Now that NBA Commissioner David Stern has come down with his sentences for the players involved in Friday’s epic Pistons/Pacers riot, who will be responsible for punishing the Detroit fans?
In the event you’ve been living in a cave for the past three days, allow me to recap: With 45 seconds left in Friday’s Detroit/Indiana tilt, the Pacers’ Ron Artest (who is always in the middle of everything) dropped a foul on Piston Ben Wallace, despite his team being ahead by 15. While this was a silly foul, it could not be defined as flagrant. Wallace didn’t take kindly, and retaliated with an extremely hard two-hand shove to the throat of Artest. After an extended scuffle, Artest was lying on the scorer’s table, apparently trying to calm himself down and let things die (it’s widely known that Artest has been “working hard” at keeping him emotions in check during games). Just after Wallace threw a towel at him, a Detroit fan threw a large cup, full of lquid and ice, at Artest, hitting him squarley in the face. Artest darted into the stands and gave said fan a beat down he won’t soon forget. What ensued was the worst melee in American sports history — a full-on riot inside the Detriot arena. Both teams were in the stands fighting fans, spectators were on the court confronting players, chairs were flying, concessions were makeshift weapons, police officers threatened with pepper spray, elderly folks were left bloodied on the ground, and kids were seen crying in the arms of their families.
As a result, the NBA has suspended Ron Artest for the remainder of the season (73 games, the longest suspension in league history). It has also suspended Pacers Steven Jackson (30 games) and Jermaine O’Neal (25 games), as well as Piston Ben Wallace (6 games), and a whole host of others for one game. The Pacers have been left in complete disarray, losing most of their starters for nearly half the season or more. My general feeling about the punishments is that they are too strong. I believe Artest and Jackson should have got in the range of 30 games, and O’Neal 10 or 15. Wallace should have gotten more than he did. I think Artest was unfairly singled out because of his checkered past. But, that’s not really what I’m concerned about — I want to know why the fans get off scott free.
Neither Wallace nor Artest started the brawl, in my mind. The classless shmuck that threw the beer cup at Artest did. The fans of Detroit put on the most despicable display likely to be seen in 50 years. They embarrassed their city, the league, and America in general. Who is going to suspend the fans?
I’m dead serious. The Pistons should be forced to play their next x number of home game without a single butt in the seats. A completely empty arena. And put it on TV, too. That’s the way to punish Detroit fans for their stupidity — embarrass them by letting the world watch Larry Brown’s team play in an empty arena. It serves the double purpose of setting an example for fans around the league — “you can be suspended, too.” Don’t refund their money. Don’t pick and choose which fans get in and which don’t. Suspend them all. I suggest 10 games. They ruined it for everybody. Update: For those who didn’t see it, here’s a page that has the full video of the “Throw Down in Motown“.
Update #2: Here are a couple more links with video (some different angles):
001 // Chad Baker // 11.22.2004 // 10:36 AM
First off, you can’t penalize all of the fans in Detroit (and fans around the league) for the actions of the idiots that actually engaged in the brawl on Friday night. The Pistons organization needs to identify the individuals involved and either revoke their season tickets (without refund), or ban them from attending any future games for at least this year.
As for the player suspensions, I think they should have all been based on a number of games, which was not the case for Artest. How will the NBA handle this situation in the future if it were to happen in the last few weeks of the season? 73 games would be a pretty random suspension length.
002 // Jeff Croft // 11.22.2004 // 10:39 AM
I disagree. If we were talking about one or two idiots, I could agree. But, we’re talking about on the order of hundreds of fans that were involved in one way or another (throwing something, fighting, etc, etc.). It’s not as if there was just a couple of drunken fools, here.
I do agree about the suspension lengths, though…should be based on number of games, for sure.
003 // Mike D. // 11.22.2004 // 10:53 AM
Holy spellcheck Batman!
I completely agree with you here, Jeff. I was personally very impressed with the restraint Artest showed until he was assaulted (yes, this constitutes assault) by the first fan who threw a cup. His foul was not so bad and you could tell he was really trying to do the right thing by laying down on the scorer’s table like that.
I think your idea of playing to an empty arena is a great one. One I would have never thought of. Stephen A. Smith, ESPN analyst, said something very insightful after the brawl which sums up our opinions very well. He said (slightly paraphrased):
“This isn’t just the fault of one or two fans. This is the city of Detroit. You didn’t see anybody in the stands trying to break things up as would have happened in most other arenas around the country. Those who weren’t fighting and throwing beers were cheering on the fight, smiling, laughing, and generally egging things on further. The city of Detroit should be ashamed of itself.”
