I was flicking through the channels with my TV remote the other night and happened across the final few seconds of the Pacers-Pistons game. I tuned in just in time to see Ron Artest, the biggest cheap shot artist in basketball, foul Big Ben Wallace while Ben was going in for a layup. I have to say that the foul seemed tame when I first saw it happen. Ben's reaction was anything but. He turned around and using both hands, slammed Artest in his chest and face. Artest flew backwards across the court and made absolutely no attempt to retaliate in the face of a very upset Wallace. In fact, Artest looked very much like a pussy, the way he shied behind his teamates and let them do his fighting.



Artest then, for some reason, decided to lay down on the journalist table in what seemed like a show of contempt towards Wallace's anger. While laying there, some asshole decided that he would throw a cup of liquid at Artest and it hit him in his chest and lower jaw, spilling the liquid all over Artest. Instead of letting the authorities find the asshole who threw the cup, Artest decided he would go in the crowd and find the smallest person in the stadium to take his aggressions out on. He had no idea who threw the cup as he was laying on his back looking straight up when the cup hit him, however that didnt stop him from trying to smash some little dude half his size. What happened next was pandemonium. The crowd went beserk. There were people taking cheap shots at athletes and the athletes wasted no opportunity for whatever cheap shots they could get in. Security had their hands full trying to get these dumb ass athletes to get out of the crowd and go back courtside. By the time they seperated everyone, tempers were beyond control.


So they finally get the athletes down on the court, only to find two numbnuts in detroit uniforms down there on the court looking to rumble with artest. Seeing his opponents were again half his size, Artest threw a couple nice rights that connected but obviously had no effect to either guy. Artest then fled backwards to center court and allowed security to handle the two detroit numbnuts. Jermaine O'Neil then decided that since the tresspassers on the court couldnt see him coming, it was a good time for him to throw his best haymaker after he got a good 15 feet running start. He connected solidly knocking the little chubby fella on his ass. But the funny thing is, O'Neil didnt have what it took to knock the guy out either. I always thought athletes would hit a lot harder than this.


Anyway, when all was said and done, I was disgusted by the actions of everyone. But I cant help but feel that this is the direction the NBA has been going in t he last 15 years, allowing all the cheap shot fouls, and very physical play to dictate the action on the court. Add in all the unneccessary trash talking that most NBA players feel is their personal badge of courage and you have ingredients for a riot of this sort every time an NBA game is played.


Brawl (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1927380)

The NBA has collapsed into a pit filled with prima-donna millionares, who are fawned over, spoiled and looked up to by virtually any kid touching a basketball. The suspensions handed out were not severe enough. Each of those involved & in a uniform should have been banned permanantly from the sport in a clear message to all other professional athletes that such behavior will not be tolerated.

I agree with you ES. But as usual, in this case, money talks. Yes, they suspended Artest for the rest of the year, but come on, he was attacking people in the stands. So was Jackson. I think both should be banned for life from basketball.


Jermaine O'Neil only hit the fans down on the court. Since they shouldnt have been there in the first place, I think he should only be suspended for the rest of the season. Ben Wallace's suspension was fine with me as he only wanted a piece of Artest.

The Indiana Pacers are going to lose a lot of money as it is with these suspensions. Not to mention one of their top 2 players is now gone for the year. But IMO, they still got off lucky.

Okay, don't get me wrong, I hate Artest. But this was 95% not his fault. He laid down on the scorer's table not to give a proverbial finger to Wallace, but to calm himself down. In fact, the coach was the one who insisted that he lay down. Artest was trying his damndest to control his anger, then that asshole fan threw the beer at him. After that, Artest went off. Artest was wrong to go into the stands, and wrong to push that guy down, but he does not deserve as bad a rap as he has gotten for this. O'Neal and Jackson were throwing punches, they should be banned from basketball. Artest merely pushed the guy down, I think that deserves a stern punishment, perhaps the season-long suspension he did receive, but O'Neal and Jackson were utter jackasses.

Bottom line: The Detroit fans were utter disgraces. I hope every single one of them gets arrested. Artest got shafted here. O'Neal and Jackson deserve MUCH more than they got (25 and 30 games respectively).

Originally posted by BorgHunter
Okay, don't get me wrong, I hate Artest. But this was 95% not his fault. He laid down on the scorer's table not to give a proverbial finger to Wallace, but to calm himself down. In fact, the coach was the one who insisted that he lay down. Artest was trying his damndest to control his anger, then that asshole fan threw the beer at him. After that, Artest went off. Artest was wrong to go into the stands, and wrong to push that guy down, but he does not deserve as bad a rap as he has gotten for this. O'Neal and Jackson were throwing punches, they should be banned from basketball. Artest merely pushed the guy down, I think that deserves a stern punishment, perhaps the season-long suspension he did receive, but O'Neal and Jackson were utter jackasses.

