"Shock and revulsion"

[KINGofBLEH]

Commissioner David Stern's reaction to the events in Detriot. Kinda gives a new meaning to "Friday Night Fights".

I just saw the video of the riot for the first time. I must say the NBA's punishment was rather light. I feel like a 73 game suspension is the LEAST of Ron Artest's problems. He better know a good lawyer, because he racked up about a half-dozen assault charges by my count. I hope he doesn't get the "Marty-McSorley-free-pass". They need to throw the book at Artest and make a complete example out of him.

You know it really p*sses me off to see these multi-million-dollar primadonnas picking fights with the very people who pay their inflated salaries. You know what really needs to happen is for fans to stop showing up at these games. When the stands are 90% empty and the TV ratings plummett, the salaries are bound to start dropping. Maybe then these overpaid babies will think twice about starting a riot everytime they take an elbow in the face.

[TripleRLtd]

You know it really p*sses me off to see these multi-million-dollar primadonnas picking fights with the very people who pay their inflated salaries.

Although I, too, have a problem with these "prima-donnas", what you say above is NOT what happened.
The fight was on the court between players, and once Artest was laying on the scorer's table and things had settled down, he got nailed by an object from the stands. He did not pick that fight, but he sure did pounce like a wild animal.
What is even worse: the Clemson/S Carolina brawl which some blamed on the brawl in the motor city.
People are getting worse, and sports become an outlet for aggression.

[DiR[ëctory]]

Commissioner David Stern's reaction to the events in Detriot. Kinda gives a new meaning to "Friday Night Fights".

I just saw the video of the riot for the first time. I must say the NBA's punishment was rather light. I feel like a 73 game suspension is the LEAST of Ron Artest's problems. He better know a good lawyer, because he racked up about a half-dozen assault charges by my count. I hope he doesn't get the "Marty-McSorley-free-pass". They need to throw the book at Artest and make a complete example out of him.

You know it really p*sses me off to see these multi-million-dollar primadonnas picking fights with the very people who pay their inflated salaries. You know what really needs to happen is for fans to stop showing up at these games. When the stands are 90% empty and the TV ratings plummett, the salaries are bound to start dropping. Maybe then these overpaid babies will think twice about starting a riot everytime they take an elbow in the face.

I downloaded the 80mb video....i must agree, these morons need to quit with the teenage antics. Artest should not be allowed to return to the NBA, this was the same player that wanted "time off" to record his rap deal.

I hate basketball so I don't give a rats @ss, but if I did like it, I would quit watching it in an instant....just like you said, overpaid babies....

[DiR[ëctory]]

Although I, too, have a problem with these "prima-donnas", what you say above is NOT what happened.
The fight was on the court between players, and once Artest was laying on the scorer's table and things had settled down, he got nailed by an object from the stands. He did not pick that fight, but he sure did pounce like a wild animal.
What is even worse: the Clemson/S Carolina brawl which some blamed on the brawl in the motor city.
People are getting worse, and sports become an outlet for aggression.

that "object" your speaking of was a fan pouring beer on him....

i agree that the fan should not have done this, but it was also not beating the player down...i wonder how many little kids he ran over on his way up to that fan.... also in some videos you can see him belting a fan that was on the court in the face for no apparent reason....

what a bunch of crap.

[Zil]

You can't blame the multi-millionaire babies for this one. The fan was way out of line with the beer, and Artest was already pissed off from the altercation with Wallace (i think it was him?). Having someone pour beer on you after you are trying to calm down would piss anyone off. The fan deserves full responsibility for escalating this. I hope he got his *** beat. Could Artest have stopped and just walked away? Yes. Does he deserve to be punished? Yes. But he doesn't deserve the blame.

[Major Kong]

Ummm...the fan that Artest and Steven Jackson beat up in the stands was the wrong fella. He had nothing to do with throwing of the offending cup.

Mr. Artest and Mr. Jackson are staring right into the eyes of some fairly serious assault charges as per the Auburn Hills cops. And the civil suits could end up costing the players dearly. The bottom line is as a professional athlete you keep your arse out of the stands.

Ironic that Mr. Artest wouldn't protect his "manhood" against Ben Wallace who did the initial pushing. He walked away from Wallace (which was the right thing to do), but he would go into the stands and waylay a little nerd who happened to be in the wrong place. Don't get me wrong the fans were in the wrong too, but it all started by Artest and Jackson going into the stands and then the real brawl started. At least the Tigers and Gamecocks kept their fighting on the field, but I tell ya as former Tight End that Gamecock player who took off his helmet during the brawl is one stoopid poor bastage.

[TripleRLtd]

Alright Mayor, let's say your "tight end" is on the field and it's you and teh Hokies at and against teh Cav's of Virginia, and there was just a melee and things have settled down.
BANG!! You get hit in the head, and the foot, with something thrown from the stands. More "stuff" is thrown from stands hitting players, coaches, and refs. But, YOU were the object, and the target.
YOU don't get angry?
Come on now!!! Get real.
Now Artest already has a bad rep...the media played that one last week up real good...and considering it was so recent, I would think that he was already in a bad mood.

