Posted on 11/21/2004 4:05:38 PM PST by El Conservador
Exceeded the professionalism and self control???
You would think the comment would be that they did not meet the standards.....
What did Reggie Miller do? I saw him trying to stop the fray and not participating in it.
I never compared Wallace to Bryant. Furthermore, far as I'm concerned, the Detriot fans started the fight and thereby negates the fact that folks are blaming Artest for the whole thing. If it was me, I'd go into the stands swinging as well if I was threatened first.
The suspensions of Wallace and O'Neal were approrpriate, but Jackson should've been booted for the rest of the year and Artest should've received the rest of this year and ALL of next year.
If you'd go into the stands after getting hit with a paper cup you'd deserve the same fate (and are just as crazy) as Artest. And the nut was swinging a way at a guy who he suspected threatened him (which indeed turned out to be the wrong guy).
His suspension amounts to quite a few dollars lost. ......probably at least a couple million. Worth it? Only if you're insane.
Just looked it up -- $6 million. .....all in an attempt to mend his bruised ego. A lot safer for Artest to go after some little (and innocent) dude in the stands than go after the guy who just kicked the crap out of him a minute earlier (Ben Wallace).
Ben Wallace's brother just died last Monday. I think that may have played a part in his mental state.
Not excusing him but that's the truth.
He is normally a very low-key person.....keeps his nose clean.
Ok, here's my gripe with this- the players get (rightfully) suspended, yet the coward fan who threw the cup of ice will probably whine and cry his way to a multi-million dollar lawsuit settlement. That's the one injustice I see in this situation. The coward fan should be permanently banned from attending all future NBA games.
And to some of the people posting here, this doesn't "only happen in the NBA". Fights and mini-riots can break out at any sporting event nowadays. Remember the father-son duo who charged onto the field and attacked a Kansas City Royals coach last year? Remember the infamous "snowball fight" a few years ago at Giants Stadium, during a NY Giants game, when dozens of fans spent the majority of the game hurling snowballs/iceballs at players on the sidelines? Forget about the NHL- show me one game without a fight or violent hit. And I also remember Tie Domi trying to attack a fan during an NHL game a few years ago. It can happen anywhere, folks.
Not all Democrats are bad. However, you can't vote for even the "good" Democrats because supporting them means supporting the likes of Kennedy and Pelosi.
It is the same way with the NBA. Not all players are gangsta rappers. However, the fact that the league supports and encourages such player images means that supporting the "good" NBA players means that you are supporting the whole rotten mess.
Therefore, the solution is to wash your hands of the whole rotten mess.
It is time for conservatives to face the fact that they must detach themselves from the popular culture -- including most sports (witness last Monday's MNF intro disgrace...).
Artest wanted time off. He got it. Did he engineer this to get time off for his 'rap' career??
The DA will say there's not enough evidence to convict anyone. That's why Lady Justice has her eyes covered. Either that, or they'll say they were all convicted in the court of public opinion & that was enough punishment.
It sends the message that all it takes is one beverage w/wings & the typical gangsta-rap wannabe will take on fans in the proximity of its source.
Only the easily provoked are at risk of your team decimation scenario.
Actually this will be part of the eventual lawsuit settlement w/some of the fans involved. The NBA, Pacer players, Pacer organization, & Piston organization [poor security] will all pay thru the civil suit nose...settling out of court before it gets into the daily press coverage stage.
The NBA, though, will stand firm on a ban of some of these fans.
Whaddya mean? His instant rap rep stock just shot up multiple $ times what he would have made on the court.
Why? It hasn't exactly been a motto of the Indiana elite who've sanctioned the likes of Bobby Knight & Alfred Kinsey. And now you have the Pacer org whining about the suspended games being too stiff when had it been anyone other than an NBA player, they'd been postin' bail. (Nice modeling of responsibility & accountability for our nation's young people).
Nice sanctioning of felonious assault & battery, MI cops & Pacer organization. But, w/ a state that already sanctioned public verbal & physical abuse of players (Knight) & pedophilic sexual abuse of babies/kids (Kinsey), what were we to have expected?
The real tragedy for a lifelong Pacers fan like me is that the Pacers were, for so many years, home to some of the nicest, classiest players in the league. Mark Jackson, Antonio and Dale Davis, Rik Smits, Herb Williams, Clark Kellogg - the list goes on and on. I blame a lot of the current team's attitude on Isiah Thomas. Perennial all-star or not, Thomas has always been a thug (from a team of thugs - Rodman, Mahorn, Aguirre, and freakin' Laimbeer, if you need reminding). And he brought that thugishness to the team when he was the coach. He's the one who wanted to trade Jalen Rose for Ron Artest, and he just about ruined Jermaine O'Neal with his "mentoring."
I liked it better with the Jones brothers, Coooz, Elgin Baylor, Russell, West, Wilt the Stilt, and Heinsoln.
That was basketball.
If he is under contract does he still get paid?
The home boys really are now..
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