Ron Artest Suspended for Season!

[See Red]

So you're saying that if you were walking down the street and you were assaulted, you'd just ignore it?

Also, the "if any of use did that we'd be fired from our jobs" argument holds no water. Surely I'd be fired if I flipped off customers (Ron Artest flipped of Miami (?) fans following a free throw) on one occasion. Surely I'd be fired if because I didn't like something a fellow employee did, I pushed him and proceeded to attempt to fight him (like Ben Wallace did to start this fiasco). Surely I'd be fired if I choked my boss (Latrell Sprewell). Surely I'd be fired if I decided to skip mandatory meetings (Many sports athletes). Surely I'd be fired if I decided I wanted to show up to work and do a half-ass job and only try sometimes (Randy Moss in years past). Or would I not be fired for any of those things?

I like how you neglect to mention that Artest didn't walk up to the guy, the guy walked onto the court (illegal) and up to Artest.

No a plastic beer cup is not life threatening -- but I doubt anybody thought that an NFL penalty flag could be the cause of a career ending injury, but it happened. Artest never swung at the guy, he just grabbed him and pulled him down before other fans jumped on top of him and Stephen Jackson punched one of the guys that was on top of him. Like I said in the other thread in the case of Jermaine ONeal -- if you come onto the court for any reason, you deserved anything you get, bottomline.

Were you also defending Mark Roberts (I believe that's his name) when he streaked at the Super Bowl and got leveled by a Pats player? How's thta any different than what O'Neal did? The Pats player faced no suspensions or anything. Why should O'Neal?

[rmered]

I find it staggering that these morons think they can behave like they're somewhere other than in their place of employment.

I don't like basketball, mainly because it's played by basketballers such as these.

Freaks of nature tarting around puffing out their chests and playing what appears one of the least physical games in sports.

If someone throws beer, that is assault.

If you punch them in the face in return, that's also assault, and you're in more trouble than they are.

If you're walking down the street you aren't allowed to punch people.

Call a cop.

If they come onto the court, get off the court.

These guys deserve to all get suspended for a long time.

As for a player going into the stands to hit someone, don't come back, moron.

[jr79]

I think the NBA has got this about right with regards to the players, and it will be fair for all if the fans involved are banned from attending NBA games for life.

Now we await the lawsuits... the fans suing Artest, Jackson, O'Neal... Artest suing the fans, the venue, the Pistons... all the players suing the NBA for restraint of trade..

[gojetsgo]

If you're walking down the street you aren't allowed to punch people.

Call a cop.

If they come onto the court, get off the court.

Exactly.

[CC97]

So you're saying that if you were walking down the street and you were assaulted, you'd just ignore it?

...

I like how you neglect to mention that Artest didn't walk up to the guy, the guy walked onto the court (illegal) and up to Artest.

Was Ron Artest walking down the street when this happened?

---

Yes that's right I didn't mention that he walked up to him... Artest RAN up to the guy over several rows of seats to find the first person that jump dive out of his way

I'm starting to think you haven't seen the clip of this yet... The initial fan incident did not occur on the court... Artest ran into the stands to start this melee, if a fan ran onto the court looking for a fight, that's something else... Artest ran into the stands looking for a fight. Later on a fan ran onto the court, but that was after this whole thing started.

See the previous few posts before the one I'm posting now, they all make sense.

Sorry NBAers, you're not above the law.

[random]

Plus, there is the new story that the guy Artest originally pummled wasnt even the right guy. Sort of like when the rangers pitcher tossed a chair into the stands. Artest deserves the suspension because running into the crowd and pummeling someone who may or may not have been involved is not "self-defense" in the legal sense. He had a better case for punching the fan in the pistons jersey who ran on the court at the end of the brawl beacause in order to qualify as self defense you have to be in actual oncoming danger, and your force has to be only what is reasonable to protect yourself from said danger. What Artest did by running into the stands was not self defense, it was retribution, thus the suspension was warrented. Had Artest just yelled at the guy, or walked away, the douchebag would have just been removed by security and probably would have had his season tickets revoked. But instead Artest had to run into the crowd and act like a raving maniac prompting the huge riot that insued.

[gojetsgo]

This all reminds me of one of my favourite scenes in my favourite movie, Slap Shot. Some jerk threw his keys at one of the Hanson brothers which caused the Hansons and other Chiefs to go through the crowd beating people up and asking "Is this the guy?" (POW!) "Wait , no, that's the guy!" (POW!).

Damn that's a great movie.

Sadly, this incident wan't fictional.

Also, the "if any of use did that we'd be fired from our jobs" argument holds no water. Surely I'd be fired if I flipped off customers (Ron Artest flipped of Miami (?) fans following a free throw) on one occasion. Surely I'd be fired if because I didn't like something a fellow employee did, I pushed him and proceeded to attempt to fight him (like Ben Wallace did to start this fiasco). Surely I'd be fired if I choked my boss (Latrell Sprewell). Surely I'd be fired if I decided to skip mandatory meetings (Many sports athletes). Surely I'd be fired if I decided I wanted to show up to work and do a half-ass job and only try sometimes (Randy Moss in years past). Or would I not be fired for any of those things?

