In case you guys don't know or remember, Kermit Washington was the player who punched Rudy Tomjanovich. He sent him to the hospital for 2 weeks and suffered fractures of the face and skull. He broke his nose, suffered a separated upper jaw, concussion, lacerations around his mouth and was leaking spinal fluid into his nose. The doctors compared the injury with hitting a windshield at 50 mph. A book was even written regarding the punch called "The Punch: One Night, Two Lives, and the Fight That Changed Basketball Forever" Why do I bring this up now after 25+ years? Friday Night. Things could have been worse. Violence in sports has been going on for as long as we can remember. Sometimes we want to forget these things, but it's very hard. Rudy T is lucky to be alive. One sucker punch changed both of these guys lives forever. Kermit Washington's career went downhill from there, and Rudy was stuck nursing a wound. The punishments given out to Artest & Co. may have been harsh, but stuff like this is just unnecessary. No one deserves it, regardless of who you are - A cop, annoying fan, teammate, opponent, etc. Just stop this pointless violence and play the game. If we wanted to watch a fight we'd support the NHL.
yep thats exactly where he (edit- lol i called "Ice" he even thoguh the avatar is a pic of a dude sorry about that) got that "original" concept lol But there have been hundreds of Player fights...its not like Kermit hitting Rudi (which wasnt even a fight) was the first or the last of its kind...but when fans get into it...then there are a lot of problems...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">What is the point of this post? Just wondering, no sarcasm.</div> Remembering the past because theres so many young posters here who probably don't even know who Kermit Washington is.
my post, your post, or her post?? They are all prettty useless i guess considering i dont really see much of a connection between, i didnt agree when they had it on Sportscentre and i still dont agree...There truely is no connection there have been hundreds of B-Ball fights but this was jsut extreme...there isnt too much violence in b-ball no because these incidents are rare but that was just a bunch of situations and one thing lead to another and here we are with 20 threads on it in JBB
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">What is the point of this thread? Just wondering, no sarcasm.</div> He got a running start and landed a haymaker. Hey....Jermaine did the same thing.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheNextJordan8:</div><div class="quote_post">But he kind of slipped lol</div> I guess I missed the humor in this incident.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Vintage:</div><div class="quote_post">He got a running start and landed a haymaker. Hey....Jermaine did the same thing.</div> You couldn't be more wrong. 1. Kermit Washington didn't get a running start. He actually had his back towards Rudy T and punched Rudy as he was running towards the brawl. 2. Jermaine hit a fan who shouldn't be on the floor, not another player. Anything else?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SupraJames:</div><div class="quote_post">You couldn't be more wrong. 1. Kermit Washington didn't get a running start. He actually had his back towards Rudy T and punched Rudy as he was running towards the brawl. 2. Jermaine hit a fan who shouldn't be on the floor, not another player. Anything else?</div> 1. You are right. I forgot. It was Rudy T who was running towards Kermit. Didn't Rudy slow up a bit too, in the end? Its been so long since I've seen the footage of it. But the force of the punches were excessive in both cases. 2. Jermaine went out of his way to hit him.
This is kinda off topic of where this thread going but when I read the intial post I thought, does anyone remember Kermit Washington for his playing days? Any time you hear Kermit Washington's name it is attached to Rudy T and the "punch". Washington was actually a pretty good playing, after "the punch" he actually made the all-star team in 1980 and was named to All-Defensive Second Team the next season. But no one remembers his good season, so do you think Ron Artest's place in history will be the infamous brawl or his great Defense?
The point of this thread is right on. The momentum which went into the Kermit/RT punch is similar to the O'Neal punch, both punches where the recipient is unaware of what is coming and the punch is the result of moving force colliding. Most importantly, the O'Neal punch could very well have had a fatal result. The fact that it did not lets everyone pass it off easily as "dude got what was coming to him for stepping over the line." Thanks for the reminder Ice.
