what the hell is wrong with people

[raggie33]

have ya all seen footage of the pistons game?there is ne need for this stuff.its just a game people

 

[LEDmodMan]

No kidding.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

 

[dano]

Animals...on the court and in the stands...

Though, I'd tend to think that professional players would act more professionally; that one small step above all those wishing to play the game. Yet, as shown, that isn't always the case.

-dan

 

[metalhed]

I don't know what bothers me more...the unprofessional actions of the players or the disgusting and violent actions of the fans in the stands.

I'm afraid it's another product of our increasingly violent and selfish culture...sad. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

Maybe I'll become a golf fan. It's boring to watch, but at least I won't have to worry about seeing someone assaulted or killed while I'm being entertained.

 

[BlindedByTheLite]

the coaches, players, and officials have said the fans were shouting racial slurs thru the entire game.
Ben Wallace is very emotional after his bruthr passing away.
Ron Artest gave a hard foul.
Ben over-reacted.
Larry Brown, Rasheed Wallace, and the officials started calming the players down.
then the fans started throwing things, specifically @ Ron, who was already emotional over getting shoved by Ben. eventually they began throwing heavier things also, such as chairs (thrown @ Jermaine O'Neal).
Artest then ran up to "defend" himself against the offending throwers.
Stephen Jackson ran in as back up.
more fans joined in the fight, but Ron and Jackson easily put a dent in that little section of the fans.
then fans started spilling onto the court. Ron and Jermaine O'Neal promptly dealt with the one's in their path.
several LEO's threatened to pepper-spray fans and players (which i don't think was right, since @ that point Artest was strictly defending himself), and players were finally ushered into the locker-room.

personally, i think the Ron/Ben confrontation is an isolated incident compared to the fans throwing things @ the Pacers players, and should be treated as such. i don't blame Ron, Jackson, or O'Neal one bit for leveling a few immature fans. they shouldn't get away with that. and the security was rather slow to kick in.

what should've been a flagrant foul on Ron, a Ben ejection, and then some foul shots, turned into a huge mess, and it never should've happened.

i believe all players involved, deserve a minimum of 2 to 5 games suspension and $50,000 fines. i believe the offending fans should be banned from the arena for good. and i believe the cups holding the alcohol should be alot smaller, haha.

i do not blame the players for this incident @ all. it was a failure of etiquette on the fans side of the fence. just as things were calming down, they began throwing things.

perhaps less obvious, but possibly bigger pain in the arse, will be the lawsuits that are sure to be spurred from the players defending themselves.

terrible, terrible incident for the NBA and professional athletes no matter what angle you look @ it from.

what it all comes down to is two things.
#1 is that professional athletes are paid entire too much money! (minimum salary in the NBA is over $360,000)
#2 is that ppl from Detroit are insane.

Edit:
let's not forget the players involved are all top players in the world. Ben Wallace is the epitome of what a player should be, and is the key player on the Detroit Pistons. he is the Defensive Player of the Year, and will be a candidate for the award from now until he retires.
Stephen Jackson has had no problems in the NBA until this point, and has been a key player on a championship San Antonio team. he was a candidate for 6th Man of the Year last season.
Ron Artest, the only player involved with a prior record in the NBA, tried to control himself. he laid out on the scorer's table, he even put on the headphones @ one point to tune all the noise out. but when fans begin throwing things @ him, he has the right to defend himself. he has really cleaned up his act since being the runner up for the Defensive Player of the Year award last season.

all three of those players donate hundreds of thousands of dollars to charities and schools every year. they're stand up guys, really.

from the numerous NBA players i've met in Boston, none have ever been even the slightest bit rude or dodgy, or impatient. they're nice as hell, and willing to take time out of their lives for fans. not on-the-edge ppl just waiting to cold-**** a fan in the head.

 

[Pellidon]

I like how several media writers are playing it like Artest went beserk after only one beer was thrown at him, not a barrage of stuff. It is true that he is mental but it sounds like he was provoked. The coaching staff should have two guys on retainer to restrain him in cases like this since nut job fans know how easy it is to provoke him to do something stupid.

