This is loosely Nats related.... but the reaction of commentators to the Pacers players charging into the stands was that it was alright for them to do so as retribution for getting hit by a plastic cup of ice. Could you imagine if Landon and company went charging into the stands in Costa Rica after getting hit by a bag of urine or a battery? Not only would our guys die in such retribution, but it would cause an international crisis. Im glad US soccer has made it clear that such action would not be permitted. The US soccer teams endure a lot more harrassment than any over-paid NBA player ever will, yet it is the NBA players that cant handle it.
I was waiting for someone to reference a soccer riot or pitch invasion, but of course they didn't. An NBA crowd is way different than an international soccer crowd but that was pretty ********ing crazy.
I would suspend Ron Artest for the entire season for what he did. Attacking an innocent fan is absolutely unacceptable. He got hit by a drink so he goes and beats up a guy holding a drink?!?
I blame the fans first then the players. You should be able to stick up for your self. Detroit should have to play a few game behind closed doors like Roma had to do.
Yea, those commentators were blaming the fans and the beer for instigating the "riot".... ********ing monkey heeds !!!
No, in that situation you shouldn't. "Sticking up for your self" when a fan comes charging on to the floor.....I have no problem with that. But there is no excuse for charging into the stands because someone throws a CUP at you. It's ridiculous. Of course it wasn't right for the fan to throw it. If caught, he should be prosecuted and banned from ever attending another game...similar to what's done in the EPL. But the "riot" would not have started if Artest and Jackson and not gone charging into the stands on some sort of idiotic mission to defend their honor...and dry jerseys. They both should be suspended for the rest of the season.
I don't blame the fans for the actions of the players. Sure, make Detroit play 2 home games without any fans. That would be awesome, but it will not happen. Detroit is responsible for preventing that from happening. Artest should be suspended for the year. He beat up an innocent fan. He won't be. He'll get a Vernon Maxwell type suspension. /shrug
This type of thing happens all the time around the world, and now it comes to America and the world has ended...... Several members of the Indiana Pacers showed NO class last night, and several of the commentators showed NO class last night. Bannings and suspensions all around. These NBA players are ****en babies. They have NO idea what is means to be abused by fans. When US soccer players have to play in central american countries, the fans there throw batteries, urine bags, bottles, etc... at the players. The fans there bring effigies of Osama to the game and burn American flags. Not once has a US soccer player ever attacked a fan. if a multi million dollar NBA player can't handle a cup of liquid thrown at him, then he does not deserve to play in the league.
I had season tickets for 4 seasons ('89-'94)... I continued to be a fan even after I moved, for awhile... Outside of a few 'Michael Jordan comeback' games, I haven't watched a single NBA game for about 8 years now. This kind of utter classlessness is why. The "Dream Team" is a joke, the NBA is a joke, the players are a joke, and the sooner that league folds, the better off society will be. Seriously.
CNN did end up making a soccer reference, saying something to the effect of "...This is something we have only seen previously in European soccer"
Absolutely, I haven't watched any games really since MJ left since he was such a tremendous talent. Aside from that the NBA is home to retards who are treated as if they are above human and they start to think that way after a while. I read that some NBA player recently said something to the effect of "I got a family to feed" when in a contract dispute with his team over getting paid $10M a YEAR!!! Spoiled and rotten to the core, the NBA is as classless as most of the hip-hop wannabe gangster fools that act like their so hot because they wear a cap tilted to the side and walk with a limp so their BLING can bounce off their chest. I am SICK of it! I hear a lot of people saying society is going to hell, well, it is...
Which is completely untrue,btw. As I posted in the Other Sports thread on this,basketballers were nicknamed cagers pre WWII because they often played on completely enclosed courts to prevent fan interference and/or attacks.Many of the clubs were ethnically or religously oriented in the early years of the game.
Well, i hope if they did this, they also brought up the stiff penalties that comes for such an action, like a player being suspended for a half a season, which, IINM, would at least mean 41 games in NBA terms..... BTW, i'm also with Saeyddthe, have stopped watching bball since 96 or 97....I actually enjoyed watching since 93, when i arrived to the USA.... But damn, it seems players have truly lost their way (both on and off the field)
I enjoy basketball but I usually just watch college and maybe the playoffs. The NBA style is just so bad, isolate one guy let him go one on one horrible shooting, 45% is good these days. Fact is one of my friends tossed a cup of hot chocolate at me as a joke and I damn near pushed him down a flight of stairs. Artest shouldn't have gone in the stands but I can understand what he did and he didn't throw any punches so I say just ban him for half the season.
ESPN's behavior has been almost as appalling as what happened in Detroit. John Saunders labels the entire fanbase of Detroit as punks. Stephen A Smith and Greg Anthony talk about not blaming players who simply had to "defend themselves." ESPN.com serves up a poll designed to assign the "most blame" for what happened. I truly believe that ESPN and Disney are looking at the investment they've made in the NBA, and right now they're trying to protect that investment. It is remarkable how different the tone of reporting is at ESPN vs. CNNSI vs. Fox vs. Sportsline vs. "any other sports site out there." ESPN is doing everything it can to make the players look like innocent victims in the process. THEY ARE NOT. Their is no MOST BLAME here. You are responsible for YOUR actions. How you CHOOSE to react to the scenarios around you is up to you. You are either at fault, or you are not. Period. If you are one of the mouthbreathing idiots that believe the fans are to blame for the players actions, then think about this for a second: Aside from opposable thumbs, one of the key things that separates us from the animal kingdom is that in between stimilus and response, we can actually make a choice. You own that choice. You are responsible for it. Nobody else can take blame or credit for your choice besides you. It is the concept of individual accountability. I know, I know - the concept has become somewhat foreign in today's world, but the underlying principle is as true today as it ever has been. [Beer is thrown at Ron] = Stimulus [Time to think about how Ron is going to respond to that stimulus] = Choice [Attack the first scrawny fan with a beer Ron can find] = Response It is fascinating to me that Big Bad Ron was so contrite when the stimulus was Ben Wallace. People around the world are disgusted, saddened, embarassed, and pissed off about the treatment English players received in the Bernabeu. In much more subtle terms, by saying that Ron Artest and the rest of the thugs who participated in the brawl had no choice, they are making monkey calls at NBA players. And in a few instances, they might be correct. If the league has any ounce of integrity - which is doubtful - they will break what happened down into a series of choices. Those who made the wrong choices will be judged against those choices. It won't waste anybody's time trying to find "most blame." And it will kick Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson, Jermaine O'neal, and every Detroit fan who participated out of the league for a very long time. I am not holding my breath.
Guys With the Pistons being my second favorite team in professional sports outside the US national soccer team, I am truly depressed about how the NBA is going to punish the organization - not the fines and suspensions that everyone will notice but behind the scenes ( i.e. by the NBA cartel ringleader David Stern). My only comment is that comments made by people denigrating the NBA and entire sport of basketball based on this incident makes you look as bad as the soccer bashers so ease up.