Five-Year Anniversay of ‘The Brawl’
Sorry, I forgot to get you a gift on this momentous occasion: “Five years ago today, in the final minute of a blowout statement victory over the defending champion Pistons, former Pacer Ron Artest fouled Ben Wallace, who then shoved Artest. Rather than retaliate, Artest retreated to the scorer’s table — until Pistons fan John Green hit Artest with a beer cup. What followed shook the NBA, destroyed the Pacers’ realistic championship hopes and contributed mightily to the revamped roster you see today. In the chaos that ensued on national television, Artest launched himself into the stands and exchanged punches with fans. Stephen Jackson followed him and also came to blows. Jermaine O’Neal punched a fan who ran onto the court. Angry patrons threw trash and insults at the Pacers as they left the arena. ‘That was the beginning of the end of things for the organization,’ former Indiana Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said. ‘It set things in motion.”‘
- Dance Wrap: Friday Fall (Was Unavoidable)
- Game Notes: Timberwolves at Lakers
- Original Old School: Laett’ Game Heroics
- Live from Jacksonville: Cal vs. Louisville
- Point Guard Play in the Big Dance
- One Last Shot At BD Dooms
- Revisiting Jersey Sponsorships in the WNBA
- Cap-City Classic
- New Site Honors Historic Champs From ‘66
- Hoops and Music with Harvey Mason
- Subscribe to Slamonline »
-
Brittney Feared
When the hype was young for Brittney Griner.
- Win a Ring For the King
The LeBron and Shaq show starts now!
Refs can throw fans out of areans if they become to abusive. Were you unaware of this fact?
Buying a ticket does not give you the right to throw stuff at another human being. Period.
If you physically attack someone, which is what throwing stuff at them is, you deserve to get beat the eff up. Period.
Explain how the players shirked their responsibility.
They were playing a game, they did not randomly attack fans who had been cursing them and abusing them all night.
Nope, Artest only attacked after a fan THREW something at him.
Where did he fail to uphold his responsibility as a millionaire?
I think Artest was wrong for attacking the wrong fan. I think Jackson was a little out of bounds for just randomnly punching people. But, I understand why Jackson when in the stands and I understand why Artest did as well. When people start throwing stuff at you, they have crossed the line and decided you are no longer a full-fledged member of the human race deserving of hte respect given to all human beings. You are now some sort of animal who can be abused if you fail to behave in an acceptable manner.
I understnd completley why that would result in violence.
Are you seriously arguing that buying a ticket gives you the ability to throw things and the players without them retaliating against you?
If that’s what you’re arguing that we really have no need to discuss this topic further.
The fan Artest, he responded The entire incident could have been avoided if the fans behaved like sensible human beings. I saw nothing crazy about Artest’s response. I saw something very human about it.
Nobody can come to my job and throw stuff at me because they are unhappy. It doesn’t work like that.
You seem to be admitting that the fan initiated a violent situation but believe that the onus is on Artest to refuse to fight because he makes a lot of money.
A lot of people in this world seem to feel that if you make a lot of money, you should just put up with almost anything.
Artest, contrary to common opinion, didn’t hit the fan he thought had thrown the beer. He grabbed him, lost his balance and the two grabbed on to one another. After Artest’s teammates ran into the stands, however, a bar-room brawl erupted. The man who threw the beer at Artest, a convicted felon named John Green, grabbed Artest from behind and began hitting him. Artest turned and threw a soft punch at Green, then walked back onto the court. There, another fan, wearing a white Pistons jersey, approached Artest with a menacing look. Artest threw a forearm to his chest, but it was blocked. Artest tried to throw another punch, but by then teammates and security officials tackled him. Another fan, also wearing a white Pistons jersey, tried to join the scrum, but Jermaine O’Neal came rushing in to throw a punch. O’Neal slipped on the beer-soaked court, which reduced the force and accuracy of his blow. Anthony Johnson also threw a punch at a fan who had walked freely onto the end of the court.
