Really, the fans asked for it. The fan that Artest got first was hollering and everything.. until he saw a 6-7, 250 lb. angry Artest coming his way. and when Artest got back down to the floor, some fat guy approaches him and starts running his mouth? Like what, you don't think you're gonna get hit standing 2 feet away?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting explosive:</div><div class="quote_post">This is going to be a bad thing for the NBA's reputation, I don't care how you look at it, casual fans are going to look at this and just shake their heads.</div> I'm pretty much the last NBA fan in my crew and I am not looking forward to the weeks of crap that I'm going to have to hear about this. :thumbsdow
I'll post my most detailed play by play, as i've watched this 100 times at this point. Ron Artest fouls Ben Walace pretty hard under the basket. It was pretty uncalled for and would have been a flagrant in norm situations. Then Ben overreacts and pushes Artest hella hard, artest goes flying about 15 feet. Ron keeps backing up as Ben is charging him down, and the players are trying to stop him. Everyone meets up right by the commentators box. A few punches get thrown, but Sheed does a pretty good job of breaking it up. BTW, Jackson is encouraging this fight the whole time, getting his team hyped-up and pissed. Meanwhile, Artest just stays out of it, having a cool head for once, he jumps up on the commentators table and lays right down as the fight goes on. Then it really goes down. Beer splatters all over Artest. A group of guys threw it at him while he was laying down, actually staying out of the fight. Ron gets right up, and is freakin out: He means business now. That short fuse of his has officialy expired. He charges about 5 rows up, hopping over seats. All of the guys scatter...except for one. One guy seems to stay there, a little guy with glases who looks like hes had his fair share of alcohol tonight is left there alone. Now when watching this in slow motion, you see the guy standing there alone, and as Artest charges at him, you see his face change from pink with laughter to horror. Artest gets to him , grabs him by the top of the head, and slams his face into the chair. He then continues to beat his head with his fist. Then Jackson comes swooping in even quicker than Artest did. This guy has gone OUT OF CONTROL. HE meets with the guys who actually threw the beer and tried to run away, and starts dropping them, left and right. At this point the crowd is going nuts, and the whole area is clearing out. Especially when Jermiane jumps into the crowd, which is the scariest yet, being the big mofo he is, and completely clocks some guy and drops him. I mean that guy probably has a broken jaw. Now Pistons players are jumping in there and everyone is just trying to break up the assualts(not fights) as more beer and random crap is thrown. the pacers are eventually run into the locker room as more beer is poured on them,(Oneal gets about a gallon of beer on him). So, theres a good recap. if you want to see it, just watch espn, they play it every 10 seconds, especially once the Kings finish up. As for my opinion, this is a ton of people's fault, including, Artest,Jackson,Oneal,Fans,and security, but itis definetely not Ben's. He started a minor scuffle, and had nothing to do with the all-out brawl in the stands. Anyone who is saying it's bens fault is a biased idiot, and really needs to shut up. And out of respect to the fans, dont say that they players fought the fans, they assualted them. No 100 pound guy is a match for artest,or jackson, or certainly not Oneal, and while itis certianly their faults too, they were assualted.
i disagree with your "detailed play by play" a CUP OF BEER hit artest in the face, not "spilled beer on him" artest slammed the wrong guy into the chair YES, but he did not proceed to pound him in the face.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cannibal Ox:</div><div class="quote_post">And out of respect to the fans, dont say that they players fought the fans, they assualted them. No 100 pound guy is a match for artest,or jackson, or certainly no Oneal, and while itis certianly their fauts too, they were assualted.</div> They knew what was coming. Throw beer in someone's face and don't expect to get beat? That's like murdering someone and still expecting to go to heaven.
YEah, read what I worte: They are still to blame, and pretty much should have got beat, but there was no fighting going on, I didnt actually see anyone hit those players back. they were crapping their pantsand getting the sht kicked out of them
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cannibal Ox:</div><div class="quote_post">As for my opinion, this is a ton of people's fualt, including, Artest,Jackson,Oneal,Fans,and security, but itis definetely not Ben's. He started a minor scuffle, and had nothing to do with the all-out brawl in the stands. Anyone who is saying it's bens fault is a biased idiot, and really needs to shut up. And out of respect to the fans, dont say that they players fought the fans, they assualted them. No 100 pound guy is a match for artest,or jackson, or certainly no Oneal, and while itis certianly their fauts too, they were assualted.</div> So Im a biased idiot and I need to shut up? You ever play any organized sports? You ever get your @ss kicked on the court/field? Ive played HS and college basketball, and when you put as many hours into it, even a decent player like me, it becomes more to you than just a game. And when you get your @ss handed to you, it really gets to you, and really make you short-tempered. Not only that, but resentment and anger carry over from previous games, and some players never forget. Sure the Artest foul was hard, but it wouldnt have been a flagrant foul, and Wallace did overreact, mainly cause he, and his team, got it handed to him/them. And this is coming from one of the biggest Big Ben fans you will meet. Ben is the reason why this whole night happened, cause if he never pushed Artest, the domino effect would of never happened.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting pb1300:</div><div class="quote_post"> Sure the Artest foul was hard, but it wouldnt have been a flagrant foul, and Wallace did overreact, mainly cause he, and his team, got it handed to him/them. And this is coming from one of the biggest Big Ben fans you will meet. Ben is the reason why this whole night happened, cause if he never pushed Artest, the domino effect would of never happened.</div> if you get short tempored because its "more than just a game" then what wallace did wasnt an over-reaction...