Alright now!
You just got hit in the head and body with something thrown from a spectator!!! AND, it hurt!!
Tell me: what would YOU do????

[Major Kong]

Um Trip your arguement is specious at best.

#1 - Mr. Artest & Mr. Jackson had no business going in the stands period. Every professional knows that. When I was in Minor League ball 25 years ago we were told if we go into the stands it's a bus ride home...no exceptions.

IMHO Mr. Artest and Mr. Jackson are thugs. Nothing more and nothing less. They deserve what the NBA, the local authorities and the civil courts do to them.

#2 - Your football example...it happens all of the time, you go to the locker room. Which I've done twice, once in Jr. College and once during a baseball tourney in college. You don't go in the stands. The only time I've seen football players in the stands is during the Lambeau Leap in Green Bay.

As to the melee at Death Valley, well the NCAA rules state that brawling is an automatic one game suspension and bowl games are included. Don't be surprised if there is some serious ramifications towards the Clemson & USC-East pending bowl bids.

Listen in re to the NBA melee who is to blame, well just about everybody. Ben Wallace for the initial reaction to a not hard foul, the NBA for allowing the fans to be right on the court, The Palace at Auburn Hills for selling beer to drunken butt heads, the fans for thinking that they are actually part of the game and not spectators, security for a slow reaction (but to be honest there could have been 3X the number of security and it wouldn't have been enough), and finally the players. And that therein lies the rub, by Mr. Artest going into the stands he has now escalated an ugly situation into a riot. By Mr. Artest assaulting an innocent fan and Mr. Jackson's subsequent 2nd assault on the same fan they both committed a 1st degree Assault and Battery and deserve whats coming to them. I also hope after a total review of the tapes by the authorities results in prosecution of some of the fans too.

[TripleRLtd]

All good points Major.

People are getting worse, and sports become an outlet for aggression.

I do NOT argue with you. In fact, I agree:
Roman Colisseum anyone?
How low can we go is what I wonder!!

[Radical Dreamer]

Some link to the video please? I've heard about it but not seen it

[GrandDad]

Well if you's think thats bad ;

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6551094/


Five dead in deer hunting dispute
Alleged gunman arrested after fight over tree stand

The Associated Press
Updated: 5:56 a.m. ET Nov. 22, 2004BIRCHWOOD, Wis. - A deer hunter shot and killed five people and injured three others in northwestern Wisconsin following a dispute about a tree stand during the hunt’s opening weekend, authorities said.


The 36-year-old alleged gunman, who lives in the Minneapolis area, was arrested Sunday afternoon, Sawyer County sheriff’s officials said. Jake Hodgkinson, a deputy at the county jail, identified the suspect as Chai Vang but would give no additional details.

The incident began when two hunters were returning to their rural cabin on private land in Sawyer County when they saw the suspect in one of their hunting platforms in a tree, County Chief Deputy Tim Zeigle said. A confrontation and shooting followed.

It’s not known who shot first, Zeigle said.

Both hunters were wounded and one of them radioed to the cabin a quarter mile away. Other hunters responded and were shot. About 20 shots were fired, but it’s unclear who shot them, he said.

The dead included four males — including a teenage boy — and a woman, Zeigle said. A father and son were among them, he said. Some of the victims were shot more than once.

All five, from the Rice Lake area, were dead when officers arrived to the area in southwestern Sawyer County, he said. Authorities found two bodies near each other and the others were scattered over 100 yards.

“It’s absolutely nuts. Why? Over sitting in a tree stand?” asked Zeigle.

Zeigle said the suspect was “chasing after them and killing them,” with a SKS 7.62 caliber semiautomatic, a common hunting weapon. Wisconsin’s statewide deer gun hunting season started Saturday and lasts for nine days.

Two young people who stayed in the cabin emerged safely after the shootings.

The suspect, who did not have a compass, got lost in the woods and two hunters, not knowing about the shootings, helped him find his way out, Zeigle said. When he emerged, a Department of Natural Resources officer recognized the deer license on his back, given to police by a victim, Zeigle said.

The man was out of bullets and was arrested, Zeigle said.

One of the injured hunters was in critical condition at St. Joseph’s Hospital. Another was listed in serious condition and the third was in fair condition, both at Lakeview Medical Center.

Hunter Bill Wagner, 72, of Oshkosh, was about two miles away near Deer Lake with a party of about 20 other hunters. After they got word of the shooting, he and others went to round up the rest of the party. He said they heard sirens, planes and helicopters and noticed the surrounding roads blocked off.

“When you’re hunting you don’t expect somebody to try to shoot you and murder you,” he said. “You have no idea who is coming up to you.”

It took about three hours to round up the other hunters, who were up to four miles apart, Wagner said. “We’re all old, dyed-in-wool hunters,” he said. “We wouldn’t go home because of this but we will keep it in our minds. We’re not forgetting it.”
Is it really worth it ?

[Cleetus]

Basketball has gone to the thugs, very few classy players or teams. Even I have lost faith in the sport.

FIghting in football uniform is one of the dumbest things ever

[RIOT]

Some link to the video please? I've heard about it but not seen it

This currently has it on its homepage (streaming only).