There should be plenty of blame to lay around here though, from the fans to the facility management to the knuckelheads on the court. The players should have not rushed the hooligans in the stands but I would have been hard pressed not to do the same if a chair came flying in my direction.

You mean to imply that the people who used to set fire to the town on Halloween are emotionally unstable? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif They are just trying to be like Jets fans who throw stuff on a regular basis.

 

[Draco_Americanus]

just another reason that I have no use for sports

 

[kenny]

I gave them [sports] up years ago. Rather than live my life vicariously, or virtually (video games). I've develped an 'actual' life. I bike, I swim, I make jewelry, I do wood working, I work with the boy scouts. I don't need to watch someone else do something -- I'm doing something!! so musch bruha ha ha ha ha

 

[mapson]

The fans are usually the ones that start, while the athletes should know better, it's hard to have all kinds of crap being thrown at you (verbally and physically) and still professional. Takes much less for anyone on the street to go fist to fist.

 

[this_is_nascar]

Although the fans were ***holes, I put blame on the players. It was was the dude with the brillo-pad hair dew that started the entire thing. He had no business pushing that other player the way he did. That started the ball rolling. These num-nuts get paid too damn much and should be held to a higher standard. Granted, the fans that came down to the court deserved what they got, but the players should have never entered the stands to begin with.

 

[gtwace]

Lets not forget most of the players are millionairs trying to put up a good game.

 

[Big_Ed]

Sports seems to be a reflection of society, getting more violent and hot tempered all the time. And the real shame is kids look up to athletes as role models. I don't really think today's athletes (on the whole) make as good of role models as they used to years ago. Of course there are exceptions, I know that not all athletes are violent and hot tempered.

 

[GutWrench]

Everyone involved in this should be booked and charged. Fans involed should be banned. Players involved should not be allowed to play pro sports ever again. Im so sick of crap like this. I get called names all the time in my line of work...if I was to act like the people in that footage I would surely be arrested, booked, and sued.

 

[James S]

I don't know anything about the specifics, but we've been allowing thugs and petty criminals to be protected by these organizations and passed off as professional players for a long time. There are many dedicated and professional people on these teams, but increasingly the NBA and others are trying to reign in people that are not deserving of the title of professional, just because they show some talent for the game.

More than just the ability to make a shot is needed to make a real athlete.

What you're seeing here is very likely the result of that. It will get worse until petty criminals are no longer allowed to play with the pros.

But like i said, I know nothing about the specific people involved, it's quite possible this has nothing to do with the other, it's just me mouthing off /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Lynx_Arc]

what is really odd is the fact that people driving cars worth hundreds of thousands usually have someone to watch it and protect it and don't leave it left alone to vandals.. I shake my head that they don't have any protection for million dollar athletes since all it would take is one fan hitting one to permanently damage a multimillion dollar investment. Imaging leaving your lamborghini in a mall parking lot for everyone to throw stuff at will. Not gonna happen, but they let it happen to something more valuable.

 

[Flashlightboy]

Pro players should know better and act accordingly. That said I coming down on the side of the players.

Fans do not, by the mere purchase of a ticket, get cart blanche to do and say as they please but that seems to be the sorry unfortunate standard. It's wrong. There is a limit that players and good people should have to put up with but once you cross beyond that you really shouldn't be surprised at the results your actions get you.

The Pacer player is a hot head but he did not provoke the fight in the stands. Minding his own business some *** throws a beverage at him and he should just sit there and yell for security? Perhaps that is one proper response but I think reacting to ongoing taunts and racial slurs was also proper. It just looked ugly but he should've smacked him good. At some point fans will start to understand that acting like a complete d!ck isn't appropriate. Keep in mind that this whole thing would've simmered down and we would've finished the game but for some Piston fan throwing a cup in the face of a player.

As for the other Pacer player jumping into the stands I think I'd be right up there with him. Kuddos for standing up to a group of assholes and helping out a teammate who was outnumbered and being held back by fans who ended up punching him in the side of the head. I'd go ape poop myself defending anyone on my team who was being physically assaulted after being taunted by racial slurs.

