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Originally Posted by djtestudo
And anyone in that same situation of having taunts shouted, followed by a FULL CUP OF BEER thrown at your FACE would have acted exactly as Artest acted.
I would accept suspensions for Artest and Jackson, although I believe they did absolutely nothing truely wrong. But Ben Wallace needs to be suspended at least as long, Detroit needs to have games forfeited due to the actions of the fans, and a very large number of those fans need to go to prison.
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There are so many things wrong with this.
1) Just because you would have acted the same way as Artest did, DOESN'T MAKE IT RIGHT!! He will get suspended, and he SHOULD get suspended. And his suspension will be incredibly lengthy, as it should be. He will probably get sued by the fan that he hit first, because, as mentioned before, that was NOT the guy who threw the beer. That is assault, any way you slice it, and I have a feeling that Artest is going to wish he had picked the correct guy. (By the way, the guy who DID throw the beer was subsequently punched out by Jermaine O'Neal). As hard as it might be, as much against your nature as it must be, you absolutely have to keep yourself from going up in the stands. Artest and his teammates made a choice. It was a choice that, granted, most of us (including me) would probably make, but again...it DOESN'T MAKE IT THE RIGHT CHOICE! The fan who threw the beer got what he deserved, and Artest will soon get what he deserves (lawsuit, suspension, etc.).
2) Anyone who watched the entire game knows that Artest had no real reason for fouling Wallace on the play. He did not make any kind of play on the ball until Wallace started the layup, so it was a cheap shot. And, if you look at the tape, Artest completely expected to get shoved by Wallace and got precisely the reaction he wanted. Again, Wallace definitely shares the blame of the situation and deserves the suspension that he will inevitably get, but no one can honestly say (in an unbiased manner) that Wallace was completely at fault. Artest was completely goading him by hitting him the way he did, and Artest got the shove in the face that he richly deserved. Wallace will (and should) get suspended, but Artest's suspension will (and should) be just as long, because it was Artest who truly started this completely unnecessary situation.
3) If you believe Stephen Jackson did absolutely nothing wrong, then I believe you did not watch the tape carefully enough. He tried absolutely everything he could to incite something, instead of doing what he should have done and playing a role in calming things down (like just about everyone else was trying to do.) He started going after people like Lindsey Hunter who had nothing at all to do with what was going on, and his despicable actions were even mentioned by the announcers before the really rough stuff started happening. I ask you, again, to watch the tape more closely before making your sanctimonious assertions of blame.
4) The Pistons need to have games forfeited because of the actions of 50 or so fans out of 22,076? Absolutely ridiculous. The arena was two-thirds empty because the game was out of reach, so to blame the majority of Pistons fans for the actions of an idiotic few is ludicrous. To punish the Pistons team for those same actions of those idiotic few is equally as ludicrous. I'll say it again, this could truly happen almost anywhere, especially when someone as provocative and hot-headed as Ron Artest is concerned.
No one is absolved of blame in this situation. Wallace, Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson, the moron that threw the initial beer, the two chubby guys who got what they deserved, the media for promoting a thug like Artest, the incredibly horrible security at the Palace: all of these share the blame. Everyone is at fault here, and consequences will, and should be dire.