This is why I will never watch NBA again...

[Vinman]

#1 there is no place in sports for fans to throw shit at players.

#2 Players have no business going into the stands to confront a player. It is a no win situation. They are either going to be out numbered or they are going to connect on a punch and get sued.

#3 Ron Artest is a jackass. He is routinely involve in altercations that result in him being fined or suspended.

#4 every fan that was involved in either throwing a punch or a beer should be charged with assalut

#5 Every player who was involved in the fight should be charged with assalut

#6 Every fan that was injured by a player should sue their asses off

#7 The players should plead self defense in most of those cases

#8The Detroit cops, the NBA and who ever else can get involved needs to make an example of this incident and come down with the most harsh punishments they can hand out. This shit can not ans should not be tolerated by pro sports, the fans or the police.

[cj001f]

Ummm... last I checked, fans don't belong on the court, so I don't give a fuck what Artest did to him

Aside from the folding chairs that the NBA makes a mint off of?

[FNG]

Ummm... last I checked, fans don't belong on the court, so I don't give a fuck what Artest did to him

An infant doesn't belong in the ocean. Does it deserve to drown?

[Vinman]

last time I checked 2 wrongs don't make a right. The fans should not have been on the court and the players should be smart enough not to get into it with fans or go into the stands after a player.

Playing devil's advocate: Doesn't Ron Artest have a right to defend himself? It clearly looked as if that fan wanted to get a piece of Ron Artest and with the atmosphere at the moment, it could be argued that R.A. thought he might be in danger from that fan. So instead of waiting to be aasulted Ron punched him.


With that said. Ron Artest is a jackass and deserves anything that comes to him from this incident, suspensions, fines, lawsuits etc. Every pro athletes should learn something from this. What they did is a disgrace to all pro-sports not just the NBA.

[shmerham]

Clarification: Ron Artest is still a jackass (even though his R&B cd is really amazing), but I don't think a fan on the court deserves to have a say in the matter.

[detroit]

Anybody catch the end of the SC-Clemson game. It is amazing how shocked, horrified, and dissapointed everyone acts(on TV) but continue to show highlights non-stop.

[ddsnake]

The Cultural Plague Of
Professional Sports
By Michael Goodspeed
Thunderbolts.info
10-4-4

The human body was designed for athletic endeavor. Surely, God understood that man would be slow to invent the automobile, so He placed our souls in these awesome machines capable of endurance, speed, agility, and explosiveness. We are meant to run, leap, swim, and kill furry creatures in the forest with stabbing devices carved from tree branches.

Physical activity is a necessary ingredient in any healthy life. Individuals who exercise regularly experience a marked increase in energy, mood, and vitality. Just look at Jack LaLanne. There is a 90-year old man who has not only lived long, but WELL. His mind is razor sharp, his step is spry, and his abs are as hard as your average washboard.

It is a shame that a large majority of Americans experience atheltics as a purely vicarious "activity." Depending on which study we should believe, 40-60% percent of all adults in the United States are completely sedentary, meaning they get no vigorous exercise whatsoever. Despite the media's obsession with diet, the sedentary lifestyle is the largest contributing factor in America's obesity epidemic.

Ironically, simultaneous to the explosion of overweight and heart disease in the U.S., the popularity of professional sports has continually increased, particularly among young males. Sports entertainment pervades every aspect of the popular culture. It is covered 24/7 on numerous cable networks and talk radio stations; it is a fixture of so-called television "news" casts (all of which feature regular sports "reporters"); and it is an endless source of "water-cooler" discussions in gyms and places of employment (again, mostly for men.)

As a red-blooded American male who has participated in athletics throughout his entire life, it causes me no shame to declare that I HATE professional sports. Perhaps I should re-phrase that: I hate the role that sports fanaticism has come to play in our culture. I hate the slew of mind-numbing talk shows, newspaper columns, and magazines devoted to in-depth sports "analysis." I hate the fact that professional athletes are paid ridiculous sums of money to play games that a lot of us play for FUN. And more than anything, I hate living in a country where tens of millions of people ascribe a significance to the outcome of sporting events that borders on lunacy.

Don't misunderstand. I find few things more beautiful than the sight of finely-tuned physical specimens performing astonishing feats of athleticism and fitness. I love to watch Olympic events like track and field, gymnastics, and figure skating. Many sports provide us with spiritual uplift through awesome displays of skill, courage, and determination. What I object to is the sheer IDOLATRY, the perverse worship that society adorns on athletes, many of whom have never done anything truly admirable in their lives.

The extraordinary fame and fortune achieved by professional athletes is relentlessly dangled before the eyes of America's youth like a golden carrot. Sports stars like Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant were multi-millionaires before their twentieth birthdays. How can we expect our kids to feel content with "ordinary" lives when they are programmed to idolize (and envy) people who have "everything?" Unfortunately, few youngsters realize that they statistically have a better shot at getting hit by a satellite from space than they do of making it as pro athletes.

