......couldn't happen to a nicer guy.:) This jerk off got exactly what he deserved. I guess he won't need to beg for a month off anymore. :) I hope he doesn't miss the 10 million bucks he just forfeited. :yes: Oh and while I'm ragging on the thugs from the NBA, how come they all fight like girls? For guys who like to think they're all street toughs, they tend to slap fight like sissys. Artest connected with a fan and the fan barely even moved. If some hockey player punched that fun ( say Tony Twist for example) that fan would need an ambulance to get home.

Mike

I read about the fight last night on Yahoo, but haven't seen the video. I guess Jermaine O'Neal cold cocked someone too.

Just wait til the criminal charges and civil suits start flying :yes:

"I guess he won't need to beg for a month off anymore. :) I hope he doesn't miss the 10 million bucks he just forfeited."

He gets paid millions to be what we call a professional athlete.
He dosent appear to be acting like one.
He needs to take a some tips from a few college or high school players
because they act better.

"Oh and while I'm ragging on the thugs from the NBA, how come they all fight like girls?"
Mabe the only person he ever got in a fight with was his little sister.

"For guys who like to think they're all street toughs, they tend to slap fight like sissys. "
Well..if he is a sissy then I guess hes acting normal.

"Artest connected with a fan and the fan barely even moved. If some hockey player punched that fun ( say Tony Twist for example) that fan would need an ambulance to get home. "

:scratch2: Well since he cant play basket ball now he might consider a
career in pro wrestling. He could hit his opponents, not hurt them and not
even have to fake doing it.

I think it's great! I like the other suspensions handed out as well. It is totally
about time these children act like adults or else for the millions they get paid.
Let the arrests and civil suits begin! :pistols:

Carl

As far as I'm concerned, the whole NBA can be suspended..... for ever. :yes:

The South Carolina - Clemson football fight was just as bad.

Bunch of street gang punks! :thumbsdn:

NBA - No Basketball Allowed

The South Carolina - Clemson football fight was just as bad.
The worst was that pitcher that threw the metal chair in the stands hitting the lady in the face and breaking her nose at the Oakland Coliseum. She did nothing to nobody, the SOB only got a 3 game suspension for it. Ridiculous.

Carl

I go to about 20 Arizona Diamondbacks games a year,and if I even start shouting out obsenities,I would get a warning,then if I did it again in the same game,I'm out.They stop selling beer in the 7th inning,and the stadium gives away prizes to the desiginated drivers who sign up at the box office.Half the problem here is that it isnt just the players that need a reality check-its fans who throw things on the field(which is what they did in Detroit the other night)or run onto the court,or the field,and say very abusive personal things to the players and coaches.Stern is talking about 1 year suspensions from a stadium for actions like the ones on Friday night by the fans,or the clown in LA who threw a bottle at Milton Bradley,a player on the home team!Maybe they should just suspend alcohol sales in all arenas for a year until people start acting right again.Then the idiot drunks wouldnt even show up to begin with.
Jimmy

Jimmy:

The problem I have with suspending alcohol sales is that is punishes ALL the fans, not just the jackasses who can't hold their brew and start stuff. Personally, I think they should sell beer all through the games, but drop a bomb on anyone who get out of line.

Just arrest them, fine them $1000 and haul their drunk asses off to jail for 24 hours so they'll miss work the next day. That'll stop it real quick :yes:

Ron Artest is the epitomy of what is wrong with professional sports. A season long suspension I don't think was severe enough, he should of been banned for life for that display of violence.

The NBA has a lot of issues it needs to address, among them being the ever-increasing thuggishness of its players. David Stern has been fighting a losing battle for almost a decade now - The post-MJ era. Any face he has tried to promote as that "Face of the NBA" has turned out to be a bust for one reason or another: Penny Hardaway, Larry Johnson (remember Grandma-ma?!), Kobe Bryant, Grant Hill...the list goes on. Perhaps Shaq is an exception, but the dude has sand in his mouth and nobody can understand him outside of a few witty quips per year. :headscrat

The development of an NBA minor-league system is nearly in the works and that will help address the problem of pushing these 19, 20 year olds into the million dollar spotlight. With the rapid decline of the 3 or 4-year college athlete, the game has become a game of "individuals." The days of a Worthy-Jabbar-Magic or Parish-McHale-Bird team core are long gone. I am a Cleveland fan and the days of Mark Price-Larry Nance-Daugherty are ancient history. Now we have one player...some Cleveland high school grad. Good player, but he is only one guy. :dunno:

One funny thing (perhaps not so funny): How many black faces did you see in the stands during the brawl :bash: ? One? None? The NBA just loves marketing all their apparel/gear to black kids who cant afford the games, and selling tickets to upper-middle class white guys and business/corporations. I find it to be an insult to the NBA's core audience. Tickets for NBA games are insanely priced. :drunk:

The NBA has a long way to go to get back to its late 80's-early 90's heydey. I am actually surprised David Stern hasnt quit already. :gigglemad

IMO - the biggest problem with professional sports is that they no longer teach the players that you are to be a class act. I started playing football in the 7th grade (around 1965) and one of the things that was drilled into our heads besides the teamwork concept was that you did not ever show off or perform any type act that would insult the other team. When you scored either a touchdown or an extra point, you handed the football to the official and you returned to your sideline. We were always told that we had to set an example to our classmates. We were to strive to get the better grades, not to be in any type trouble either at school or out of the class room. I feel that we have lost that sense of being role models and we have far too many punks in the games these days.

