I went to a fight in Detroit & an NBA game broke out

[bernieh]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1927380

Ron Artest and the maybe 20-30 fans who threw punches, chairs and beer were to blame.

Ben Wallace shouldn't have tried to start something with Artest, but it was understandable, as Artest committed another one of his Lame Fucking Artest Flagrants. Security could hardly have been expected to stop this shit from happening given how close the fans are to the court. The rest of the Pacers and Pistons can't be blamed for going up to defend their teammates. I love the irony of seeing 'Sheed trying to calm Artest down and talk some sense into him.

Ron Artest is the biggest little bitch around. Pedro Martinez doesn't belong in the same class. This is a guy who throws cheap shots at other players on the court, like that vicious elbow to Rip Hamilton's face, and tries to pass it off as accidents or simply tough play. This is a guy who asked for time off in the middle of the season from his championship-caliber team so he could concentrate more on being a music producer. Did you see the interview he did a couple weeks ago, where he's all, "I'm thinkin of retiring if we win a title this year, I don't need the NBA, I got all the money I ever need..." and for the ENTIRE interview he's holding up 2 of his CDs to the camera.

And that was another pussy cheap shot he took at Wallace that started it all. I don't blame Ben for getting worked up. Artest did the right thing by backing up - or was it the chicken shit thing by running away - but then immediately, he lays out on the scorer's table, hands behind his head, to mock the whole situation. What a bitch, bitch, bitch. And I don't like him too much neither.

That said, come on, you can't be throwin' a full cup of beer at him. You can't be throwin' punches - at the head, from behind - at OTHER Pacers coming to break it up. You can't be dumping shit on players - and the security guards doing their job to protect them, and other innocents nearby - as they're heading off the court. Seeing regular people who weren't even involved in the fight just calmly waiting for a Pacer - or the Pacers' coach - to walk underneath so they could just nonchalantly pour an entire cup of beer on them is just sick.

As my friend puts it, "You should watch more soccer."

[Dean]

Gotta agree. This particular incident is the fans' fault as well as Artest's, but just in general, Ron (whom I have to support as a St. John's fan) is way out of control and really needs to re-evaluate what the hell he is doing with his life. The story with him SHOULD be that he is a guy who fell in the draft, but became a worlds better offensive player than anyone ever would have thought, and is also perhaps the best defender in the league. Instead, the story is always how he can't or won't play, and it's quite sad.

[Yogi]

I don't care how much I hate a player, if I paid 7 bucks for a cold beer, I'm drinking it.

[Stu]

I can't speak for Artest, who might as well be Rodman Jr. But I can give you an example on how unruly some drunk fans can be, to show some sympathy (if possible):

I went to the Jets-Dolphins MNF game a few weeks ago. I have season tickets, so a bunch of people who sit around me are regulars. One person was not, and he's the typical MNF fan in the stands. In other words, someone looking to get as drunk as possible. He is sitting behind me, and when third down comes, and all the fans get up to cheer (and more to see the play). Anyway, at times I get tired of doing that, and I sit and watch the game on the Jumbotron. The kid (he's got to be in his 20s) keeps leaning forward and brushing his stomach onto the back of my head. Anyway, you can tell by listening to his voice how drunk he is, and the fact that he can't tell the Jets are in Green.

He's asking why I don't keep getting up in his slurred voice, and I basically tell him I'll get up when I want to; I can see the game just fine with the Jumbotron. He starts yelling at me, and I'm ignnoring him or saying I'll do what I want, and then he said something and ended it with "Baldy".

As some people here know, you don't call me that. Balding, maybe. Insensitive, at times. But not baldy. I turn around and start calling him a fucking asshole. And we start getting into a war of words, me getting more upset by the second. I ask him if he wants me to get security, and he keeps saying yes. I would have gone, but thought better of it. I have never come closer to getting thrown out of a stadium, but I was darned close. So I just sat down, calmed down, and watched the game, as the guy who came with the kid tried to calm him down.

By the way, this was in the first quarter.

Anyway, I'm facing the field, because I know if I turn around I'm going to punch him in the face. By the middle of the second quarter, I can still hear him in his slurred voice, and then all of a sudden silence. He passed out, in the middle of 77,000 fans. And a lot of people were making fun of him. Oh, and I had a big smile. So I feel vindicated.

But the point is, everyone knows Artest is a hothead. So why even try to do something so incredibly stupid, because the one thing you know he shouldn't do, he's going to do? Artest should not have gone in the stands, but the fans behavior up to that point, and afterwards, was reprehensible.