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting pb1300:</div><div class="quote_post">So Im a biased idiot and I need to shut up? You ever play any organized sports? You ever get your @ss kicked on the court/field? Ive played HS and college basketball, and when you put as many hours into it, even a decent player like me, it becomes more to you than just a game. And when you get your @ss handed to you, it really gets to you, and really make you short-tempered. Not only that, but resentment and anger carry over from previous games, and some players never forget. Sure the Artest foul was hard, but it wouldnt have been a flagrant foul, and Wallace did overreact, mainly cause he, and his team, got it handed to him/them. And this is coming from one of the biggest Big Ben fans you will meet. Ben is the reason why this whole night happened, cause if he never pushed Artest, the domino effect would of never happened.</div> yeah, in fact you do need to shut up. i could care less what kind of fan you are, or what you play. You can look at it in the stupidest way possible, and say that him pushin him started the whole thing, but thats pretty ignorant. The way you say it you would think that Artest can just say "Wallace pushed me, so I was mad, and wanted to attack the fans"
Is it an overreaction when its all said and done. But its a different situation when you are in the thick of things and you have the blood flowing. We all do a lot of things that we look at afterwards and regret doing. Ive done a few things on the court, be it professionally or street ball, where I have gotten home and really regret what I did, but there are times you just dont think out there. Me personally, I love the game and I love to win, so losing gets to me hard. Now none of us know Ben Wallace, so there could of been some hostility towards Artest for something that happened in the past, or it could of been the scoreboard and the "hard" foul. Thats something only Wallace can answer.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting th3Tru4h:</div><div class="quote_post">I hope you're kidding cause numerous fans were throwing punches at anybody with a Pacers jersey on.</div> ahahhaah, no im not kidding. If there were punches thrwo, i didnt see them. It was kinda hard to ee everything in a 100 person pile-up
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cannibal Ox:</div><div class="quote_post">yeah, in fact you do need to shut up. i could care less what kind of fan you are, or what you play. You can look at it in the stupidest way possible, and say that him pushin him started the whole thing, but thats pretty ignorant. The way you say it you would think that Artest can just say "Wallace pushed me, so I was mad, and wanted to attack the fans"</div> If the Pacers walked off the court with a two-point victory after a full 60 minutes of basketball, without a brawl, would there be fans spilling crap all over them? What did Artest do after Wallace shoved him? NOTHING, he layed on the scorers table and collected himself, while Wallace continuously urged Artest on. Wallace had nothing to do with Artest rushing the crowd, but Wallace is the reason the crowd got the way it did. And try having a little more respect child.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cannibal Ox:</div><div class="quote_post">ahahhaah, no im not kidding. If there were punches thrwo, i didnt see them. It was kinda hard to ee everything in a 100 person pile-up</div> Then I hope you didn't miss the SportsCenter replay cause they basically pointed out 3 fans throwing punches at Artest and Jones. Happy?
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting pb1300:</div><div class="quote_post">If the Pacers walked off the court with a two-point victory after a full 60 minutes of basketball, without a brawl, would there be fans spilling crap all over them? What did Artest do after Wallace shoved him? NOTHING, he layed on the scorers table and collected himself, while Wallace continuously urged Artest on. Wallace had nothing to do with Artest rushing the crowd, but Wallace is the reason the crowd got the way it did. And try having a little more respect child.</div> ok, daddy, i'll remember your smartness in the future. I'll leave now, all anyone does on here is fight over opinions.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cannibal Ox:</div><div class="quote_post">ahahhaah, no im not kidding. If there were punches thrwo, i didnt see them. It was kinda hard to ee everything in a 100 person pile-up</div> Watch SportsCenter... everything is slow-mo and spot shadowed. I'll just say again, buying a ticket doesn't give you the right to do whatever you damn well feel like. Go to a game in europe. Fans are right on top of you when you play, they're loud, they have all sorts of noisemakers and they can get rowdy but you never feel like its getting out of hand. It's called restraint.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Cannibal Ox:</div><div class="quote_post">I'll leave now, all anyone does on here is fight over opinions.</div> C'mon, thats what makes this site good. A little debate never hurt anyone.
