Artest gone for year, other suspensions absurdly long

[billyjex]

What the hell do you want?

Pistons org. have said the fans they have identified as causing trouble will lose season tickets and probably be banned. Criminal charges, what do you think they should get? Attack with a lethal plastic cup?

[GuyOnTilt]

Pretty absurd.

Oh, c'mon Clark. Going into the stands to protect your teammate and defending your coaches and teammates from fans who came onto the court and were assaulted and/or phyically threatening them has got to worth AT LEAST 25 or 30 games. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

GoT

[Blarg]

Everyone is always making excuses to hold celebrities to different standards. That's desicable.

Describing as self defense what I saw -- I guy just lunging out at someone with his hands down and punching him in the face -- is ridiculous. Any of us would have been in jail for that crap, forget suspensions.

These coddled superstars should get it through their heads that they have a lot to lose if they act like jerks. They could lose the endorsements that Peewee Herman and Michasel Jackson did if they get out of line.

Guys like this are sometimes so rich that no matter what they do, they can outrun the consequences. It's good in a thousand ways that they serve as examples of people who did not outrun the consequences of their behavior.

Basketball schmasketball. Who the hell cares. Punching peole in the face who aren't even attacking you should be punished, and by people who should know so, so, so much better, it doesn't hurt at all that it's punished severely. And being banned from your profession for being completely unimaginably unprofessional doesn't come close to severe punishment. Some jail time PLUS the latter might start to come close.

It's funny; if it was just some guy outside your house who did the exact same thing under similar circumstances, lots of these defenders of out of control public figures would completely change their tunes and give nutty behavior its proper value.

God forbid a celebrity gets even the smallest part of what he deserves for misbehavior.

[Richard Tanner]

Settle down, I'm just a bit skeptical that anything will happen. I doubt the Pistons know who they are since there's no assurance that the fans are actually season ticket holders. In any case the Pistons would come out and say they knew who they were even if they didn't (gasp a lie, say it ain't so). This PR nightmare needs ammediate attention, so this announcement was already planned minutes after the event transpired (I'm not placing blame, anyone would do it, it was the smart thing for them to do).

Honestly, what do you think they should get, or more importantly what would be your reaction if they get off. Fans have a history of getting off with things such as these. Often these things are left to go away, and sadly they do, because Artest is famous but "fan in frame 0003 whose in seat 32" will be soon forgotten.

Cody

[Richard Tanner]

I'll say that if I ever so much as throw a cup a you, I hereby give you promission to beat me until I'm incapable of further harming you. Of course this will never occur, BECAUSE I DON"T THROW CUPS AT PEOPLE. Come on, direct corralation here.

"I guy just lunging out at someone with his hands down and punching him in the face -- is ridiculous."

I'll assume that you're refering to both Artest in the stands and O'Neal on the court. In Artest's case he didn't punch, he grabbed. I'll grant you that this is mainly a semantic argument, and that the grab was done with alot of force, but a grab and a punch are different things at heart. A punch is done to harm, a grab is done to restrain/control. This is a petty argument, however, when compared to the one against O'Neal (to whom you may not have been refering, and if you weren't I apologize). Just before the O'Neal "slide punch" that is been on loop at ESPN, that fan was shown, although in not nearly as many replays, as just having struck a Pacers coach and player and spilling out onto the court. He wasn't innocent, and had just committed a violent act. Thus we see the dangers of making judgements with limited information.

Bottom Line, Friday was a terrible thing for the NBA (although make no mistake, the NBA love this as ratings will now be through the roof on Christmas). It's foolish to place all the blame on any one party (although it's good to see people have stopped blaming Wallace). The punishments are too harsh by design for two reasons. 1) They should come down just a bit on appeal and 2) enen if they don't it's much better to err on the side of over punishing then being to lienient.

Cody

[AngryCola]

[ QUOTE ]
1) They should come down just a bit on appeal

[/ QUOTE ]

Nope. Not this time. Artest will be gone for the whole year, no question. I suppose perhaps jackson and o'neil could get reduced "sentences", but somehow I doubt it. These punishments are designed to send a message to the players. A message they already knew but apparently forgot somewhere along the way.

Players can't go into the stands.

Nothing good can come of it.

The last thing I'm going to say about this issue is that Artest is a coward. He ran from Wallace like a little girl, but watch out skinny white fan! He's not afraid of you! That shows what kind of person he really is.

[Richard Tanner]

Well if your done then I'll throw in the last word. I think (sadly) that you're right, Artest's won't come down. He is to be the example. Oh well at least he isn't dead or in prison (yet? [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] ).

"The last thing I'm going to say about this issue is that Artest is a coward. He ran from Wallace like a little girl"

No he ran as if he was a man who'se been through enough on-court altercations to know that you don't retaliate. He did the smart, not at all cowardly, thing. Sadly, he wasn't able to handle the actions of the fan. Right, wrong, or indifferent, he wasn't a coward, he was being smart. Damn that fan, he ruined what would have been a banner moment for Artest.

[Zoltri]

For those who think the penalties were too harsh...consider this.

Latrell Sprewell received a 68 game suspension from David Stern for choking a coach in a closed door practice.

Maybe Ron Artest should be thankful the penalty was not life time.

[JTrout]

[ QUOTE ]
if I ever so much as throw a cup a you, I hereby give you promission to beat me until I'm incapable of further harming you.

[/ QUOTE ]

What if someone near you throws a cup at him? Can he still beat you?

[Drac]

I'm sick of this garbage about Artest being a coward. If he cold cocks Wallace he's a thug. If he backs down he's a coward. Just come out and admit you hate the guy and can't apply any logic to the situation because of your feelings.

Wallace's suspension is the only one the league got right. He continued to try to get to Artest and threw at least one object at him. When you don't leave the court you get a longer suspension. Wallace escalated the entire situation with his behavior. Talk about Artest losing it, how about Wallace going nutty for no reason at all? The foul was routine NBA stuff. The announcers didn't even call it a HARD foul until well after Wallace nutted out. Wallace incited the riot and his punishment is just.

Artest deserves to be punished but this suspension is way out of line. It's like giving a jaywalker a year in prison. Stern is pandering to the public because of all the negative pub the league has received for the incident. The NBA has suffered from declining popularity over the last 5 - 10 years and Stern has way overreacted to this event.

How the hell are the Pistons not punished for a total lack of security? From the time Wallace hits Artest to the time Artest goes into the crowd you see ZERO cops and ZERO rent a cops on the scene. It wasn't like that was the first item thrown at Artest. There was plenty of time to get some security on site to control the situation. Then when they do show up the go after the Pacers players on the floor and do nothing to defuse the situation.

The two morons that come on the floor deserved to get their asses kicked. The first guy is clearly threatening Artest and the second jumped on Artest after his buddy ate some fist. O'Neil did what anybody in that situation would do...he came to the aid of his friend in a situation where they were surrounded by hostile people. It's easy to evaluate the tape and say he should or shouldn't do this or that. Put into that environment I think we all would have reacted in a similar manner.