[Burr5]

Wow. You saw a lot more detail than I did. My understanding, BTW, is that the Pistons "fan" hit Artest with a BOTTLE. That's very different.

And Artest did not seem to be grinning and gloating or whatever you insinuated as he lay on the scorers' table. I know because you didn't see his face, nor did anyone else in the country.

Artest took a HARD shot to the throat by Rasheed Wallace, a crack-head from Portland- "Home of the Gangsta NBA Playa"- and fought back.. Then, laying on his back on the scorers' table, he gets hit by a glass bottle. That's Assualt and Battery, folks. I'd have gone after that "fan" too.

[Skywalk]

You got it wrong. Artest got pushed in the throat by "nice guy" Ben Wallace. He way overreacted.

Rasheed tried to BREAK UP THE FIGHT.

And thanks for insulting my team(Portland.)

[Libertarian444]

I may be mistaken, but I think the beer bottles they sell at sporting events are plastic now, not glass (and as we learned tonight, for good reason)....

[Strategerist]

Artest took a HARD shot to the throat by Rasheed Wallace, a crack-head from Portland- "Home of the Gangsta NBA Playa"- and fought back.. Then, laying on his back on the scorers' table, he gets hit by a glass bottle. That's Assualt and Battery, folks. I'd have gone after that "fan" too.

Umm....you're kidding, right?

If you're not you've basically managed to get every single fact about the brawl wrong.

It was BEN Wallace, not Rasheed, that sort of punch-shoved Artest in the throat after Artest put a hard foul on him.

And Artest was hit with a plastic cup with a little bit of ice in it when he was lying down. Not a glass bottle.

[RabidBartender]

When Artest was on the table, I thought he might have been injured. When they showed a replay from another angle, he had his hands behind head and had raised his head to see what was going on.

It was not a glass bottle that hit him, it was a blue plastic cup, and after seein numerous replays, it hit him in the upper chest/neck/lower face region, and had some liquid in it.

Regardless, the league needs to take all this into consideration if they plan to discipline Artest. I wouldn't blame him at all.

[Azzurri]

I gotta be in the minority here and blame Artest. There is no excuse for an athlete to go into the stands. Sure, there was a jerk who throw a plastic cup at him as he layed down like a poseur on the scorer's table. Artest goes ballistic and rampages into the crowd...attacking the wrong guy! Fans got beer muscles and started fighting back. Then, a real brouhaha erupted. Unbelievable scene.

[mn-bush-man]

When I was in elementary school, I got flicked in the face with one of those paper footballs. Assault and battery, right? Did that give me the right to charge after the football flicker to try to beat the crap out of him?

There are very few circumstances when people should 'take the law into their own hands'. This was definitely not one of them.

[CaptSkip]

Then, laying on his back on the scorers' table, he gets hit by a glass bottle. That's Assualt and Battery, folks. I'd have gone after that "fan" too.

Watch it again this AM on ESPN.com's "Motion" (if you have broadband). It's clearly a blue plastic cup with a modest amount of liquid, NOT a bottle, that hits him in the face/neck.

There are a minimum of 6 player/team-crew attacks and blows landed on fans, and 2 appear to be on innocents. Artest attacking and injuring a fan that apparently did not throw the cup, and then a teammate of Artest, maybe Jackson, landing a solid right to the head on a white guy in a dark suit that looked to be trying to breakup the Artest melee.

It's a good thing these thugs/athletes and the NBA have deep pockets. They'll be buying lots of "bling-bling" for NBA fans and their attorneys!