I didn't see the video in question. After reading the posts here, I felt I needed to add my 2 cents. I would be the first sports commissioner to be assassinated.

In the case of the NBA brawl, not only would I have suspended those involved for the remainder of the season, but they would each have been fined a years salary in addition. Upon return they would have been on "probation." If they screwed up again within that period, they would have been banned for life. During the suspension, they would still be required to test for drugs. If they fail to take the tests, more big fines, extended suspensions and lifelong bans would be considered.

My drug policy would be simple. You do drugs, you're gone. If our employers can fire someone for failing a drug test, the same should apply to professional sports.

Once again, Maurice clarett is running his mouth. Let's see, he got caught in recrutiong violations, and no longer plays. Clarett could have been an NFL great, but he blew it and now he's trying to smear the program. As far as I'm concerned, clarett should shut his big mouth and go to work at McDonalds. He had his chance and blew it. Tressel doesn't put up with any bullshit. I have been going to Youngstown State all my life (my father was a professor there) and have seen the way Tressel turned that program around. To my knowledge, none of the instructors I know have ever been "asked" by anyone to pass a player so they would be eligable. Since Calrett blew his chance, I guess he has to find another way to get his 15 minutes of fame. If OSU is exonorated, I hope they sue Clarett for everything he ever hopes to have.

I don't follow sports for these reasons. I feel no athlete is worth the gazillion bucks they get for a few months work. Then again, some of the owners are just as bad. I heard a rumor that Art Modell wanted to add another 20.000 seats to Municipal Stadium (now demolished) after the Indians moved to Jacobs Field. I don't believe a losing team can fill a staduim. Modell was very quick to black out the Browns, and if that rumor was true, we would have seldom seen a Browns home game. DXing was a good thing, since I could pull in Pittsburgh. Now, the Browns have good ownership, now if we could just get a coach that's worth a damn.

I also have a problem with corporate names on stadiums, arenas, etc. I was truly afraid the Browns staduim was going to be named BP Field (when they were still headquartered in Cleveland). I guess naming the gates is OK, since the stadium is called Browns Stadium.

There's more to the reason I don't watch sports than the overpaid crybabies on the field. It's the TV coverage. I may be wrong, but wasn't there a time when the announcers gave unbiased play by play and color? I detest CBS football. Since when was the CBS eye part of all team logos? Why the hell are they putting the eye all over the screen and animating it? I know it's on CBS. Am I so dumb that I have to be reminded every 30 seconds that the game is on CBS? The NFL should have placed a quality control clause in the TV contracts. I would done it in such a way that if there were enough complaints against CBS (FOX or ABC), the contract could be voided and the remaining contract awarded to NBC (or others).

When the Indians went to the World Series in 1995, NBC and ABC had a rotation of coverage. I don't remember that rotation. I do remember the announcers lambasting the Indians, while the Braves could do no wrong. It was Cleveland's first series since the 50's, while the Braves went every year.

Getting this thing unhijacked, I agree with the other posts and needed to add my opinion.

I feel that if a pro athlete commits a crime and gets arrested, they should get the same sentence you and I would get. We would be sent to prison, fined, and likely lose our jobs (the last happening before we get our day in court). Something needs to be done on all levels. Until that happens, what happened at that NBA game will be nothing compared to what may happen.

I heard an interesting stat this morning, on a national TV news show.

40% of all the NBA players have criminal records. Not for shop lifting, but for crimes with guns/ knifes, assaults, robbery, drugs, etc, etc.

Also, A Clemson player that was involved in the football game fight, said on TV, that he saw the NBA fight replays, and thought it was OK to fight in a game, since they weren't fighting with the crowd!!

Astounding !! :yikes:

And they say TV dosen't influence people. :worried:

Any fan involved in a fight w/ players or other fans, at a game, should go to jail.

Fans jeering players should be thrown out of the stadium, arena, whatever.

I've always kind of felt bad for the big time college athlete. They generate billions of dollars in revenue but don't get paid a cent. They can't even get a part time job to make pocket change as this violates NCAA rules. The coaches can make millions in salary and endorsements etc.. while the players ( who are the game BTW) make zippo. Sure they have access to a 4 yr education but 99.9% of the guys playing Division 1 college sports are really NOT going to school to learn anything except the tools of their trade. The big sports like football and basketball are used to fund insane crap like title 9 so woman can play tiddly winks or whatever else they like to play which no one watches or cares about. The NFL and NBA reap the benefits of a free feeder system, the schools, administrators, and coaches get rich, while the uneducated athletes have to make it to the pro's or start lining up for jobs at Wal-Mart.