Punches were a regular occurence in the league before the Kermit Washington incident. It was just a part of the game, like in the NHL. Yes, there's a risk whenever a punch is thrown to the head, and its good that the NBA has tightly enforced the rule. But I think people are blowing this out of proportion. Compared to other professional leagues, fights in the NBA are a relatively rare occurence. Fan-player altercations are very rare as well, and given the level of access between fans and players during a game this should be quite surprising. The media wants to turn this story into proof that NBA players are "thugs," but you almost never hear them use that word in other sports. There's a racist undercurrent to the media's reaction to this incident, in my view. And the NBA has to respond particularly harshly with its players because its customer-base, overwhelmingly, is White America and they need to be ensured that these black athletes are put in their place. And for those people who are unable to find humor in Friday night's event, all I got to say is that the whole riot was a comedy of errors and stupidity. Through it all (I watched it live), my reaction was disbelief, fear of injuries and the consequences, and enthralled fascination. Some aspects, on replay, were quite funny like when the Detroit fan foolishly confronts Artest on the court and get's taken out in like a second, or the look on the bystander's face as he sees a raving Artest rushing at him. Sure, the whole situation wasn't jovial and light-hearted, but it doesn't have to be for someone to find humor in it. Pulp Fiction was hilarious, despite the violence and dispicable characters involved.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting spark22:</div><div class="quote_post">This is kinda off topic of where this thread going but when I read the intial post I thought, does anyone remember Kermit Washington for his playing days? Any time you hear Kermit Washington's name it is attached to Rudy T and the "punch". Washington was actually a pretty good playing, after "the punch" he actually made the all-star team in 1980 and was named to All-Defensive Second Team the next season. But no one remembers his good season, so do you think Ron Artest's place in history will be the infamous brawl or his great Defense?</div> That's a very good question. It depends on how the media portray's the story. I don't think what happened was so much about Artest's anger problems as it was about inherent security problems in NBA arenas. Everyone is focusing on Artest's psychology because they have a need to pin the blame on someone, and Artest makes for a good villain. But the real problem is with the NBA's rules and guidelines and arena security. If the NBA is adamant about preventing such occurrences, why didn't they anticipate they could occur and emphasize what the penalties would be? I mean, there have been scuffles between players and fans in other major sports, so why didn't the NBA make rules crystal clear on what would be tolerated, particularly when its so simple for fans to provoke players into doing what Artest did. In my opinion, the real story is the failure of the League itself, not the failure of a couple of Pacers players who were unfortunate to have been put in a situation no other players have faced in the history of this league.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post"> In my opinion, the real story is the failure of the League itself, not the failure of a couple of Pacers players who were unfortunate to have been put in a situation no other players have faced in the history of this league.</div> The Pacer players in question faced the same situation that all professional athletes, including NBA players, have been facing throughout the past 70 or so years, verbal taunts and having beverages poured on them. The only difference is that they went into the stands and started slugging fans, which is not really different than what happened before in other incidents. Yes the security was a problem but it was not a problem until after Artest and Jackson went vigilante.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting philsmith75:</div><div class="quote_post">The Pacer players in question faced the same situation that all professional athletes, including NBA players, have been facing throughout the past 70 or so years, verbal taunts and having beverages poured on them. The only difference is that they went into the stands and started slugging fans, which is not really different than what happened before in other incidents. </div> You're wrong. Artest had just been physically attacked by Ben Wallace. And then he had a towel thrown at him. He was obviously in a very emotional state at that point. At his breaking point (much like any other player in that situation). And then, he has a drink thrown at him from point blank range by a fan a few feet away. No barriers in between. That's a very unique situation which has never, to my knowledge, occurred before. If that kind of thing happened on a regular basis, you could bet that players would have been going into stands regularly. Artest isn't a "maniac" or "pscyho" for doing what he did. He was foolish and wrong, obviously, but many players would have done the exact same thing in that situation. The league just wasn't prepared for such a thing, and didn't make it clear before what the penalties would be. More than individual, it's the league's fault -- David Stern's fault. But if you're going to put a face on this riot, you might as well make it a rich, black athlete's face who already has a poor media image.
Yes I know a hole lot about ermit Washington, not to brag but likely more than anyone here. I have read "The punch", and I have done hours of research on him. If you want any info on him, holler at me. Kermit was a great player who's career wasruined by the punch.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting durvasa:</div><div class="quote_post">You're wrong. Artest had just been physically attacked by Ben Wallace. And then he had a towel thrown at him. He was obviously in a very emotional state at that point. At his breaking point (much like any other player in that situation). And then, he has a drink thrown at him from point blank range by a fan a few feet away. No barriers in between. That's a very unique situation which has never, to my knowledge, occurred before. If that kind of thing happened on a regular basis, you could bet that players would have been going into stands regularly. Artest isn't a "maniac" or "pscyho" for doing what he did. He was foolish and wrong, obviously, but many players would have done the exact same thing in that situation. The league just wasn't prepared for such a thing, and didn't make it clear before what the penalties would be. More than individual, it's the league's fault -- David Stern's fault. But if you're going to put a face on this riot, you might as well make it a rich, black athlete's face who already has a poor media image.</div> Yeah, way to take responsibility for the actions. Blame it on the league, Stern, then make Artest out to be the martyr. Sure, yeah that's what happened. Anyone see Stern jump into the stands to attack an INNOCENT BYSTANDER? Any other league officials do that?
