November 21, 2004 8:13 AM

Sadly, there's plenty of blame to go around

Ugly brawl leads to four indefinite suspensions

I’m still trying to overcome the shock of realizing that I am about to defend Ron Artest for ANYTHING, but can we be reasonable here for just a moment? Yes, Friday night’s PowWow at the Palace was despicable any way you slice it. Yes, NBA Commissioner David Stern probably felt that he had to do SOMETHING quickly to help stem the negative tide of PR heading the NBA’s way. Let’s step back for just a moment if we can, though, and exercise some reason, shall we?

NEW YORK (AP) — Indiana’s Ron Artest, Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson, and Detroit’s Ben Wallace were suspended indefinitely by the NBA on Saturday for taking part in one of the ugliest brawls in U.S. sports history, a fight with fans that commissioner David Stern called “shocking, repulsive and inexcusable.”

League officials and police were examining videotapes of Friday night’s melee and interviewing witnesses. The NBA issued a statement saying it was reviewing rules and security procedures “so that fans can continue to attend our games unthreatened by events such as the ones that occurred last night.”

Artest, O’Neal and Jackson — who all threw punches at spectators in the stands or on the court at the end of the nationally televised Pacers-Pistons game — were to begin serving their suspensions Saturday night, when Indiana hosted Orlando.

Yes, the players involved overreacted. No, they NEVER, under any circumstance imaginable, should be going into the stands (Even if the fans are jackasses, they still pay the players’ salaries). What about the fans, though? OK, so Ron Artest was being a jackass in laying on the scorer’s table, and Ben Wallace started the whole thing by shoving Artest. So what? Was he hurting anyone by being a jackass? And did that justify throwing a drink that hit Artest squarely in the chest?

What about the fan who threw the drink…and the one who threw the chair? While players should never go into the stands after fans, what if the feel they are under attack? What if they feel they are coming to the defense of a teammate? If a fan comes after a player, does that player not have a right to defend himself…and do not his teammates have a right to come to his defense?

Yes, the NBA clearly needs to examine it’s security procedures. It might also do well to examine the alcohol policies in arenas around the legal. No doubt alcohol was a contributing factor in this melee, but how to deal with a significant source of revenue? Hmm…combine jackasses and alcohol, and what do you get? Yep, this would be it.

Much of the travesty can, and should, be laid at the feet of the players involved. Just like my father always taught me, though, it takes two to tango. There were fans who contributed to this fracas, and they should face justice just as much as the players should. Without them adding fuel to the flames, cooler heads might well have prevailed.

There are those who would argue that fans who pay top dollar for NBA courtside seats have the right to do whatever they choose, given the high cost of those tickets. Sorry, but having enough available and disposable cash to buy a courtside ticket does not entitle one to behave like a complete jackass- no matter how much beer one has consumed. Let me turn the table in this scenario for just a moment…would you want someone coming into your office, screaming insults and obscenities at you, insulting your mother, your family, or your heritage? No? Then why would you think it is acceptable for you to engage in this sort of behavior in an NBA arena?

The Robin Fickers of this world are, in the final analysis, despicable human beings who mask their frustrations over their own miserable, pointless existence by screaming epithets at NBA players. How sad.

Justice will be done only when everyone responsible for this travesty is brought to justice- players AND fans. No one should escape what they have coming.

I would suggest that perhaps David Stern could take a lesson from European soccer. When this sort of thing happens there, teams have been forced to play in an empty stadium. (I wonder how THAT would play on ESPN??) Of course, Stern would likely never have the cojones to take this step, but it would certainly send a message that this sort of barbarity will not be tolerated.

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on November 21, 2004 8:13 AM.

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