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…
I really couldn’t care less… although I am pretty pissed about the ramifications for my fantasy team since I have Artest…
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).
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.
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.
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.
I didn’t see any of the game, but it sounds like bad news for the NBA’s image.
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… :ahh:
Plastics make it possible. :rolleyes:
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…
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
Okay, that was not a blatent foul. When someone goes up for a layup, and someone else goes to block him, there’s usually contact. All Artest did was go up with Wallace. If anything, Wallace was in the wrong for what he did after.
Back on subject, I won’t get into who started the whole thing. Hey, the benches cleared, a few staredowns and a couple nudges occured. That happens all the time (not that it should, I’m just saying it does). And suprisingly, Artest was staying out of it. Then he got hit with a cup. And I have to say, in that situation, I kinda don’t blame Artest for what he did (even though I don’t think it was right). Then we get our domino effect.
In summary: Wallace started it all. 
Okay, deeper summary: I’ll hold both Artest and the fan who threw the cup at him responsible. The players who followed into the stands are all in the wrong too (and since I still believe in chivalry, I kinda see why they did it as well; they were defending their leader). However, any fans on the floor got what was coming to them.
And for a second there, I thought the NHL had resolved their lockout. 
BTW, the WWE is docile compared to what happened last night.
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
First off, many people have the wrong impression about Ron Artest because all they hear about him is what the national media tells them. Living in Indy, I get to see him play almost nightly and he very rarely does something that is dirty or illegal. In fact, he received a flagrant foul about a week ago because of his reputation. A few days later, NBA took back the flagrant and cleared his record of it since he did nothing wrong. This has happened to him many times in the past as well. I’m not saying he hasn’t messed up before, but I don’t think he’s as crazy as some make him out to be.
The melee that occurred was not completely Artest’s fault or Ben Wallace’s fault. I think a good portion of the blame needs to go to the few people in the stands who instigated the brawl by throwing things at the Pacers. I’m not saying Artest should have done what he did, but it is understandable. Also last night when Shaq was asked about the situation, he said he would have reacted the same way that Artest did.
Don’t watch the hand thats going up to block the shot, watch the hand that is pushing him in the back of the neck/head. That’s what Wallace was so angry about, I’m guessing.
Ben Wallace overeacted alot to what had happened.
hands down artest, jackson thrown out of the league and criminal charges filed. Artest has been a loose cannon his whole life i was just waiting for him to snap. This is a disgrace to any pro sport
It saddens me to see such a small situations escalate into something so big. I’m actually ashamed to be in Indianapolis at the moment, that whole incident reflected poorly upon our entire city. It wouldn’t surprise me if Artest and others were out for the entire season with criminal charges filed (although they won’t have to do any time because they all have money). Detroit’s fans have always been rough, but I just didn’t think they would stoop to such a low level. The fans and the players display of complete and utter disrespect really just saddens me 
We all have kind of forgot who really provoked all of this…the fans. Artest would have NEVER hit the fan if he didn’t get hit with beer, bottles, and such. I do agree though he should have handled it differently but put yourself in his shoes.
On another note, Jackson, Artest, and Wallace should all be suspended 3-5 games. Wallace should get the toughest punishment due to him hitting Artest causing the fans to get out of control.
Another note, did anyone see Freddie Jones get nailed by some black dude? He was trying to break the fight up and he got absolutely NAILED. I think that guy along with the guy wearing the “police” shirt should be arrested, along with the guy that got onto the court(to me thats like a player going into the stands and hitting a fan, isn’t this a 2-way street?).
Last note, I think there should be plexi-glass walls put up around the courts now and have NO player/fan contact EVER. They need to learn that the players deserve respect, while the players should give equal respect back to the fans. If they had those “shields” up none of this would have been started.
…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.
Yeah, I’m not saying what he did was OK. He shouldn’t have reacted to that, and let the refs do their job. I was just pointing out to Eddie that it was more than just normal contact.
Im still not sure what to say about this, but heres what i can kind of sum up.
Ben Wallace got wayy to angry over a simple foul(even if he did get punched in the head, it happens)
Then the stupid fans started to throw stuff at Artest-This is where it shouldve been stopped. Police and Security were too slow to react to the events, and they shouldve been able to prevent Artest from getting in the stands.
Artest, O’Neal, and Jackson-should never have thrown punches back because it reflects poorly upon themselves, their team, thier city, and makes them horrible role models. But, they were provoked, and these days many fans dont realize that going through heckling everyday does get to you and when your in a very heated game(no matter what point of the season) your emotions will get the best of you.
This brings up a few major things to think about.(I personally hate to have to say these, but with the conservative/strict mindset America is in, someone has to) One-Do you separate the court/game from the seating area.-This has always been one major appeal to the NBA, you are right thurr with the team, and you can really get into it.
Two-Do you stop selling alcohol at games(Im sure some of those fans were completely trashed)-Everyone likes to go to a game and have a drink, but when do you call it too much, and how can you stop it from getting out of hand(since we all know, people dont know when to stop)
Three-Criminal charges and suspensions(who gets charged and for what)?
Four-How do you prevent this from happening again.
I think Artest, O’neal, Jackson, Wallace all should be suspended(note-they already have been suspended indefinitely). Jackson will get the longest-not sure what game range-15 at the most(although that to me, is outrageous)O’Neal will get somewhere around 7, and Artest will get more then he should(acted in self defense-ya i know it was a plastic cup, but with all these crazy things happening, it could be something dangerous)-probably 12ish. Wallace will get 4 for the whole starting of the ruckus.
Criminal charges-Misdemeanors at the most(I’d hope) i see heavy fines and possible jail time for some. Like i said, they were provoked, and should be judged that way. The Fans should be banned for life, and be sent to jail for longer though, much longer.
If anything comes from this, i hope its that Alcohol is being phased out of the arenas, and more security around the players to prevent these morons from ruining a great game.