Posted on 11/21/2004 3:21:07 PM PST by Dan from Michigan
ESPN NEWS Station - Artest out for season.
If NBA players stopped getting arrested and charged with various crimes it might help. As far as watching the NBA, I used to watch it a lot in the 80's, with Bird and Magic and the like. Now, we have players who wear their shorts down to their ankles and have tattoes from head to foot. Only an overpayed baby with serious mental issues would charge in the stands and fight a fan. The manly thing to do would have been to ignore it and take his seat on the bench. Instead, he took the "thug" approach and went after the guy and started throwing punches. It's clearly disgraceful, and that's why he was suspended for 73 games.
Why does that bother you? Why is a fight on the ice any less of an assualt than one on the street? If the DA doesn't step in then the league should. How bout this? 1st fight...3 game suspension and fine. 2nd fight........30 game suspension and BIG fine. 3rd fight.....lifetime ban.
# Detroit forward/center Ben Wallace has been suspended for six games.
# Pistons forwards Elden Campbell and Derrick Coleman have each been suspended for one game.
Looks like we'll get to see Darko on the floor!
Go to hell.
"Thug" is a perfectly good and useful word, an English word of Indian origin, and carries no racial components whatsoever. It's outrageous to accuse people of using it as a placeholder for "n---er", which is what you're doing. Do a quick google on "thug" and "nhl" if you think "thug" is only used to talk about black people.
And then come back and apologize to the people that you've just accused of racism...
Yes... plastic cups.
I don't know you, but your comment above reads to me as if you are calling those who think the NBA has a dispropotionate population of lowlives are racists.
Read "Out of Bounds: Inside the NBA's Culture of Rape, Violence and Crime." Only 40% of the NBA players have police records...and you defend this by implying that those who shun such an "enabling" organization racists?
Enjoy your National Baskeball Lowlives.
Clearly not, because the NHL considers a hockey fight to be part of the game. Some things aren't, and the courts have (rightly, in my opinion) gotten involved in things like the McSorley hit. (Did Bertuzzi face charges? I'm not sure.)
because these are contact sports, that's why. you can't have the DA intervening for "in game" behavior. when they attack fans, that's another story. but any actions that result from the contact nature of the sport, even when its a fight, cannot be subject to prosecution.
what's next, is a late hit on a QB in football an assault now?
Guess he'll be doing drive-by shootings until he comes back.
A late hit isn't an assualt. Getting up out of a pile and punching someone in the face is. Turning around and intentionally striking someone in the face with a hockey stick is assualt. Running out to the mound and pounding a pitcher with your fists is assualt. None of these actions are within the game.
If a hockey player goes into the stands and assaults a fan, then he will be charged with assault. Artest had no business going into the stands and no fan has a right to go on to the court.
If the DA refuses to press chrages, then he will be accused of favoritism. If the fan wants to press charges, the DA will undoubtedly have to go forward. If not, the fan can complain to the State Attorney General and the DA can be ordered to prosecute.
Artest should be charged. What he did was CRIMINAL. And the fact that he is too stupid to realize that makes him a very dangerous person to be allowed onto a basketball court ever again.
He should be banned for life.
As a Pacer fan for 40 years and a season ticket holder,
David Stern's ass if he gets close enough. Do you know
anything about the verbal abuse these human beings suffer
every night they play? They aren't paid to become targets
of drunk thug Piston fans. Ever been hit by a two pound
projectile from 20 feet after being assaulted by Ben
Wallace? Why don't you try it sometime and see how you
react before so judging others.
I could write for an hour about the good things the Pacer
franchise and the players do for the local community.
It is a class organization from top to bottom and they
don't deserve their entire season destroyed considering the
provocation they suffered before it got out of hand.
This is bullshit!
PresidentFelon
assualt = assault
I am no hockey fan but I believe thug was used in hockey in particular to characterize some guy on the Flyers named Schmidt or something like it. Of course, the thug life has been well documented in hip hop music, but thuggery was a problem in hockey it seems before it was a problem in basketball. To be so sensitive as to say that thug is a racist code word is a form of political correctness which is never defended on this forum.
but those actions are an extension of the contact nature of the game. I'm a QB, and I get hit late, so I punch the defensive end, is that assault? That kind of thing happens in almost every football game, to some degree.
The things you describe are within the actions of the game, they aren't appropriate actions, but it is part of the game. Otherwise, we can't have contact sports, they would have to be outlawed under your plan - because alot of the players would be spending their time in front of grand juries.
you need a reality check pal, I don't care how much "abuse" the players suffer, it still does not give them the right to jump into the stands, Arest et al could have handled it a lot better like calling security and having the fan removed for starters.
While its true that fans were throwing things onto the court, the clips I saw showed Ron Artest going into the stands before anyone came onto the court. It sickens me to see these overpaid athletes act out like spoiled kids. If they have their multi-million dollar salaries at stake when they brawl, maybe they'll think a little more before they set such a bad example for our kids. I don't care what Charles Barkley says, when they accept those contracts and play on TV, they become role models.
This should also be enforced in college. The stupid fight that I've been seeing on the news for the last two days in a college football game(don't remember the teams)is another example. If they suspended those idiots for a year it could end some careers. If that happened a couple of times the fighting might cease to be an acceptable part of sports. We are saddled only with unacceptable behavior that we tolerate.
Isn't that a redundant term?
I don't care how you want to justify what happened but if you throw beer and sh%t on me I'm going to be all over your ignorant a$$.
And if I'm merely a spectator sitting a couple rows ahead of you when you do your shi&, I'm gonna be on your a$$ even faster!
I have been in attendance first hand when unwarranted mob violence erupted and spread like wild fire and believe me, it is the most frightening thing you could ever imagine. That is exactly what happened in Auburn Hills.
Limited suspensions should be handed out but the Pistons and the Palace of Auburn Hills should be dealt with in a manner that will send a message throughout the sporting industry that the type of fan behavior that took place there will never again be allowed to happen........
Do I personally have an answer? Other than banning alcoholic beverages altogether which really isn't going to make a difference because many of those people had their fair share before attending the game, no. But then again, due to what I have experienced in the past, I no longer attend sporting events so I could care less......
I don't agree. If DA's start to prosecute then the crap would stop.
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