The reason sports are so popular in America is obvious: a lot of people (almost all men) use sports viewing as a means of vicarious ego-empowerment. We've all had the misfortune of viewing a sporting event in the presence of such a person. It becomes immediately apparent that the individual is insane, because he screams and curses and throws things like a maniac when "his team" does poorly, and he howls like a banshee and pounds his chest in celebration when "his team" does well. Of course, this poor crazy person does not realize that "his team" is not, in reality, "his." In fact, the billionaire athletes in whom he invests so much emotion would probably not spit on him if he was on fire.

Sports fanaticism may seem like a harmless personality quirk, but the results of this PATHOLOGY can be deadly. We all remember the "fan" who stabbed Monica Seles in the back, because he wanted his idol Steffi Graff to be the number one tennis player in the world. In parts of Europe and Latin America, soccer referees are stalked, threatened, beaten, and even murdered if the "wrong" team loses a game. And in the U.S., fisticuffs among "fans" at any sporting event is hardly uncommon. Believe it or not, the cause of this MENTAL ILLNESS may be at least partly physical. A recent study in Italy discovered that "mirror neurons" in the brain cause fans to experience sports as if they are the athletes themselves. (Source: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/OtherSport...447008-cp.html) This might explain why a literal "armchair quarterback" will piss so much of his life away celebrating and mourning the successes and failures of other people.

I don't belong to any religion, so I generally avoid using biblical references in my writings, but I remember a particularly choice line from the Bible about not worshipping "false idols." The real "cultural plague" caused by professional sports has little to do with the sports themselves. The problem is this sick, perverse idolatry that pervades our entire celebrity-obsessed culture.

If you wish to watch sports for a little relaxation and "entertainment," far be it from me to judge you. But understand this: Every minute that the "news" media in this country devotes to sports is a minute that could be spent covering something that ACTUALLY MATTERS. Every minute you spend on your couch drinking beer and screaming at the tube is a minute that could be spent playing with your kids, reading a book, or exercising outdoors. Every minute you waste BELIEVING THAT ANY OF IT MATTERS draws you one minute closer to your death.

[shmerham]

The writer is a) jealous and b) elitist

[James Carvile]

That Ron Artest he's no Terry O'Reilly.

Of course the kids down in South Carolina brought new meaning to the name Rivaly Game.

[Artie Fufkin]

Drunk Fans + Uneducated NBA Player = Brawl

The players should not have gone into the stands and the fans should not have gone onto the floor. They should ban the fans in the brawl from NBA games for the rest of the season and they suspend the players in the brawl for the rest of the season.

The players should be held to a higher standard. But most likely they'll seek jail time for the fans and suspend the players for one game. Lame.

[ak_powder_monkey]

I figured that out when I started watching division 2 college ball

[lax]

That Ron Artest he's no Terry O'Reilly.

yea i wish people would just chill out, that clip of terry w/ the big bad bruins is so classic

"That was the best basketball game i've ever seen"

hahahahahhahah

on a semi-serious note i kind of liek the fact that there is a rivalry that people will actually get ina fight over

[lax]

The night the Bruins beat up Rangers fans

By Joe Murphy
Eagle-Tribune Writer

It was called ''the ugliest hockey brawl,'' in then-new Madison Square Garden and the Boston Bruins were right in the middle of it.

The year was 1979 and the Bruins were engaging the New York Rangers in New York.

These were the Bruins of the post-Bobby Orr era. Included in the cast of players was goalie Gerry Cheevers, Terry O'Reilly, Stan Jonathan and Peter McNab.

Included in the Rangers' cast was old friend, center Phil Esposito, who had been traded away by the Bruins much to his dismay three years earlier.

The Bruins ended up a 4-3 winner but it wasn't your routine hockey game. There were fireworks galore.

The fireworks started after Cheevers foiled Esposito's testing third-period shot thus preserving the win for the Bruins.

Earlier in the period, Boston took a one-goal lead on goals by O'Reilly, Bobby Lalonde and Jonathan.

While the Bruins rushed to the ice to congratulate Cheevers, Ranger goalie John Davidson skated from his position and accused left winger Al Secord of sucker-punching Ranger Ulf Nilsson.

The argument escalated and grew more heated and as the cluster of players drifted toward the Boston exit corner, the Bruins realized Jonathan was struck and cut under the eye with a thrown object and O'Reilly was being menaced by a stick-wielding fan.

Several Boston players jumped into the stands and fought with spectators. O'Reilly, Mike Milbury, Secord and McNab were among the players.

After 10 minutes of scuffling during which Milbury removed a fan's shoe and beat him with it, Garden security finally separated the players and fans. The Bruins went to their lockerroom in a hail of garbage and Garden police struggled to keep the fans from reaching the ice.

''You never condone this sort of thing,'' said Bruins coach Fred Creighton. ''We're a close team and when they saw a teammate being hurt, they didn't like it one bit.''

Bruins General Manager Harry Sinden remarked, ''I just wanted to protect my players indicating he would not press charges.''

But police issued spectators Jack Guttenplan, John Kaptain, Emmanuel Kaptain and James Kaptain summonses for disorderly conduct and they had to appear in court at a later date.

Tony Avalone, vice president of operations of Madison Square Garden, spent nearly an hour trying to sort things out with the Garden security force and with Frank Torpey, director of security at the Garden.

