<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Vintage:</div><div class="quote_post">Yep. At the cost of a 30 game suspension, most likely millions of dollars in lawsuits, possible criminal charges..... But he sure taught them a lesson, huh?</div> yes he sure did. the league had to do that to "please" the consumers. the lawsuits will come but i believe the judge will have a hard time to decide.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post">Am I the only one who thinks Artest would have gained a lot more respect by ignoring the fans and heading straight to the locker room? He certainly would have from me. Sometimes fighting isn't required to be the bigger man, so to speak.</div> Nope. I agree. But those who agree are in the minority. Apparently, its "cool" to be internet tough. I guess I never got that PM.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Vintage:</div><div class="quote_post">And when you do come to that point of time, think about the consequences. Do you think Artest would do that over again, if given the chance? I doubt it. I doubt Jackson, O'Neal, or Artest would do it all over again. I bet they wish they had the opportunity to go back into time and re-do their decision. There are some things in life worth fighting for. Getting beer spilled, poured, or thrown at you isn't one.</div> Im not saying you don't have balls because I think you do, <u>and that's the point </u> if you do really have balls I can't believe you saying that you wouldn't show your balls in a bar situation where you would allow some stranger to throw a beer at you with no excusable motive. I wonder, would you smile too? You're such an angel, and I'm not belittling you, you're a role model... and let me throw some more beer at you again while you cheer at the camera. But as far as being a professional athlete is concerned, I'm with you and Supersonic in this one... try to stay out of trouble... no promises though :mrgreen: Getting spilled with beer will cause no harm, the cup was light plastic, not heavy glass, you wouldn't get any burns in the skin with exception that maybe some of the alcoholic liquid burns your eyes... what causes the most damage is to your integrity not only as a man but as a person too. Would you really want someone to disrespect you like that? That's very disrespectful.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting PupMelo:</div><div class="quote_post">Im not saying you don't have balls because I think you do, <u>and that's the point </u> if you do really have balls I can't believe you saying that you wouldn't show your balls in a bar situation where you would allow some stranger to throw a beer at you with no excusable motive. I wonder, would you smile too? You're such an angel, and I'm not belittling you, you're a role model... and let me throw some more beer at you again while you cheer at the camera. But as far as being a professional athlete is concerned, I'm with you and Supersonic in this one... try to stay out of trouble... no promises though :mrgreen: Getting spilled with beer will cause no harm, the cup was light plastic, not heavy glass, you wouldn't get any burns in the skin with exception that maybe some of the alcoholic liquid burns your eyes... what causes the most damage is to your integrity not only as a man but as a person too. Would you really want someone to disrespect you like that? That's very disrespectful.</div> No, I wouldn't want beer spilled on me. Yes, its disrespectful. But it also doesn't give me the right to beat someone up.
I think most of us agree that Artest shouldn't have gone into the stands. It would have been smarter if he kept his cool and walked away from the situation. But a lot of people are making it out like Artest had to be a violent maniac to have done what he did, and that's simply not the case. He was being accosted by Ben Wallace. Thousands of fans were booing him. Everything was at a boiling point. And he was trying to calm himself down, his heart was probably racing, and then all of a sudden ... BAM! ... he gets hit in the face by a drink. He looks into the stands, and he sees guys laughing and jeering at him. His reaction was emotional, foolish, and dangerous -- but it was also completely natural. I'm sure that most players in that situation would have done the same thing. That's not excusing it, but at the same time he shouldn't be treated like a criminal for what he did.
See, that's the point right there. What he did was assault, and that's a crime. All the other stuff may be extenuating circumstances, whatever. I agree with you that it's a natural reaction and many of us could have done the same. But in the eyes of the law you can't retaliate unless you are in inmediate danger and even then only with equivalent force. Artest could have thrown a beer at the guy but he chose to throw a punch. I have seen many people make that one mistake that lands them in trouble. The rules are the rules and you need to know them before taking action.
But if you look closely at the video, he didn't punch the guy. He kind of pushed him to the ground, and then he was held back. The first punch he threw was in retaliation to some other guy who was punching him in the back of his head. I just think we should keep in mind that a lot of people would have done the same thing in that situation. Let's just condemn his actions, and not him as a person.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Supersonic:</div><div class="quote_post">Am I the only one who thinks Artest would have gained a lot more respect by ignoring the fans and heading straight to the locker room? He certainly would have from me. Sometimes fighting isn't required to be the bigger man, so to speak.</div> Wouldn't it be great if Artest would have gotten up and told someone there was a beer thrown at him and got the guy arrested and banned from ever going back to the arena? Maybe that would have taught the better lesson rather then hitting the wrong guy. Or maybe its just me. In this world people see things as when ever something happens to someone they should seek revenge. Artest is paid millions to simply take crap like that and brush it off. I don't care who you are you have to always act like some one is watching you. I look at the video and in the background I can see a little kid so scared. What role models we have. People who go nuts because they got hit with a plastic cup, whats that saying to little people who look up to him? I hear the commentators cut up the fans so much and really it makes me kind of sick, yeah there was a couple unrulely fans. They guy who threw the chair some, the guy who threw the beer, exc. But what would you do if you where in the stands and some basketball player started drillin the guy next to you, you help your friend out. Atleast I would. Basketball players are paid to be professionals, the fans aren't.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">But if you look closely at the video, he didn't punch the guy. He kind of pushed him to the ground, and then he was held back. The first punch he threw was in retaliation to some other guy who was punching him in the back of his head. I just think we should keep in mind that a lot of people would have done the same thing in that situation. Let's just condemn his actions, and not him as a person.</div> If I as a person was paid millions and was a role model to so many and I got hit with a plastic cup no way would I even consider running into the stands to attack a fan! I'm no angel but I can tell you right away thats not right. Things happen like that every day. When the average person is at there job they always have people yelling things at them and of course deep down they want to do what artest did but you just don't. Little kids watch basketball what does that teach little kids its sick the kind of role models we have now a days. I miss David Robinson.
