Off-Topic: Artest/Pacers/Pistons/Brawl

[wolfsburgh]

Just curious: did the NBA fan/player brawl on Friday (I think it was Friday) get any play in Germany/Europe? If so, what has been the reaction?

[aloisius]

Bring him to Europe! I think he would excel in the olympiakos -panathaniakos
Derbies!
And the Euro league away trips to Belgrade , Barcelona, Bologna, Moscow, Istanbul would be something.

[96Squig]

No, to be honest I have no idea what you are talking about, but the Bulls were the only ones who were popular here in Europe.
Dallas with Nowitzki gets some record here, and everyone would like to see them doing good, you see some kids wearing sixers or Dallas jerseys, but it isn't covered on public TV, just Premiere I think (pay TV), which is only watched by die-hard fans and NBa freaks Imo.

[wolfsburgh]

Big news here. Brawl, with players jumping into the stands and punching fans, and fans running onto the court and trying to punch players.

The reason I ask is that whenever there is violence in a European soccer game, the incident often gets publicized here in the U.S.--often times the only publicity Euro soccer gets here in the U.S. The subtext of the reporting--usually implicit but sometimes explicit--seems to be that Euro soccer is a cesspool of violence. In other words, the only publicity that Euro soccer ever gets is when something bad happens, and it could be argued that such selective reporting seems to reinforce a media agenda against soccer. I'm curious if the problems we have in the U.S. with sports are publicized and criticized in Europe in the same fashion.

96squig: the Bulls I can understand, the Mavs I can understand, but the Sixers?

[Dead Fingers]

From the Washington Post today (Mike Wise)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3102-2004Nov21.html

""They say this is about scarring the NBA, but part of it is where society is heading," said Greg Anthony, the former NBA guard and now an ESPN analyst. "This whole talk radio and killing guys all the time on the airwaves spurs some of this emotion. The next thing you know, you got something so ugly and despicable, it's almost like some footage from rioting soccer stadiums in Europe." "

"What happened Friday night was not just about a frightening, new NBA world. It was about a changing American sports landscape, a collision course between people who have nothing in common, who come to an arena where people now root against the bad guys more than they cheer the good guys, where the word "enemy" means something more than just a player who can beat the home team."

[Bayern4Life]

The brawl was pretty funny, especally when O'Neal hit that fat guy that came on to the court. Artest is suspended for the remainder of the season, which I think is great because everyone hates him here in Indianapolis.

[Alex_K]

No real discussion here (at least i haven't heard much), but they showed highlights in the not-so-serious news shows :D.

[96Squig]

(...)96squig: the Bulls I can understand, the Mavs I can understand, but the Sixers?
Thanks for the news, I haven't heard of it, but I don't watch news on Tv, just read the Newspaper and Yahoo.de.
The Sixers being popular must have to do with their number one player. They are not popular here by any mean, maybe comparable to Bayern in the US, the Mavs and The Lakers are more attracktive by fare, but some ppl think it is cool to wear a sixers shirt (ok, was maybe 2 years ago, but I#d say they are number three... no big deal though).

[Alex_K]

Maybe some Rapper wore a Sixers shirt in a video ? Just a theory.

[jonam]

Haven't read anything about it. Just saw a short clip on CNN. Boy, the crowd was angry, but hey at least they offered free coke and popcorn for the guests! ;-)

[  ]

Caught it on the news, might have been CNN or a "not-so-serious news show".

Boy one of those Pacer players got in a really good punch, made me want to do Rocky rendition and spar with my soft pillow.

I root for the Sacremento Kings by the way. Go Kings clang clang clang.

[balla]

Classic, i loved it. Watching Artest line up that guys head and then unleash was great. Too bad there will be no more of it this season :(

[SirManchester]

It's pathetic and it reflects the continuing American decay in morals, class, dignity, values, sportsmanship and so on. The punishment was nowhere near enough in my opinion.