The Pistons need to improve security. Racial slurs and no security was present? Those Detroit fans were out of control and apparently had been for awhile.

The guy on the court with pepper spray was as confused as can be. Limit beer sales to nothing more in the 4th quarter.

Prosecute the fans for assault and battery who threw beverages and and food at the players in the tunnel.

The players should know better and they deserve a fine and a suspension. Not for the rest of the year but unfortunately the NBA can only control the players and not the fans so I'm afraid that the players will take the brunt of what should be shared by the fans too.

 

[BlindedByTheLite]

TIN, you can't blame Ben Wallace. you wouldn't be too happy if you were doing your job and a 6 and half foot tall, 230 pound man threw an elbow into the back of your neck, would you?

Gut Wrench, are you serious? if someone came into your place of work and started throwing beers and chairs @ you, you'd act like a "professional" and take that crap? @ that point the players have a right as an American citizen to defend themselves. ppl could've started throwing heavier objects. money, boots, whatever they have in their pockets. that could cause a potentially career-threatening injury by hitting a player in the eye.
punishing the players too severely (which is 95% likely too happen) would be like saying "Hey, you don't have the right to defend yourself 'cause they bought tickets!"
let's be real here. anyone has the right to defend themselves from a group of drunk metrosexuals throwing things.

look what just happend in the England/Spain match. players cannot be expected to sit down and shut up in those situations.

James, i really can't help but sense a breeze of stereotyping (and possibly prejudice) in your post. thugs and petty criminals? who'd you have in mind? the black race? something like 1% of the NBA has a criminal record.

the sad thing about all of this is the league is putting out statements along the lines of "We want the fans to be able to feel safe @ the games."

what a crock of sh*t.

 

[Topper]

I would let folks throw small stuff at me if I was paid as much as the pros. I think they make more in 1 month than I do in 3 years.
Topper

 

[ConfederateScott]

Ryan, you can't really be serious with that post are you?
Do you actually believe that the players were "defending themselves" from someone who threw a cup of beer? Thats kind of like a driver ramming the car of another driver who cut them off in traffic. What we saw in the news this morning was "court rage" very akin to "road rage". The players involved should be suspended for the whole season. As a fellow CPF'er who loves and sometimes frequents your beautiful home town of Presque Isle, Maine I don't want to be disrespectful to you. But that whole post you wrote above is, in your words, a crock of sh*t. Stereotyping? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[BlindedByTheLite]

[ QUOTE ]
ConstableScott said:
Thats kind of like a driver ramming the car of another driver who cut them off in traffic.

[/ QUOTE ]
it is nothing like that. @ all really. ppl who cut you off in traffic aren't calling you racial slurs and targeting you with refreshments and chairs.

getting cut off in traffic happens when you have a bad driver behind the wheel. throwing things @ 6 and a half foot/230 pound man who just got shoved by a 6 and a half+ foot/250 pound man happens when you have a drunk yuppy who thinks he's making some sort of stand for his team and thinks paying $80 for a ticket entitles him to do so.

DISCLAIMER:
IF YOU THROW THINGS @ A LARGE ANGRY MAN, YOU MIGHT GET YOUR *** KICKED.

common sense, man. common sense...

feel free to share your feelings with me next time someone walks by your cubicle/office and throws a beer in your face and calls you whatever racial slur would apply to you. i bet you wont kick his ***. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Edit:
and yes, they were defending themselves from MULTIPLE ppl throwing things. that beer is just what started it. when crazed and drunk fans start throwing things, you, as a professional in your sport, do not sit there on the court and twiddle your thumbs. if security is not doing their job and protecting you from them, you protect yourself.

would you still have this attitude toward the players if someone had thrown a battery or a nickle or a shoe and ruptured a player's eye, and causing a potentially career-threatening injury? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif

but since they got stopped b4 they threw anything heavier than a beer it's cool with you.

not a man of principle are you? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif