http://www.tsn.ca/nba/news_story.asp?id=105236

Anyone else see this?! You have to watch the footage to see how bad it was. Those players are ****in out of control. Attacking a fan because he threw a beer at you is way out of line...And then he just starts beatin fans up..He definitly should be charged and others.

Not to mention some of the fans...

I was watching the game whenit happened. Total insanity. Fans are at fault as much as the players.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the NBA. Sex, drugs, and basketball.

I think Arteste was the main problem here, the rest just came as a result...sure throwing a beer is bad but for god's sake that guy needs to show some self control. He didn't even know who threw it!! He just stormed into the crowd and attacked the first weak guy that came in his path.

Not exactly. Artest was very composed when Wallace shoved him after the initial foul and while Wallace was going after him. Hell broke loose when the fans started throwing crap from the stands. That doesn't excuse what he did, but he certainly didn't start the problem.

Fans throw **** in many games. Players are usually composed enough to not go stomp the crap out of them.

Artest was trying to calm himself down when that little *** throw the beer at him. It was obvious who threw it; it was the little rich-looking white kid yelling "It hit him!" and waving his arms in the air. I hope he got a nice, big black eye from it, or even a broken jaw. Damn Detroit, they've been known to be jerks (both the team and the fasns)

Their actions are understandable, but still inexcusable. I blame the fans, primarily.

Also, the little fat dude with the white hat and jersey got it real bad. Haha, serves him right, the little *******.

No, fans don't throw **** at many games. Certainly not like they did tonight. And the fans don't need to be composed enough not to throw **** at the players? I'm not excusing what Artest did by any means, but he shares the responsibility as much as the fans who were throwing **** at the players.

Heh, was out all day but I taped that game, be watching it later. Little Artest is involved in surprises me anymore.

I hate it when idiots throw crap at the players, its moronic and reckless.
What really gets to me is when I hear stuff like
"And dissapointed fans hit the streets after their team lost the big game, turning over cars and smashing windows XX people have been injured"
YOU FANS ARE FREAKING IDIOTS!! ITS A GAME! CALM DOWN!
This doesn't excuse Artest's actions of course, but I'm glad he did it anyway.

Is there a video on this?

Dunno. But it got news coverage.

Sigh, I hate to see crime and violence come to the sports page (but its not uncommon).

At most the players will be fined and the fans who caused it will be banned from the arena.

"Also, the little fat dude with the white hat and jersey got it real bad. Haha, serves him right, the little *******."
WHY?!?? WHat did that guy even do?? All I saw was him standing there, possible yelling something but not being physically aggressive at all, and then Arteste runs up and socks him in the face. I saw innocent fans trying to get out of the way and being smashed by those nuts. Those players need to be charged with assault. The players were just goign after anyone that was even heckling them!! Those were some brutal punches too, I hope all the players involved are charged with assault...the fans, sure they threw food at the players...Honestly, whatever you say that happens at many pro sports games.


If you don't think the players were going nuts at all, just look at the footage...Arteste came within inches of being maced by a cop because he was completely out of control.

At the rate those players are being paid, we should be allowed to chuck much more dangerous things at them.

I saw that on this morning's Sportcenter. Personally I blame it more on the fans. So your home team lost a game, so what. It doesn't mean you have to throw stuff at the players. I hope the fans that did that get executed.

That's what I thought too, but Yahoo!News is reporting that all 4 players (Artese, O'Neil, Jackson, and Wallace) are being suspended indefinetly.

I saw it when it happened last night too, and even though Wallace sort started the whole chain reaction, I'm not sure his shove warranted the same punishment as the guys throwing punches at fans. But then again, I don't posses the infinite wisdom of an NBA official...

Two things I thought were funny:

Shortly after attacking the first guy, Artest(I think it was him) starts to jump on the chair and go after someone else, but one of his team members grabs his arm and pulls him down. It was comical how it was done.

The other thing is after the initial scuffle, I think it was Artest that was walking along the court, and some scrawny white guy walks up to him all gangsta like, then stops and they look at each other for a long moment before the player socks him right across the face.

I also noticed a ref got a bottle in the head. And it wasn't like someone lobbing it at him, it was a missle.

Vids. I need a movie. this is all uselss without a movie. This much is obvious.

It is, isn't it? Or... is it?

Yep, time for sleep

Amen.

Maybe you missed the parts where fans were punching the players. The fat guy in the white jersey who got knocked out was throwing punches along with several other fans. I really hate how you're throwing all the responsibility on the players when the fans were being *******s as well.

I do blame the fans too, I just think they are less to blame.

Also I don't know what your talking about because that fat guy didn't throw any punches, he was attacked by Arteste for talking ****. The only punches thrown by fans were only because he was attacking other fans. Unless I missed something...

Obviously the guy who threw the beer at Arteste is an idiot and he should be fined/thrown out...

Some of it was insane...that running punch to that fat guy was absolutly unnecessary and was just vicious.

Artest is a hothead with history of starting problems and fights.

Am I missing something here? Is there a video in that link you posted, 'cause I can't find it. How is it that everyone has magically seen it? I want to see it.

http://66.90.73.179/nbabrawl.wmv

Right click, save target as.

Thanks.