So true. If this happened in Seattle or L.A. or 95% of the arenas in the country, fans would have broken things up instead of make things worse.
I agree. Suspend the fans for a day.
004 // Chad Baker // 11.22.2004 // 11:22 AM
True enough … maybe Ron Artest should sue the NHL. After all, he was only giving Detroit fans what they really want to see this time of year.
005 // Chris Kavinsky // 11.22.2004 // 12:54 PM
Stern did say that he felt the fans should be penalized in some form or another, but had yet to come up with a proper method of discipline. I think it’s asinine that both fans and players will confront each other like that. One of the many reasons why I am no longer a pro basketball fan (the college game still rocks).
The trick will be doing something that will stick in the courts (if the result is some type of criminal charge). They also need to consider stripping of season tickets, possibly pentalize the organization by banning beer sales for the season.
006 // Jennifer // 11.22.2004 // 1:01 PM
Jeff- I agree. I’ve been waiting all weekend to hear what’s going to happen to the fans. Yes, the players reacted inappropriately- but the fans share a large portion of the responsibility. CNN just posted a clip on the criminal charges that fans may face- I’m sure more will come later today.
007 // Jeff Croft // 11.22.2004 // 1:57 PM
I heard on the radio over lunch that Artest went after the wrong guy. Apparently, after reviewing the tapes, they learned that it was the dude in the Wallace warm-up jersey and tan baseball cap that threw the beer, not the guy that Artest beat down. Whoops.
Related to Jennifer’s post, I also heard that they’ve identifed at least 90% of the “major players” involved fan-wise and will be making arrests. I’m not sure what that means, but to me, 90% should equal at least 90 people. If it doesn’t, I’m going to be pissed. It’s nice to hear these guys will get criminal punishments, but I still think my idea applies. Most people in other cities won’t ever hear about or care about their criminal cases, and it won’t send a message. I think a message needs to be sent to sports fans everywhere. “Don’t do this, or Ron Artest will beat your silly white ass, you’ll get arrested, AND the entire city will be pissed at you because the stadium was shut down to fans for a week because of you. Nice knowing you.”
008 // Brian // 11.23.2004 // 12:14 AM
I’ve got to disagree with you in part here Jeff. This is a situation where the entire on court behavior by the players was so grossly unprofessional that is caused the whole situation to spiral out of control. These are PROFESSIONAL players that make millions. If they can’t learn to behave, not commit ridiculously hard fouls that have no consequence in the game, and otherwise behave with sportsmanship, then why should the fans. Clearly that is not the case so all should be punished. The bottom line is they should have suspended any of the players that were actively involved in the fighting for the remainder of the year. The fans that were involved should loose their season tickets with no option for a refund. Finally Stern should make it crystal clear that even the slightest display of unprofessional behavior will be met with the harshest of punishment. This type of attitude and behavior from the players is why the NBA is so far down the tubes. Until they restore the dignity to the game it will continue to decline. The only surprise in this fight is that it didn’t happen sooner and that it had to come to this for the NBA to take action.
009 // Jeff Croft // 11.23.2004 // 12:20 AM
Brian P.-
I’m not sure we really disagree. I completley believe the players deserve to be punished. In general, I don’t have a problem with the suspensions (I think they are a tad harsh, but I’m not really complaining). I just think the fans needs some punishment, too — and I don’t see them getting it (at least not yet).
And while I’m not sure it really matters, I don’t think you can call Artest’s foul “ridiculously hard.” It was a stupid foul, given the circumstances of the game, but it wasn’t hard or flagrant. Certainly, it wasn’t worthy of Wallace’s two-hand shove to the throat, anyway.
But, in general I think we agree. The players are absolutely responsible — but the fans are too, and I want them both to get punished. That’s all I’m saying.
010 // Will // 11.23.2004 // 5:30 PM
While watching the postgame show, and having the benifit of multiple camera angles, I decided that the fans would definitely need to be punished. Fans were coming from all over to attack the players — not just fans in the immediate area. They definitely wanted to riot, and the Pistons should be playing quite a few home games without any fans.
011 // Brian // 11.24.2004 // 1:46 PM
No, I think you are mostly right. I just think that the harsh suspensions were more than justified and that all fans should not be punished for the actions of a small percentage. The NBA must send a very clear message that the fighting, bad attitudes, and cheap play ends NOW. That is what Stern was trying to do, but now ESPN is showing video of another player trying to punch a fan and the leauge too no action. Right back to their typical response. No blood, no foul. Just crappy basketball……