The whole incident is Artest’s fault. If the fan comes at him, like the fans that attacked the KC third base coach last year, he has every right, and my blessing, to crush the guy into fine powder. But he has no right to go into the stands, any more than you have the right to come into my house to get me if I chuck an egg at you on Halloween. End of story.
Do you know how much pressure it takes to gouge out an eye? 'Nuff said about that.
Surely you can see difference between throwing a beer and throwing a punch. I’ve had both thrown at me. Would rather have the beer, as it hurts a lot less.
Now if Artest had thrown a jug of gatorade…
Oh, CNN is showing the video now (the channel, not the website)
Yeah, there’s a difference between cups and punches, obviously. And obviously, Artest is out of his mind. Doesn’t change the fact that he was getting drilled with cups and bottles from as close as ten feet away. This one is on the fans. You don’t get free reign to fire projectiles just because you’ve entered a sporting arena, damn it. Throw stuff at somebody on the street, get your ass beat. Throw stuff at somebody at an NBA game, get your ass beat.
The main reason a player should not go after a fan is exactly because it excalates into mayhem quickly like this. So Artest should not have gone after the fan. Having said that, I think the fans acted like complete a-holes.
Yeah, I think you have said enough about it.
Gangster Octopus, I agree that he shouldn’t have; it would have clearly been better if he didn’t. That doesn’t mean I place the blame on Artest, though, since asking him to just sit there and get buffeted, in my opinion, is unreasonable. I just can’t imagine how this whole disaster can be blamed on him.
Jim Gray is having a Hindenburg moment.
BTW, I am not saying Artest is 100% or even mostly to blame. I was just commenting on why it is different for a player in a sporting event then say some random guy.
What I found interesting about THAT was the fact that Eric Gagne, pitcher for the Dodgers, said that, in his opinion, if an athlete jumps into the crowd, he deserves to have his ass beat.
Regarding the Pacers, though…ick. I’m a Pacer fan, and while I understand the human element of Artest’s actions, I still can’t condone it.
That said, though…he’s gonna have all the rest he needs now to recover from his CD promoting.
Actually, I agree. But come Monday morning, Artest is gonna wish he hadn’t gone into the stands. He should’ve shown more restraint because he has more to lose.
No one is blameless in this incident.
As far as not being able to hold one’s own against Artest there was a short portly fan that was going blow to blow with Artest before he got sucker punched via a running haymaker from O’Neal, and the guy still got up right after that.
Anyways, from what I saw the white guy with glasses that Artest first shoved down didn’t do a damn thing, and that man has every right to sue Artest’s ass into next week.
To me just because this occured in a stadium it shouldn’t be any different legally.
In real life if someone throws something at you, you don’t beat the shit out of them, you don’t have the right to do that unless you feel you are presently under attack and need to defend yourself to prevent injury or death all Artest had to do was move to center court.
I hold the fans responsible as well but the fact that Artest hit the wrong guy shows why a player shouldn’t jump into the crowd. There is also the fact that a fan could have ANYTHING, a gun, a knife, anything, sporting events aren’t all that secure in my experience (no metal detectors and they only search you to make sure you aren’t bringing in outside food or beer so you have to pay $50 for their concessions.)
I am a passionate sports fan, and often times I go too far. Ask Mhendo if you don’t believe me, we went to a TU/JHU lax game last spring, and I got steamed over a couple of calls that blatently favored the Blue Jay player, and stood and yelled quite profanely about it. I was wrong and out of hand, I bet Mhendo thinks I’m nuts and never wants to go to another sporting event with me, but that’s just part of being a fan.
That being said, I would never, ever dream of throwing shit at a player, not even if he was a Steeler, not even if he was that thug Joey Porter. If I did that, I would expect the player to come up to me and gently show me the error of my ways with his fist. Watching the entire incident, my only thought is that it’s a pity that this wasn’t baseball, because then the players could have used bats to correct the problem.
I have no idea who Ron Artest is, or what kind of backstory he has. I don’t watch the NBA, it doesn’t interest me. Claiming, however, that he should have been “professional” about it is crazy. Someone yells and insults your mother, your wife or your kid, yea, professional atheletes are expected to be professional about that and endure it. Throwing stuff, however, even if it’s only beer, is above and beyond the call of duty. The fan deserved a punch down.
Oh, and Doors? We all know you’re a military man, and quite a tough cookie, but facing you off with a very large professional athelete? Please. You’d lose in a heartbeat, just like I would or almost anyone else on these boards. Try to stay real, M’kay?
Actually outside of the sport of boxing many professional atheletes have had embarassing stories of getting out of hand in their private lives and getting beat downs in bars and et cetera.
Just because you’re big and strong and good at a sport doesn’t mean much when it comes to fighting.
<Groundskeeper Willie>You call that a riot?</GKW>
If that’s the worst you’ve ever seen check out this for a list of soccer riots/disasters. It doesn’t even mention the soccer war.
I’m not going to say that I think the fans were right in this. They weren’t. I’m really very disappointed in the home fans for this shit. Throwing shit at players is wrong.
But for fuck sake, jumping in the stands after a fan!?!? From what I saw there were two more players going into the stands with Artest. That’s seriously messed up behavior. It would be messed up behavior in a bar, much less a basketball game.
Yeah, Artest is going to have a lot of time to rest up from his cd promoting, but he’s not going to have a lot of money to spend on his time off.
Did you see the kids so scared and crying?
Mr. Prosecutor: I hope your office is busy today.
Ding Ding We have a winner! Bob, show Harborwolf what he has won!
Convenient that he wanted 30 days off but couldn’t get it, now this which will surely involve a significant fine and suspension.
Seriously, how can anyone even claim the NBA is anything less than a thug league
And the best part:
Artest claimed he was defending himself. :rolleyes:
From what, getting wet? Gee, he got wet. I guess that means that he can attack the nearest spectator, right? Does that mean that a police officer can beat people with nightsticks for throwing a drink at them? Or that your average citizen can kick the snot out of someone else for making a rude gesture?
As far as I am concerned, Artest should focus on his rap career, because were I in charge he’d never play again.
Well, now at least he’s got some street cred. After all, he did punch out an Eminem fan.
hi Dave! We definitely disagree on this one – I don’t think professional needs to be quotes, because the key factor in my mind is that Artest, as well as the other players, are AT WORK. The beer throwing fan is at fault for failing to meet the expectations placed on him as a member of society and a patron of the sports arena (I don’t know what the laws are related to beer throwing, but I’m willing to wager that it’s against the rules of the arena at the very least). Artest is at fault for failing to meet the expectations placed on him as a guy who is getting paid to be there. It’s okay in my book that those expectations are not the same. When I’m at work, I’m held to a different standard of behavior than the members of the general public with whom I interact. So yeah, I think he should have been professional, because that’s what he is. Of course, the guy also seems bat shit crazy, but I don’t think that’s an excuse for this incident. Rather, it seems more like evidence that he’s bat shit crazy.
The fan who threw the beer is a complete jerk, and I’m not losing any sleep over him getting a punch down. It’s alarming, however that people who didn’t throw any beer were also caught up in Artest’s rush for retribution. That Artest (or any player) bears more responsibility in these situations seems logical … the league, the arena, the franchise have an interest in preventing a bad fan incident from escalating into a mob riot. It’s not above and beyond the call of duty to walk away, it is his duty.