His problems worsened when a group of angry Ranger fans waited outside forcing the Bruins to board their bus indoors.

Complicating the situation was the Rangers' anger with Gred Madill's referee work and the insults they swapped with the Bruins. Ranger captain Dave Maloney was in tears as he left the ice. Esposito was enraged because a thrown tennis ball distracted him on his last-minute breakaway.

O'Reilly was suspended for eight games and Milbury for two.

It was the most harrowing New York hockey brawl since then-Ranger General Manager Emile Francis tried to fight with a goal judge in the old Madison Square in the 1960's, according to observers.

---------------------

"The argument escalated and grew more heated and as the cluster of players drifted toward the Boston exit corner, the Bruins realized Jonathan was struck and cut under the eye with a thrown object and O'Reilly was being menaced by a stick-wielding fan."

-the fans should have some responsibility, granted this is the players JOB, but the line has to be drawn somewhere, this would happen more often but usually there are a couple bodies that get in the way, slow down the fight and pull the fighters apart.



"After 10 minutes of scuffling during which Milbury removed a fan's shoe and beat him with it,"

-things like these are why im a bruins fan and a hockey fan in general

[rip]

I still can't believe that actually happened.

Then people say what artest did was self defense? Self defense would be if the fan clocked him with a chair as he was attacking him, not seeking out the wrong person who threw a cup at you and beating the shit out of him. I am not defending the fans but what if Artest came into the stands and starting beating your brother or friend or something, no shit you are going to fight back. I heard today that the big black dude punching jones was actually one of Ben Wallace's brothers. such crazy shit.

Then O'neil flips out goes fucking street fighter style on that dumbass, who wasn't even the right guy! poor sucker just happened to look like the guy Artest KO'd on the court.

Then did you see Tinsley for the pacers come out of the locker room wielding a dustpan! Oh man I about lost it there, laughing so hard I damn near choked to death on my pizza. You could really mess someone up with a dustpan!

One guy on ESPN made a good point about how actual role models like Jackie Robinson put up with way worse shit than getting hit with a beer and never even tried to go after a fan.

That sure is one hell of a reality check for all the little youngsters out there about how their role models actually are.


ok, not really sure of the reason for this post, just putting of writing a paper and thought this deserves more discussion, and bukkake death from above to the beer thrower and the pacers!

[Game Over]

Artest got suspended for the whole season.
Jackson for 30 games.
O'Neal for 25.
B. Wallace for 6.

[slippy]

Are those supspensions with pay?

[IE]

Seems fair... Detroit player started the whole thing and Detroit fans went apeshit (along with Artest/Jackson/O'Neal of course)... but Indiana's season is over...

P.S. Arty and FollowMe, not to make any excuses, but when I threw that beer at a Dodger fan, it was at a party (at my house I think), not at a game , and alot of jager was involved...

[gimpy]

the look on that kids face when he realized artest was actually coming after him for real was priceless. yeah, the players f...ed up and blah blah worst thing ever to happen in sports blah blah, but this whole thing was basically started by that punkass kid who threw the beer. to me, this was just another example of just how this country is full of sniveling, lazy, FAT, no work ethic, what have you done for me lately, punk ass kids who think the world owes them something and they don't have to do shit. that kid deserved to get punched in my opinion. i bet his parents voted for bush

[Game Over]

TV said no pay.

[shit sandwich]

yep that's with no pay, espn said that between all players involved it's over $12 million in lost wages.

[Mustonen]

Seems fair... Detroit player started the whole thing and Detroit fans went apeshit (along with Artest/Jackson/O'Neal of course)... but Indiana's season is over...

detroit players didn't do anything that doesn't happen several times a season in the NBA. Artest has been asking to get his ass kicked out of the NBA for a while... i was surprised it was only for the season.

Artest, O'Neal, and Jackson going after the fans is like me going after my 9 year old brother and a bunch of his friends -- it doesn't matter what they were doing, i can't just unload on 'em. their youth and immaturity doesn't have anything to do with it, either, it's the size.... These are huge guys in top physical condition, they have to accept responsibility for that.

[FNG]

Think about this...if Artest hadn't gone into the crowd after the guy who threw a beer at him, the guy would have been ejected, arrested, and the game would have been finished without further incident. If I got into a fight with every person who spilled beer on me, I'd never be allowed in bars.

[shamrockpow]

Just remember: Ron Artest's album drops November 23! Now he'll be able to book himself on 20/20, Geraldo, ESPN, pretty much everywhere and hype the record and talk about his troubled past. If he sells half a million albums the guy is a mad genius! (and was considering retiring anyways)

[shamrockpow]

Think about this...if Artest hadn't gone into the crowd after the guy who threw a beer at him, the guy would have been ejected, arrested, and the game would have been finished without further incident. If I got into a fight with every person who spilled beer on me, I'd never be allowed in bars.

Artest IS that guy from "When keeping it real goes wrong!"

[PaSucks]

If I got into a fight with every person who spilled beer on me, I'd never be allowed in bars.

If that were the case, I would be beating the hell out of myself Edward Norten style on a regular basis. For every case I drink at least half a beer ends up on the front of my shirt.