that does not give you a right to go charging into the stands. Artest can talk about self defense all he wants, but let's be serious. He was not in imminent danger. There were security and police officers who would have dealt with that fan.

So Artest runs into the crowd, attacks a first guy who actually had no part in the situation, and then attacks the bottle thrower. While all of this is happening, a riot erupts. This is why players shouldn't go charging into the stands, even if they've been wronged. Inciting riots is not a good thing. In this riot many innocent people were shoved and trampled.

So the bottom line, everyone involved in this situation is to blame. The drunk cup tossing fans, the players who started attacking the fans. The porous security who did very little to stop the whole thing. Good grief.

Honestly, I'm not going to another NBA game, until I'm given some sort of assurance that this won't happen again. Knowing my luck, I'll be the guy who's sitting beside the drunken moron who throws the next cup, that ends up getting mistakenly attacked by Ron Artest.

This is going to leave a huge black mark on the NBA, it's fans and the entire city of Detroit. It's sad considering that most of the fans and players and had nothing to do with it. 'Tis life...

I really hope there are some major ramifications for those involved. We were very luck that no one was seriously injured (as far as we know). If proper punishment isn't handed out (to the players and the fans), I fear there will be a repeat down the line, where we aren't so lucky.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Karthik

There were security and police officers who would have dealt with that fan.

The porous security who did very little to stop the whole thing. Good grief.

Karthik, I agreed with the content of most of your post, but these two statements directly contradict each other.

As I understood it, there was all of one security personnel on the floor at the time.

So while security and police would have dealt with the fan, they obviously didn't, and I'm sure that changed Artest's reaction.

By no means does that mean Artest isn't responsible for his actions, but had there been an appropriate number of security personnel there, I think it's safe to say the incident would not have escalated so much

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Cory

Karthik, I agreed with the content of most of your post, but these two statements directly contradict each other.

As I understood it, there was all of one security personnel on the floor at the time.

So while security and police would have dealt with the fan, they obviously didn't, and I'm sure that changed Artest's reaction.

By no means does that mean Artest isn't responsible for his actions, but had there been an appropriate number of security personnel there, I think it's safe to say the incident would not have escalated so much

Cory,

What I was trying to say was that there was enough security to handle one cup thrower. They didn't have time to deal with him, because Artest made reacted so quickly. If given enough time I think they could of handled it. They definitely did not have enough personnel on staff to handle the near riot that ensued.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Knowing my luck, I'll be the guy who's sitting beside the drunken moron who throws the next cup, that ends up getting mistakenly attacked by Ron Artest.

...and sues everyone and their brother involved with the incident, and makes $$$$$$ as a result. Christmas has come early for Detroit-area lawyers this year.

[Brandon Martus]

Yes, the fan(s) who threw stuff at the players were 100% out of line, and disgusting. The players, however, shouldn’t have went into the crowd. There are security and ushers, especially down courtside, who would’ve taken care of the situation. They would’ve done so without causing, more or less, a riot to erupt.

It was a plastic cup and cold liquid – if they can’t shrug that off and let security take care of the rude fan, they’ve got serious anger problems they should be dealing with.

I don’t think you can blame one group of people in this thing. The fans were wrong to throw stuff, and the players were just as wrong to go up in the stands and ‘defend’ themselves.


Disgusting.

[meaubry]

Everyone losses when situations like this occur. Why would you commit a blatant foul with less than a minute to play while you team is winning by double digits? I watched the entire game, it was a very emotional game to begin with because it was between the 2 teams that had played a very physical series during last years playoffs. The league sends a rookie ref as part of the crew and there were multiple technical fouls and a ton of whining for calls by both teams. You could see that the situation was not a typically friendly game between 2 cross town rivals on Friday night. There hasn't been a good ending to any situation where the opposing teams players (in any sport) goes into the stands. Too bad some folks didn't see this one coming, I thought it was an accident just waiting to happen.

[Elgin Clock]

I didn't see any of the game, but it sounds like bad news for the NBA's image.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._pistons_brawl

By the way, this is one of the reasons that venues only use plastic bottles for beer and other drinks or just use plastic "party cups" now.

Just imagine if that was a glass bottle...

Plastics make it possible.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

I didn't see any of the game, but it sounds like bad news for the NBA's image.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp..._pistons_brawl

By the way, this is one of the reasons that venues only use plastic bottles for beer and other drinks or just use plastic "party cups" now.

Just imagine if that was a glass bottle...

Plastics make it possible.

Back in the 70's during a Cowboys/Vikings game when Preston Pearson of the Dallas Cowboys caught a hail mary in Minnasota by commiting a blatant offensive pass interference (it's in the NFL films achive and you can see him shoving the defender in the back and knocking him to the ground before the catch) an angry fan threw a bottle at a ref hitting him squarely in the head and knocking him out.
And don't forget that Cleveland/Jacksonville fiasco a few years ago...

[Wetzel]

Artest should just be gone from the league. He keeps getting in trouble for foolish fouls, punished, and doing it again after he gets back. I guess the politics will just give him another 10 game suspension.

That punch as he was leaving was wild, and he should get charged with assault for that.

Wetzel

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by Wetzel

Artest should just be gone from the league. He keeps getting in trouble for foolish fouls, punished, and doing it again after he gets back. I guess the politics will just give him another 10 game suspension.

That punch as he was leaving was wild, and he should get charged with assault for that.

Wetzel

Yeah but if he does get the 10 game suspension his team is screwed. I heard on the news that his team barely had enough players to start with.

This isn't the splash zone at a Sea World shumu show...I doubt any ticket or announcer, even at a WWE wrestling event, would say "fans, if you're seated within the first 10 rows you could become part of the action." The action? An athletic player barrels through the crowd with fists swinging hoping to land a punch to the face of any innocent person who's in front if him."

Yeah.... I always wondered about the WWE and fan involvement. I mean they have to stage the parts where the wrestler attacks an audience member right??!!??

[Clark Gilbert]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

Yeah but if he does get the 10 game suspension his team is screwed. I heard on the news that his team barely had enough players to start with.

The Pacers only had eight players in uniform for the game because the NBA requires it. Due to injures and suspensions this means that 1 injured player (Scott Pollard) had to dress for the game and sit. The Pacers players rallied together and played a hard game, holding a team that averages 99 points a game to only 86. When Scott Pollard, Reggie Miller, and Jamal Tensley are healty enough to play the team should be good till the other players are let off suspension (if they are).

I don't have much to say about the game other than I thought it was pretty stupid, although I see this as a good thing for the Pacers as the people who normally don't get a chance to play a whole lot will get their opportunity in the next weeks. If they can stand strong and win some games the team will become stronger in the end with the return of the suspended players. Hopefully they can pull it together and win the NBA title this year.

[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.