Bottom line: The Detroit fans were utter disgraces. I hope every single one of them gets arrested. Artest got shafted here. O'Neal and Jackson deserve MUCH more than they got (25 and 30 games respectively).

Ben Wallaca should be banned from the ame since he is the one who started the fight. If someone threw beer at me, it would only be a natural thing to react. I can't balme Artest is a sense if someone threw something at him. That was totally unclalled for jsut as what Ben Wallace did was totally uncalled for.

Does ANYONE here think that this huge fight with Artest has anything to do with his new Rap CD release on tuesday?....its excellent timing, a bit TOO excellent for my standards.

Artest also was already in hot water, because he missed an early season game. He responded by saying as long as he's ready to go for the stretch run and playoffs, whats the problem.....does that sound like a dedicated athlete?

I like ron artest....he's an excellent defender, a banger, and now he's a good scorer. I just smell foul play when someone's Rap CD comes out 4 days after a once-in-a-lifetime brawl......

Originally posted by BorgHunter
Artest merely pushed the guy down, I think that deserves a stern punishment, perhaps the season-long suspension he did receive, but O'Neal and Jackson were utter jackasses.

No way - he swung at several people while he was in the stands and at least one guy on the court (not that I'm bothered by that. And apparently he didn't even attack the correct person.

They had the chubby guy on TV complaining about how out of control the players were. Uh, hello? What the hell were you doing on the court?

do i think the fans were wrong to pelt the players with cups and other things? absolutely. that's what the security officers are paid to handle. not the players. artest was pissed at ben wallace, tempers flared, and fists started flying. artest wanted more money to support his family; well, i smell a BIG lawsuit coming- hope his cd does really well. he was crying about taking time off to focus on his "music"; well, now he has an entire year to do that.

[ Artest merely pushed the guy down, I think that deserves a stern punishment, perhaps the season-long suspension he did receive, but O'Neal and Jackson were utter jackasses.

Bottom line: The Detroit fans were utter disgraces. I hope every single one of them gets arrested. Artest got shafted here. O'Neal and Jackson deserve MUCH more than they got (25 and 30 games respectively). [/B][/QUOTE]

are you serious?? did you not see the clip? artest knocked the guy off his feet. when the man got up, o'neal (i think) knocked him right back down. that, my friend, is battery. they should have left the arena in handcuffs.:hitout:

Getting punched by an NBA player & having that shown on every sportscast world wide has to be akin to winning the Lottery. Had one of those clowns punched me, I'd kiss him & thank him for adopting me.

Originally posted by LionelHutz
No way - he swung at several people while he was in the stands and at least one guy on the court (not that I'm bothered by that. And apparently he didn't even attack the correct person.
As near as I can tell, O'Neal and Jackson were doing all the punching.
Originally posted by jennygadling
are you serious?? did you not see the clip? artest knocked the guy off his feet. when the man got up, o'neal (i think) knocked him right back down. that, my friend, is battery. they should have left the arena in handcuffs.
Um, that is what I said! Jeez...

i agree..with all the spotlight this is getting, people who were their are celebs now lol. We'll see the guy who threw the drink on Regis, and he'll be promoting his new book that will be a bestseller and make him millions.

And artest isn't hurting either, this will skyrocket his rap album CD sales.

the only loser is the NBA, and while it IS bad publicity.....bad publicity=publicity=good publicity

every single one of them (fans and players) should have been arrested on the spot. i'm not saying the players weren't justified for getting pissed; hell, i'd probably done the same thing. all i'm saying is the players should've let security handle the fans instead of going into the stands and causing a brawl.

I was on hand for the game Friday...quite an ugly scene...but I feel almost lucky to have been there.

Artest was def. throwing punches....he threw one at a fan that didnt throw the cup..and then when he was pulled back by the actual guy....he threw punches at both.

And about the comment by Decka about rather or not it had something to do with his album business...the thought has actually crossed my mind a lot. It seems very weird that just a week after requesting all that time off...he would cause himself to get suspended for a entire season.....

I hate to say...I seriously doubt he is going to make 5 million back off his record.

nah, there's no way. he'll sell some (most out of curiousity), but he's gonna feel it in his pockets.