Did Commissioner Stern go far enough?

Mark are you saying that happens at other places then Detroit?

 

I say you're right Joseph. In addition a couple of these guys (players & fans) need to be prosecuted and sued. Take it all the way. This thugerry in sports by fans and players has got to stop and it will as soon as the price is high enough.

 

Does anyone think that the NBA and NFL are family friendly all over the USA?

 

Let's review the whole incident from the roots upward:

The NBA champ Pistons were getting thrashed in thier home court, which made them unhappy before anything else went down.

Artest fouled Wallace hard, but not blatantly. Being an athlete myself, I know not to let up just because my team had a big lead. And Artest has been a rough player ever since high school. The whole NBA knows that. He's prolly the second-roughest player after Kenyon Martin.

Wallace then shoved Artest VERY hard, which didn't exactly please Artest. This type of shove very often precipitates a fight in many walks of life.But he held his temper & didn't retaliate. Common sense tells you Artest's temper was near the breaking point. Why didn't the officials IMMEDIATELY step in when Wallace shoved and call HIM for a tech foul?

Artest then left the game & lay down upon the bench, obviously still very angry, all the while being called names & being peppered with cups & paper wads. The beer thrown squarely into his face was the proverbial last straw. THAT ACT was the first unlawful one in the sequence, and the offending fan should have been arrested at once.

How many of YOU, even if not angry at the time, wouldn't react violently to having a beer deliberately thrown into your face? I know if someone does that to me, either he or I is gonna be carried out.

Now I'm not at all saying Artest & the others were right in going into the stands, but Artest especially was the first wronged party and that fact shoulda been considered by the Commish. And I say that if the offending fans aren't punished, the players shouldn't be, either."What's good for the goose is good for the gander."

Have you ever noticed that good security people move toward the scene of any confrontation between players in virtually every team sport, to prevent incidents such as this one, or at least be ready to quickly intervene? Where were they in Detroit?

I believe the NBA and the Detroit Prosecutor's Office could send the best message possible by punishing EVERYONE involved in the fracas. After all, a FAN started it.

 

I go back to the person who has been trouble sense his college days. Someone who admires Dennis Rodman. Artest is considered by IMAX and the other Black sports anouncer on Fox Sports as a person who is unstable. They interviewed him quit a bit earlier and both thought ...his is a man who is mentally unstable. He went back to the table because he was SCARED of been Wallace. He chose instead to spend all his energy leaping a table, fighting past several people and going after a fan. He actually could have taken a right at the end of the scorer's table and Ben was right there waiting for him. NOpe had to go after a fan. And got the wrong guy. This guy will be set for life. He (with attorney Jeff Figar sp...I knew he would show up in all this somewhere) is suing Artest and the Pacers. It will be settled out of court. Nope the Pacers manage to be one of the few, very few professionals who lost control. And defending a thug. The vast majority of professional sports players in all sports can control themselves but not the indiana pacers. Maybe thier coach needs to get a handle on the attitude of his players. I mean you got Reggie Miller who does NOTHING but whine in every game I watch him play. They can affect the team's morale as well.

Tim

 

As to your idea of "After all, a FAN started it":

We might well expect that argument from a second grader. But, surely we should hold a higher standard of accountability than that for our adult millionaires. Don't you think?

Joseph Botwinick [/QB][/QUOTE]


Bottom line Joseph.....well said!

 

Perhaps the rivalry between the Pacers-Pistons will soon rival that between the Red Sox-Yankees in professional sports.

Until "The Brawl" happened I had no idea there was this enmity between the Pacers and Pistons.

 

I don't think there was last year. Before the brawl there was a healthy respect. The semi finals too me last year was the championship. I think IN. could have beat the Lakers last year. The coach for the Pacers kept switching the stratgy each game as did Brown for the Pistons. It was a good battle between those two. Phil Jackson didn't seem to not know what to do when they meet the Pistons. He never switch up or changed anything, just kept letting the Piston beat'em without a fight it seemed. It made me wonder if he really is that good of a coach or if he just happen to coach a bunch of all stars in chicago.

Tim

 

Artest should have known that he would lose millions of dollars. He has been a liability to the Pacers for a long time, and the Pacers should have traded him. However, they thought that they had calmed him down.