The fight was nothing more than shoving on the court and was well on the way to being quelled with out anything else happening . . . until the fans started throwing ****. Take the fans out of the equation and you have one player ejected (Ben Wallace) for shoving Ron Artest and that would have been the end of it.

Thats some backwards logic. Take Artest out of the equation and nothing happens either. The fan threw a drink..Artest was the one who started the fight.

Well fans aren't normally suppose to throw objects at players on the court. However, pushing fights between two NBA players do happen once in a while. Are the people who throw objects at the player even fined?


People are calling this "Sub Zero Slide Punch"


By the way, when did this happen? I found a screenshot of it at a forum.

I just hate how the liquored up Piston's fans have essentially won.

I have no issue with the penalties against the Pacer's players -it goes without saying they shouldn't have entered the stands- but an organisation has to have some similar element of responsibility for the behaviour of fans at their games. They are responsible for security, they are responsible for the alcohol and other various objects then used as projectiles so they as an organisation need to take a hit too if this kind of moronic behaviour is to be discouraged. Whether it's in the form of lost draft picks or what not, I don't care, but something more than this needs to happen.

Haha, that expression is priceless.

Thankfully, the NBA came down hard on these clowns.

Arteste is suspended with no pay for the rest of the season, which is a whopping 73 games. This ends up costing him $5 million!! As for the other guys, O'Neal and Jackson were suspended for 30 games each and Wallace was suspended for 6 games. Props to the NBA...I bet this ain't gonna happen again anytime soon. Those guys got owned.

As for punishing the fans, what do you expect them to do? I'm sure the key players were fined/banned from the arena but do you want them to charge every single person who threw stuff?

I thought the guy in the stands (who artest punched first) was the wrong guy? Didnt he just run in there and punch who he THOUGHT did it?

No, I want the organisation punished. Their fans, their liquor, their horrible security, their responsiblity. A few draft picks lost would be enough, but something needs to be done to discourage fans acting like morons and their actions in the end HURTING their home team would do it. Right now if anything those idiots have done a big service to the Pistons in the long run.

Verbal abuse is one thing, but no player should ever have to put up with being pelted and shrugging it off because so many fans were doing it is just silly. It's just as inexcusable as the players' actions.

If an organisation isn't responisble for the fans at their home games then the smartest thing any home fan could do is just what these idiots did, pelt the opposing players until they lose their cool and get suspended.

Bam, goodbye conference competition.

Ben Wallace started it by pushing Artest after a foul. That wasn't needed either. Artest was completely under control while he was shoved the first time and even walked away, only to be shoved again by Wallace. I'm not disagreeing with you that whatthe players did was wrong. It was and they punishments that they got are exactly what was needed in this case.



They should be banned from ever coming back to a game. As many of them as they can get from the game film. They need to come down hard on the fans as well so that it doesn't happen again. The fans who were throwing punches at the players (there were a handful) should be arrested and chared with assualt . Hell, so should the fans who threw cups at people. That would get you arrested on the street if you pelted someone in the head with a solid object.

How did Wallace start the fight with the fans in any way? Sure he started that little squirmish amongst the players but that wasnt the story here...The story is Artest started a huge brawl by running into the crowd and attacking fans.

Chain of events. The fans wouldn;t have thrown anything at anyone if Wallace hadn't started shoving. Again, I'm not condoning what Artest did. I'm merely looking at the entire situation.

Yes,yes but surely you place more blame on Artest then Wallace. Sure Wallace started a chain of events, but he didn't really do anything too bad. He just pushed one guy. Just because that set off a bunch of worse acts doesn't meet he should be liable for those.

And quite frankly I don't think this argument is ever going to end so I'm not goin to argue any more it is futile.

Absolutely. Artest didn't have to jump into the stands. He made that decision all by himself. Hence the 6 game suspension for Wallace and 73 game suspension for Artest. I jsut want to see some of the fans get punished as well. They shouldn't get off scott free.

Artest punched the wrong guy to start with. One of the SportsCenter game-side reporters saw the who threw it, and he said on tv for SportsCenter that the guy who threw the cup was the one to the left (when watching on tv) of the guy in the black shirt jumping up and down. He was wearing the white hat and initially tried pulling Artest off of the guy, but a few minutes into the scuffle lobbed a couple punches from behind. The first guy who got punched didnt appear to be doing anything but pointing out the fact that the cup hit Artest. Nothing more. I'd love to see him file criminal Assault charges, and/or a hefty law suit against Artest (dont really want to see the entire team sued since some of them tried to help break it up, and im sure Artest has plenty of money himself).
The guy on court that got hammered didnt appear to do anything physically. Although he had no right to be on the court, unless he claims it was to avoid the melee in the crowd and he was on one of the first few rows, he didnt deserve to get punched by two different players (the second of which had a running start, which although was horribly wrong, was damn funny).
In baseball, take Red Sox/Yankees rivalry. Who knows how many fights those teams have gotten into on the field where both benches cleared. Yet even when various items were thrown onto the field, players never attempted to enter the stands. As professional athletes, those NBA players should realize they will always have people talking to junk to them. It's part of the game. It's no excuse to start a fight. Sure Artest got hit with a cup. But had he remained clamed and civilized, one fan would have been arrested (no pun intended) and the game probably would have resumed. Instead, it turned into one huge disgrace.