The brawl was as much a story of the modern media culture as a sports story. Talk to basketball players of past eras and they’ll proudly tell stories of their fights, some of which involved fans. Those episodes, however, were lightly reported by the newspapers, barely punished by the league and quickly forgotten by everyone. Not so in today’s 24-hour news cycle. Replays of Pacers’ fighting in the stands ran endlessly on television and no doubt influenced opinion. That was one reason Stern reacted so swiftly and firmly — to send a message to fans and sponsors alike that his league didn’t tolerate lawlessness. He also sent a message of inconsistency, however. In February 1995, for example, Houston’s Vernon Maxwell rushed 12 rows into the stands and struck in the head a man who had heckled him. That seemed as bad an offense as the one Artest committed, with less provocation. Maxwell was suspended for 10 games and fined $20,000. Stern himself later admitted to second thoughts about his punishment of Artest and considered bringing him back for the playoffs, but decided against it.
It’s truly amazing how many people hold opinions based on skewed or erroneous information.
That wasn’t Artest’s account. That was a sportswriter’s account of what he saw happened.
Wayno
My reading comprehension is fine. We just disagree on assigning responsibility.
I agree with you that every human being is responsible for their own choices in life. Artest made a choice to go in the stands. So did Jackson. They have to live with that choice.
We just disagree on whether that choice was reasonable. Clearly you believe that if somebody came to your job and threw food at you without provocation, the correct and justifiable response would be to alert the authorities and let them handle it. I think that’s a good response, but I think you would be justified if you punched the person who threw the food.
Where I grew up, people fought for less.
I watched the video replay multiple times. Artest took the guy who he THOUGHT threw the beer (who didn’t, buy the way, Artest attacked an innocent person) and grabbed him and flung him to the ground. Slipped or not, he meant to take that guy down.
I don’t like that SI article. I woulda done what Ron did and bashed the dude’s skull in, but let’s not sugar coat it, Ron went into the crowd to beat the hell out of the guy. He should not have been suspended for a year, but he did what he did.
But the end result is, some of those fans got in a lot more legal trouble than the players. Most of the players got community service. Some of those fans got some jail time.
I had never noticed that before!
That… that actually changes my opinion of Jackson a lot in this ordeal.
Thanks for clearing that up Bryan.
really dude, you’re trying to change “money” for “influence” to make the same fallible argument.
@ Jukai, it’s not even a maybe. The media has-and uses that power REGULARLY. It’s been the way of the world for decades. That’s the reality that the concept of propaganda is built on. and the only fan that got it bad was the one that threw the drink. And his penalty was like a week in jail and a year of community svc, not to mentioned being banned from NBA games. That still pales to a 76 game suspension for Artest-in addition to the permanent scar on perception to the world. The thing that sux about that is Artest is UNIVERSALLY loved by any player, fan, coach, or reporter that’s ever met the guy.
Tavoris: the dude got a felony assault charge put on his record. That’s going to hurt him WAY more than Artest missing 76 games. It’s not even close.
And I agree, Artest does get the bum end of every article written about him. Every story I’ve heard about Ron Artest is about how honest he is, how he always listens to you, how he says hi to every fan and loves the attention. He’s generally a great guy. I mean, he went to people’s houses he’s never met and sang Kareoke! Socially, he’s a role model.
However, as you well know, Artest certainly isn’t a saint and he CERTAINLY makes it easy for the media. He has been in many scuffles before and AFTER the brawl in the palace, and has a very short fuse on the court. He tried to attack Pat Riley, he has destroyed a total of two cameras in anger, and been suspended multiple times for ‘conduct detrimental to the team,’ He has been arrested for both spousal and animal abuse. So yeah, the media paints him in a dark light, but uh… you may want to look at his track record.
Plus money never smacked around his girlfriend.
And don’t think drinking and partying doesn’t go on nowadays; once again, it’s all about who the media reports about. Walton, Brown, and the machine were known to go out and bone as many females as possible during off-nights. They are relatively successful. That’s not really reported. Of course, Iverson goes to strip clubs and casinos all the time and that’s reported like a new swine flu death.
@wayno-u don’t get it. The media is always right. end of discussion with you.
Comments