[Dean]

[Abhorance]

It was BS that the fans got involved, but basketball should be more like hockey. Let the players fight if they want, give them some time in the box. Thats all that helps the players take out the frustrations of cheap shots.

Only downfall to that kind of situation is that basketball teams would be bidding for Tie Domi....
Uhg

[Dean]

You at least have to love this:

[Bounty]

OK, I KNOW that this thread has been around for a long time, and hasnt gotten and responses in a while, I have to say this...

I am not the biggest sports fan, but I will watch games sometiems for the hell of it. I don't watch the interviews, the commentary, I don't do much of that. I think it interferes with the one thing that counts: The game. Players are there to play the game, and thats what counts.

If players are going to bitch and moan about payment or respect or some other garbage, suspend them from playing. They have the PRIVELEDGE of playing the game, not the RIGHT, and if they dislike the terms given to them, well tough.

I was reading this interview with a football player (I can't remember the name of the player, but damn, he was a BITCH) And he was pissed off because he was getting some $20 million per season instead of the $25 he and it was a fuckton of money) and he complained about it and said "I can't get payed something so low, I have a family to feed" And I wanted to find him and rend him limb from limb.

I should be a sports producer, I wouldn't let any of this shit get by.
_________________
Needing is Wanting
Wanting is Coveting
Coveting is Sinning
I am SO going to Hell...

[Stu]

Hate to correct you, Bounty, but someone else will eventually.

It was another NBA thug, Latrell Sprewell, who said that. And that got a lot of amusing airplay.

Not to bring up a sore subject, because there's bound to be some hockey fans here (and I mean hard core hockey fans), but I kind of hope the NBA players get a grip and come down on some of their demands before the owners lock them out next year. Because if Shaq is selling out every Miami Heat home game, and they will still lose a reported $15 million this year, something is wrong. And the NBA salaries, which are completely out of whack, will have to start coming down, soon.

[Bounty]

Like I said, I don't give a crap about most reviews n such. But what that guy said just made my blood boil.
_________________
Needing is Wanting
Wanting is Coveting
Coveting is Sinning
I am SO going to Hell...

[20xx]

Well if those kind of brawls happened all the time I would watch more sport games. It was entertaining. When someone throws a chair, you know it's serious.

[Dean]

I think if I were a player and a fan came onto the court, I'd pop them one too. Even in the middle of a riot. Monica Seles got stabbed; a baseball coach was attacked by fans a couple of years back; also a couple years back, a fan ran into a wrestling ring and tried to knock a guy off the top of a ladder; and just in general, there are any number of terrorists and loons out there. As the player, you don't know why the guy is there, but the one thing you do know is that he is somewhere he's not supposed to be. I'd do the safe thing and dispose of him.

However, a player going into the stands is also phenomenally stupid. (If only because, how the hell can you tell who threw the cup? But, mostly because it's stupid.)

[eastpoint]

I am from Detroit and while i think the whole thing was appalling i can tellyou why the fans threw the beer. In Detroit we love the Pistons. They don't act like superstars and therefore we don't see them as a shaq or Kobe or AI or Nash. We see them as underdogs which is the common theme that we put the city of detroit in. So when Artest threw an elbow at Ben the one we love the most, we got upset. Then he laid down all smug and was being a little bitch like many have said fans got mroe upset. One person took it too far and he threw a beer. Stupid thing but what Artest then did jumping into the fans and attacking a guy then stephen Jackson throwing a haymaker at an errant fan. Well that got everyone in arms became a mob. Us versus the pacers who were attacking us. Really easy then the blame falls on that idiotic fan and Artest who broke the barrier. Those two started a war that no one won.

[poisnedcoke]

1. It was a very physical game. 'Bows and forearms were exchanged by everybody through out the contest.

2. Yea him laying down on the table as a seriously retarded moment, but I didn't see it as smug.

3. Throwing stuff is just flat out not acceptable.

4. Going into the crowd and attacking someone is flat out not acceptable.

5. Going from the stands to the court and being a jackass is not acceptable.

6. Three wrongs don't make a right, they've all erred. And the worst thing is I didn't see shit happen to the guy who threw that him.
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[eastpoint]

The guy who threw the beer was fined, kicked out of the Palace for good, jail time i think of 30 days maybe more (namely going for a brawl and drunken disorder) and then community service. 13 fans were exiled from the Palace in total . Some had more penalties some had very little. No one came out in good form and everyone was pretty awful. But your right the wrongs dont make a right but when you attack fans like that you must expect to get attacked back (especially with a rivalry). If you want to know Yankees fans were worse when they played the Red Sox this year for rights to go to the world series.