Nobody is arguing, you are just baiting people into an argument by calling people idiots and telling people to shut up.
Knowledge kicking It's okay, I kick knowledge on a regular basis, so here it is in it's entirety (I'll double space so you can read it perfectly)...... 40+ seconds Artest brushes up against Ben, whistles blow. Everything looks fine, i'm thinking, "Oh, Ben will just miss a free trhow or two and we'll call it a night, woo hoo!". But Ben (who i liked before tonight) shoved Artest, I ate my imaginary popcorn and thought Ron-Ron would lay Ben out like the routine thing it usually is. But instead I see Ron restrain himself, then i think "c'mon Artest, ONE PUNCH, give ESPN one thing to never shut up about". Then I see him lay down, this was one of the best, most moral things to do in this situation. Then I see Rasheed Wallace, the only guy on the Pistons who didn't act dumb. Then, I see Stephen Jackson egging on Derrick, that was very wrong of Stephen, he's a better person than that. Then it happened. I'm not big on noticing things that aren't pointed out right when they happen, but the milisecond the blue cup hit Ron-Ron, my jaw nearly unhinged and dropped to the floor. I knew Ron was gonna run up in the stands, hell, it was such and instict, I lept up, that's how much of an instinct it was. I saw the Dorky white guy (I'm not racist, i'm an Italian guy, but not dorky) something tells me ron hit him because the guy probably dropped the N-Bomb, trust me, I've seen it in real life. In my senior year of high school, some kid was talking mess to this tall black dude (who was very cool, and nice i might add) and he said "shut up, n*****" like a lion seeing prey, the guy lept on him and i thing he chipped parts of his jaw, and broke his right eye socket. It's instinct when someone insults your family or heritage. A vato twice as big as me called me a stupid wop deigo and I layed him out, i gave him two black eyes and punched out four of his teeth, normally he could've took me out in a couple of punches. You should never pull racial sh*t, it never leads to somebody being healthy, does anyone else thing that guy said something racial? Any way (I digress in point) Ron is laying that guy out, a guy throws a bottle at Ron-Ron, Stephen f*cks him up, then as sucker as it can get, some fat dude sucker punches Ron HARD in the face, Ron Retaliates. Then I see Larry Brown, get so pissed at his own fans that he throws the mic down, then i see these two fat f*cks try some sh*t with Ron on the floor and Arstest cleans him out, THEN J.O. gives the most powerful punch since Kermit Washington and Rudy T. (anybody else see that? DAMN!) then a suit start f*cking one of the fatties up, then i se J.O. get DRENCHED in soda and beer, DRENCHED! then a chair gets thrown. The I see a kid crying and i realize that those fans are the biggest boneheads in the last decade. The Aftermath:I'm a pacers fan, they're my second favorite team, but i also like(d) the Pistons. I will be as fair as a human being can be. Ron Artest: Like I said, instinct. I would bench him 5 games, or uspend him for 2-3 because even though it was instinct, violence is still not the answer (Allen Iverson is, CHEESEY). Maybe on top of that, a $5,000 fine tops. Stephen Jackson: No question, 5 game suspension and a $10,000 fine Jermaine O'Neal: a 3 game suspension, it would be more, but two fat guys on one guy needs assistance. Ben Wallace: Without question, a 3 game suspension and a $5,000 fine. The Detroit Fans: Those who threw bottles, should be fined severely and banned from the palace and any other stadium the Pistons happen to play in in the future. Larry Brown: must be fined for the cost of the mic (I Keed, I Keed) This is a black day for sports and though it is more some people's faults than others, everyone who threw anything, a beer, a punch, a fit (LB), a CHAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is in the wrong. Those Pistons fans should be ashamed. And for those that say Ron is wrong for throwing punches. Okay take away the possibility of the N-Bomb, just have it like this. If the Fans Where on the court, and the players where in the seats and a pacers fan got pushed by a Pistons fan that is three afros bigger than him, and Ron threw a cup at the guy getting shoved, wouldn't you hear ESPN anylists call him a psycho, wouldn't he spend time in jail and be banned from those seats indefinately? Yes, Yes he would. But Ron Artest is a person. Allen Iverson is my favorite player, if he hurled a cup full of beer at me, i'd lay him out (or get my a** beat trying to). So why is Artest different? Oh, and by the way, J.O had a double-Double and Jamal Tinsley had 8 STEALS!!!!!!! If this didn't happen, the Pacers would finally get the recognition they deserve. Questions? Comments?