The taunt keeps coming out that Artest is afraid of Wallace--I guess because Wallace has a bad haircut. Artest was lying on the scorer's table in order to stay out of the fight even after Wallace threw his towel at him.

However, the Pacers did not have him under control. Reggie Miller was over there with him and former Pacer coach Slick Leonard was telling Artest to go sit on the end of the bench. Artest was not obeying Slick Leonard.

It is fortunate that no one was killed or crippled in that riot.

As for the Pacers, they have bad ownership in Herb Simon and Mel Simon, two cut-throat real estate tycoons. I am glad that the Simons are set to lose a lot of money on Artest. Hopefully, they will sell the Pacers.

The Pacers are going through the motions of sending the lawyers to appeal the decisions, etc. Hopefully, Stern will stick to his guns.

The NBA and NFL are not family friendly. Their incomes depend upon the game, half-naked cheerleaders, and alcohol sales. The tickets are overpriced and the players are overpaid. I laugh when the players come out dressed with big diamond earrings in each ear--Elizabeth Taylor should give them some fashion advice.

 

By the way, I have heard that Wallace had fouled Artest hard at the other end of the floor before Artest returned the favor at the Piston end of the floor. That would be the true starting point of the trouble if that is correct.

 

That may be, but since all of the press has missed out on it I am willing to say that is rumor. Wallace is a class act. He takes alot of beating in the middle and says hardly anything. Matter of fact all of the piston, with maybe the acception of Rasheed are a class act. Watch them play, not much whining going on just basketball.
As for Artest being calm till someone threw a cup at him is up for opinion. Its easy to stay calm when you realize the other guy could ring your bell! That cup of liquid launch underhand from beneath the seats did not hurt him. My pt was he excerted all that energy to get to a fan when he could have used it to go after Ben. He leap a table with people clawing at him, ran past some fans who tried to grab him and yet Ben was right there to the right of him. It was a well made decision on his part. I will stay out of the haircut remark, that is the type of hair he has. I do not want to get into a racial fight.

Tim

 

I can't document the foul against Artest at the other end at the moment, but I think that it was on Indianapolis radio.

We'll set that one aside for the time being while I look at the Indianapolis newspaper online.

However, we know that Wallace shoved Artest and we know that Wallace threw his towel in Artest's face because that is shown by the tape.

Nevertheless, that does not justify in any way what Artest did.

 

I have to concede the foul at the other end as it was not reported in the Indianapolis newspaper. I think that Bobby Leonard of WIBC radio said it.

Evidently, it is not an issue.

 

Fouls are a part of basketball. Having a beer thrown in one's face is not.

Twice in my life, during my BC days,I've had beer deliberately tossed into my face and twice I retaliated with violence. I believe that act will start a fight anywhere in the USA.

Since my Christian walk began, I've been once inundated with beer, while I was watching a football game in a stadium, an inebriated fan in the seating above mine accidentally knocked several "king-size" cups of beer off the mezzanine directly above me. (He was man enough to make his way down & apologize;I accepted and presented him with a rather soggy Gospel tract.)

Again, I say that ALL parties involved in the basketbrawl should receive appropriate punishments. If Artest is gonna be banned for the rest of the season, the fan who washed him(and those who washed him as he was walking out) should be banned from attending any more NBA games this year, regardless if he has a season ticket or not, as well as being dealt with by the civil authorities as Artest might well be. Although Artest's actions were huge, it's simply not right to punish him & the other players involved while the fans, who were committing assault by throwing beer(Who knows if any of them has AIDS or some other contagious disease alcohol won't stop?)get to skate scot-free.

 

TIM: LOL, well I have yet to hear of anyone catching aids by dumping their drink on someone or even by spitting on them...if cows could fly I guess?! The fan who threw the cup, not the one artest attacked, is a season ticket holder and is ban for life so far. Again athletes have always had stuff thrown at them...look at the very minute few athletes (professional) who attacked anyone! It would be hard to find. Try a web search. You won't find much.

Tim

 

I think that it is wrong to throw things at other people and to throw things on a basketball floor. It is poor sportsmanship. That needs to stop. It is only a game and only entertainment. I am very disgusted with Detest and hope the suspension holds against the Pacers lawyers, who may be only going through the motions in order to save face. No matter what they say I wonder if Larry Byrd and Donnie Walsh really want Detest back?