So, what you're saying is, since professional athletes act like idiots all the time, continuously finding new ways to be completely unprofessional, it's OK when they keep taking it a step further - that essentially nothing should cause a pro athlete to be fired. Pro athletes are somehow above the rules of normal society.

When did our standards drop so low? It wasn't always like this. Surely there was a time when the "pro" in pro athlete actually meant something other than getting paid millions of dollars. I'm not a basketball fan, but did this type of stuff happen in the 70s, or even 80s???

Athletes stopped acting professional when they started believing they were bigger than god. That of course happened when we started paying them more than what god gets paid.

[See Red]

CC, I wasn't referring to your post, I was talking to gojetsgo who said he walked up to the second fan he punched. Neglecting to mention that Artest was standing on the court while the fan walked up to him.

And yes, I have seen the clip. I watched the game on ESPN has it happened and I watched nothing but ESPNews since it happened.

Whether it happens in the stands, or on the street, the fan throwing the cup at Ron Artest is assault. And Artest is allowed, by law, the right to protect himself, ARtest ran up there and pulled the fan down, but he never threw a punch at the guy. He was tackled by fans first, one of the fans being the one Stephen Jackson hit. It's actually quite hilarious that the fan keeps talking his crap up until the moment he realises Artest is going to get to him and kick his ass.

I like how you neglect to mention that Artest didn't walk up to the guy, the guy walked onto the court (illegal) and up to Artest.

That was in reference the fact that Artest had already left the stands and was on the court when the second guy walked up to him. Artest wasn't walking around on the court looking for someone to beat the crap out of. The fan walked onto the court towards Artest, and until you name me ONE reason a fan would come onto the court in that situation, and walk towards a player and have that reason not be the extent to hit that player, then Artest shouldn't be punished for that happening, nor should Jermaine O'Neal be punished for him hitting the fan that was on the court.

Jermaine O'Neal gets 20 games (somewhere around that length) for never leaving the court and hitting a fan.

The NBA dropped the ball on this one. They're attempting to save their reputation among those same types of people who were "offended" by the Monday Night Football intro rather than protect their players and that's embarassing to me.

Where is Detroits penalty for starting the entire incident, and then when it was dieing down, refueling the whole incident by throwing a towel at Artest? 6 games? That's it?

Sure, the NBA was successful in sending the 'you can't go into the crowd message' -- but how about sending a message to NBA teams to control their crowds? Or sending a message to the player who starts a riot like this. It's horribly unfair that they basically end the Pacers chance at haveing a successful season while they hand the Detroit Pistons the Eastern Conference titles while they were equally responsible for what happened. How about making the Pistons play their next 5 home games in an empty arena and making them refund all the tickets for those 5 games?

And gojetsgo, my point was that you can say "I would get fired if I did that at my job" for just about anything bad these players do, so why only say that in this particular instance? It makes no sense. And these players act like idiots partly because fans think they own them and have a right to throw things at them when they perform poorly or do something they don't like. You can't go to a Vegas show and throw cups on stage just because you don't like the show, so why should it be any different at a pro sporting event? That's why the players act like idiots -- because they're provoked by the fans. Of course, at my job, while I may get fired for doing all these things, I don't have fans verbally assaulting my constantly and in some cases, physically assaulted.

[DEAD!]

Here's the cover of this week's (?) Sports Illustrated. It's sad, yet I was somehow laughing because of the facial reaction of that fan,

[See Red]

Here's the cover of this week's (?) Sports Illustrated. It's sad, yet I was somehow laughing because of the facial reaction of that fan,

That right there never ceases to make me laugh -- especially considering the guy continued his trash talking up until the second he realized that nobody was going to slow Artest down and that he'd get to him.

[gojetsgo]

Watch this Artest interview on the today show.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6534820/

Man, Artest kept saying the same things over and over and over again, regardless of the question asked. He obviously doesn't have alot going on upstairs. I think the guy might be mildly retarded.

Interestingly, he did not agree that the attack on the fan was self defense. He just replied that he was frustrated.

In the interview, it mentioned that this is the tenth time he was suspended! I had no idea it was that many. If I was commish, this one would easily be the final straw, and I'd give him a lifetime ban.

He also shamelessly used the interview to promote his rap album, which he mentioned 3 times.

[NJTank]

He also shamelessly used the interview to promote his rap album, which he mentioned 3 times.

This shows me he has no clue he shoudl be contrite he should argue its too harsh, but he should not mention the Rap CD. That makes him look bad, and it make him look like he is into self promotion more then apologizing.

[gojetsgo]

He didn't apoligize once. He just said he wished it didn't happen and that it was bad for everyone. He made no apologies. But buy his rap CD.

[paynomind]

I'd like to demand right here, right now that everyone quit refering to the morons in the stands as "fans."

They aren't fans, they are punks. *I* am a fan. I sit and watch a game, cheer, boo, eat popcorn, and finish each and every beer I buy. The idiots who punched and grabbed and tackled players, who went on the court to bow up, who threw drinks... they aren't fans. They are hoodlums.

The players are just as bad. But i'm sick of hearing those morons in the stands being refered to as "fans." That has got to stop.

[Mings]

you know if you pay 6 bucks for a beer, you damn well finish it.