Mike

I gave up on the NBA 4 years ago. Nothing but overpaid, arrogant, thugs.
I make sure I don't do anything that would put a nickel in their pocket.

Terry

I don't feel bad for an athlete that gets a free 4 year ride. He's getting a FREE $25,000 to $125,000 education, depending on the school.

All he has to do is go to class and turn in the required work. The schools offer help to get the class work done.

I've been selling lots of stereo gear, will cash in savings bonds I've had for years, and am working two jobs to pay for my kids college. We're hoping he can get some academic scholarship money too.

So, you won't hear me crying for the poor baby athlete.

Shain, the sad part about the 'student-athlete' is that most of them coast on the 'student' part, and end up with no marketable skills, if they have a career-ending injury, before they can make their millions. I have seen star NFL players, out after two or three years, now trying to sell goods and services about which they have no knowledge, nor the skills to do so. Hoping to trade on their 'rep'.

It is tough for a parent to come up with tuition, but you will not regret it, and your kids will thank you for it. Academic scholarships? See, you already have your kids on the right path. Good for all of you. :thmbsp:

I've been listening to the Detroit sports radio on this driving today and some of it is really pathetic. There are the macho thugs spouting off about how Artest was disrespected and had to strike out. Then there are others calling Artest a coward because he goes and wails on the wrong fan for tossing a beer on him, but walks away from Ben Wallace who pushes him like 20 feet. Then there are those blaming the Pistons for "starting it" because of Wallace's shove, and those crying that there should have been more "Security" to break it up. Also the fans are getting blamed for instigating it. Finally, Dan Patrick on ESPN looks to be blaming demon alcohol and is polling on banning alcohol sales at games, but acknowledges that its too bad "1% ruins it for 99%"

What a bunch of pc BS :puke:

The Pacers got what they deserved. You don't strike a fan. PERIOD. If you do you reap what you sow. YOU are responsible for YOUR actions, and touching another is never allowed. I know that's an opinion in the minority and not PC, but screw it, it's mine. :yes:

Ben Wallace got screwed. Would that shove have brought 6 games had Artest not gone nuts??? I don't think so.

More Security?? Ever see the "Security" at some of these events? Many couldn't run 100 feet, much less restrain an anger Chihuahua, certainly not an out of control player. Most of those folks are refugees from fast food careers.

Many of the fans were assholes. But being an asshole doesn't legitimize making them punching bags. I'd like to know O'Neals rationale for punching out that fat kid. O'Neal should be gone for the season too for that alone.

Ban alcohol??? Nope. Crucify the abusers? Absolutely!

What about the Pacers season? Looks like it's shot to hell, but you only have Artest, O'Neal and Co to blame for that; no one else. It's a pure and simple result of their "street gang" response to a bad situation.

BTW, I do live in Detroit, but if the tables were turned and Wallace, Billups and Prince were punching out fans in Indy, I'd be singing the same song :yes:

Rant off :yes:

BTW, best quote was Dan Patrick commenting on the mouthpiece for the Player Ass'n "Even Charles Manson had a defense laywer"

I don't care what the POS fan did to provoke the player. It just shows me that the player who strikes a fan is a bigger POS. Typical of todays prima donnas players no matter what sport.

I say we all boycott the NBA, I am tired of their double standards and the values and ethics they portray to our youth.

You make some good points but while it's rule number one that players don't go into the stands and attack fans it's also a cardinal sin for fans to breach the field of play. When a fan steps out on the court or turf he is subject to being dealt with severly. Remember years ago when some loone ran onto the field during a Colts game, and Mike Curtis gave him a forearm shiver? I thought that was great. Of course, we live in a different age but I'm just as sick of fans acting like punks and saying shit they would NEVER have the balls to do face to face with that person on the street. And for anyone that thinks the NBA sucks, there have been just as stupid acts in baseball and hockey. And what do you think would happen if the fans were as close in NFL games?

MikE

... is the fact that incidents like this point out, and the sentiment that is echoed by many in this thread, that athletes are no longer considered heros. This isn't a tragedy for the athletes but for the people that could look up to them. There are few things in society that hasn't been tainted by... the world. And in that respect everyone could look in the mirror and come to their own conclusions if they were to be really honest. The world is a far different place then when I was a young boy and watched my heros. As I grew older I no longer looked to others to accept that role and for better or worse I have adopted what the late George Sheehan spoke when he said, "I have found my hero, and he is me".

MikE

No problem here with dropping 16 tons on fans on the field, but that's for the authorities, not the players.

I'm not sure what that guy was doing on the sidelines/floor, but it sure wan't O'Neal's place to slug him. Heck, he KO'd the guy didn't he and he was slipping! That's the shot that seems to have a lot of folks concerned; people seem to think the guy could have been seriously injured by a solid hit.

As to hating the NBA, it gets a lot of bad press for a lot of well deserved reasons, but last years' Piston's victory really was a very good thing. It showed how teamwork, unselfishness, and hard work can pay off when David beat Goliath. I think that was really one of the better lessons in sports from recent years.