[cyborg]

ping

[bikepacker67]

I think any fan that can be identified throwing anything at anybody, or getting on the court, should be banned permanently.

That said, I hope that punk, Artest, gets his balls sued off.

[randog]

Let the referees carry guns and this s**t will stop in a hurry.

[Boundless]

> ... every one of these morons in the stands is an
> accomplice to inciting a riot.

The NBA needs to prosecute the patron perps (or just get
them locked in the same holding cell with the floor felons :-).

Professional sports is defined as:
Metphorical combat of commercial tribes.

.. sometimes not entirely metaphorical.

[pipecorp]

It stopped being basketball about 12 years ago and became basketbrawl (aka wwf). So what you see now is its natural extension. Until it returns to a game of skill and finesse, it may as well be as comedic and asinine as the wwf.

[jwalsh07]

HE started the whole thing, not Artest.

OY!

[drt1]

I hear what you are saying but, from my perspective, Artest was the problem. By hard fouling on a meaningless shot he asked for the ill-conceived shove from Wallace and then, instead of letting the officials sort it out, goaded already steamed fans (And Players I'm sure) into another ill-conceived action - Throwing the water at him while he arrogantly and ignorantly reclined on the Scorer's Table. He then proceeded to further escalate the situation by going into the stands, something that is strictly forbidden, not to mention extremely dangerous to everyone.

Nope, this would have been nothing more than a brief incident, confined to the Court had Artest not acted in as provocative a manner as possible and, while there is some level of shared blame, Artest is the instigator from start to finish. This finding is supported by the 30 game suspension handed down to him by the League.

[per loin]

Artest dropped a hard foul onto Wallace and Wallace let him know he ought not do that. Artest wanted no part of Big Ben, but realized he was being shown up as a coward, and that not even his kindergarden act of flopping down on the table for a nap was dispelling that coward image, Artest did what many an embarrassed coward does, he found somebody much smaller to attack.

Artest should be suspended without pay for the remainder of the season, with a reinstatement hearing held during the summer to assess his work on self improvement.

[sddINRep]

I live in Indianapolis and this story is still all the news on Monday. Artest is a loud-mouth who isn't really worth what he's being paid. Just a couple of weeks ago he asked for a month off to promote his new CD; then he said he was just kidding. One of our local sports reporters had to tell him what "integrity" means.

The Pacers needed to get rid of Artest anyway - he's more trouble than he's worth. The management has released statements that they're going to appeal the suspensions in whatever way they can, but they shouldn't. Artest let his temper run away with him and it's about time he learns that adults don't do that.

He deserves to be suspended the rest of the season.