<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Within the Cavaliers' fan base, Anderson Varejao has become a favorite for his hard-working game and his on-court flair. After an incident last month in the FIBA World Championship, while Varejao was playing for the Brazilian national team, in certain corners of the globe he's seen as a villain. In a preliminary-round game in Hamamatsu, Japan, on Aug. 23, Varejao elbowed Greece guard Nikos Zisis as he was dribbling through the lane. The blow fractured Zisis' face in several places. He spent a week in the hospital. An angry war of words followed, and now, according to a European basketball Web site, Zisis and his lawyers are planning to take legal action against Varejao. How that is possible is unclear, considering one party is a Greek who plays professionally in the Italian League and the other is a Brazilian playing in the NBA and the incident happened in Asia. FIBA declined to take any further action than the foul that was called on Varejao. He played in the Brazilians' next game against Lithuania, a loss that knocked them from the tournament. Replays showed Varejao moving from his position in the middle of Brazil's zone to guard a driving Zisis. As the Greek guard passed the ball, Varejao turned with his left elbow high and struck Zisis on the right side of his face. At the moment of the hit, Varejao was looking in the other direction following the pass, but there was no doubt his elbow was raised. Several members of the Greek media who attended the game told the Beacon Journal that Varejao and Zisis started feuding earlier in the game, when Zisis drove and Varejao attempted to take a charge. A week after the hit, on his personal blog, Zisis called Varejao an ``animal'' and said the hit was meant to ``kill me.'' He also said the Cavs forward didn't show remorse after the game when the two passed in the hall</div> Source
This brings up an interesting issue. Can players be held criminally liable for intentionally flagrant fouls they commit during games? Like, if a player is driving the lane, and someone takes a "hard foul" and knocks him down intentionally and the guy breaks something. Legally, could that be considered assault?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">This brings up an interesting issue. Can players be held criminally liable for intentionally flagrant fouls they commit during games? Like, if a player is driving the lane, and someone takes a "hard foul" and knocks him down intentionally and the guy breaks something. Legally, could that be considered assault?</div> I'm not a lawyer, but you'd have to think that it'd hinge on whether or not the contact was actually intentional, which is pretty hard to prove in an instance so questionable as this one. If you can't prove that the intent was to harm another player though, and the injury just occurs in play, then there's no reason that the player should be held legally responsible. You take certain risks when you partake in certain activities, and the injured player accepted those risks when he stepped onto the court.
Yea, this issue comes up a lot in hockey, where players are allowed, and even encouraged, to act out their aggression. The Bertuzzi incident, as well as the McSorley one, were both followed by criminal and civil suits. Defense lawyers often argue that there client isn't liable because of the atmosphere and environment of the game, and cases where the assault comes in a mutual confrontation are usually dismissed. Ones where it is unprovoked usually draw guilty pleas, so they don't drag on. I don't see this suit going through, though. Even though it's easier to single out innappropriate aggression in basketball, there was some confrontations before the incident, and Varajeo's lawyers will probably argue that he got caught up in the moment or something. Also, the Greek player doesn't seem to have any permanent damage and there are a lot of problems with starting a case that spans over so many different countries, leagues, and jurisdictions.
Varejao is one DIRTY player, that's for sure. One day soon, someone will knock him on his a$$. He's a get down on the floor type of guy, but he goes overboard with his tatics sometimes.
i think if the foul is INTENTIONAL you should be charged, just because you are a NBA player doesnt give you the right to hurt someonw and just get suspended and fined. It would be like sending out a bench player that never plays to take out a key player on the other team just so that the team stands a chance.
