The first of many player/fan brawls!

[white lightning]

Tonight was crazy. A game between 2 teams turned into almost a mass riot!The Pacers and the Pistons have some
bad blood between them but tonight was out of hand.Ron Artest/Rapper/Nba player/ fouled Ben Wallace hard when Ben drove to the basket.Wallace took exception to it and pushed Artest in the face.Chaos then began as both players and fans got involved.The NBA has been very lucky that this kind of incident hasn't happened before!
The fans & players can literally touch each other because of how close they are to the court.This ugly scene could be repeated many times.There are also racial
dynamics involved according to witnesses.To be continued.

 

[bigunreal]

Just watched extensive coverage of this incident on ESPN. Without
exception, every talking head condemned the fans repeatedly while
excusing the savage violoence of Artest and Jackson. "Commentator"
Stephen A. Smith-an affirmative action voice if ever there was one-was
particularly (and predictably) odious in his "analysis." After watching
this "reporting" with my son, I now feel even more depressed about the
future of my country. The sports "journalists" reaction to the incident
was actually worse than the incident itself. Not one single voice of
reason on ESPN. Not one! Yes, fans are wrong to throw things from the
stands, but to equate paper cups of beer or flying popcorn with huge,
allegedly athletic men throwing wild punches at much smaller, allegedly
non-athletic (and probably drunk) fans is ridiculous. If our country
was still civilized and run by rational leaders, every one of those
players who threw punches at fans would be suspended for life from
professional sports. Alas, Don King's America is anything but civilized
and it is obviously not run by rational leaders.

 

[cxt7]

Watching smith and his expert "analysis" is pathatic. This idiot says its all the fans fault. Then I ask you why was a cop ready to mase artest. Jackson jumped into the stands throwing punches not looking to break anything up this dumb@@@ made things worse. I hope people start to realize like I did about 10 years ago this sport has been taken over by thugs. This game is not the game I was taught in middle school, all they do is dunk the ball, very few players know how to shoot. Its bad when your star of theleague shaq can't even make a free throw. I grew up watching players like mark price and larry bird they played the game how it was supposed to be played. Oh well i guess thats a rant from me, I hope people wake up and see how bad this sport is, and quite watching it.

 

[Lance Alworth]

I hate NBA basketball. There's too many thugs and hoodlums running around for me to enjoy the game. F*ck sportsmanship, F*ck controlling your temper, F*ck the fans, F*ck the game, hoo-ray for you

BTW, Stephen A Smith is a loser that can't even speak coherent English. Its a travesty that they replaced the straight-shooting David Aldridge with this clown

 

[right winger]

Smith is a classic black supremacist. All it takes is about 10 seconds listening to his arrogant voice to tell that. And everyone else on ESPN is about as bad. ESPN the Magazine is anti-white and pro-black through and through.

The NBA is reaping what it sows. All this talk in the media about no one caring about the NHL not playing, but when the NBA had a lockout a few years ago, it was the same reaction from fans, maybe more so. Most NBA games would be sparsely attended except for the corporate buying of season tickets and bloc purchases for individual games.

What will probably happen is that most white fans will follow the media's cue and shift their wrath on the Detroit fans rather than the players themselves.

 

[Lance Alworth]

Did anyone see ESPN's "Dream Job" program where Smith berated that poor Indian guy's piece on college football, saying that it was (in his words) "hawrable"

That Indian guy spoke better English, and put together a better piece than this affirmative-action piece of trash could ever put together. Who the hell was it at ESPN that hired this clown anyway? A guy that can't even put together a coherent sentence and uses terms like "boo-boo the fool" This incident was clearly sports "journalism" at its worst

 

[bigunreal]

Stephen A. Smith represents the unfortunate future of sports
"journalism." What's astounding is that, unlike other less than
articulate black "announcers" like Michael Irvin, Eric Dickerson or
Charles Barkley, this clown is not an ex-pro athelete. Therefore, his
high-level position is truly incomprehensible, unless one postulates an
active conspiracy to promote blacks that sound like

"real" homeboys to prominent posts in the media. Only Adrian Dantley,
who is, without question, the most stupid "commentator" to ever grace a
network studio, is in Smith's grammatical class.

 

[JD074]

Talk about over-reaction. Ron Artest gets hit with a
cup, flies into a rage, starts punching a very small
guy (who wasn't even the guy who threw the cup,
according to Jim Gray), and then says it was
self-defense. Yeah right. I would've been angry if I
was disrespected like that, too, but I wouldn't have
believed for a second that my life was in danger
because of a little plastic cup. Come on. (Of course,
Artest didn't want to have anything to do with Ben
Wallace.) And then Stephen Jackson hits another
guy, who wasn't the one who threw the cup, either.
Then there were two guys who were out on the floor
who got hit by Artest and O'Neal. They shouldn't
have been there.

I understand the argument that if you were walking
down the street, and someone berated you, cursed
you, and threw beer on you, the natural human
reaction is to fight the guy. But at least beat up the
right guy! Don't just find the smallest guy to attack.
Geez.

It's also not in the players' self-interests to fight with
the fans. This incident could've resulted in not only
lawsuits (which is still quite possible), but even the
end of a career. Those guys are big, professional
athletes, trained by professional strength coaches.
They could've severely hurt someone- and innocent
bystanders at that. A career could've been ended in
a heartbeat.

I'm curious about how long the suspensions will be.
David Stern is obviously not a fan of fighting among
the players. With the Rudy Tomjanovich and Latrell
Sprewell incidents as part of the "collective
consciousness" of the league, the suspensions
should be pretty stiff. We'll see.

 

[JD074]

Also, did anyone notice that when Austin Croshere
was going back to the locker room, the fans didn't
throw anything at him? That was interesting. It was
probably because he was extremely calm, and
wasn't antagonizing the fans like O'Neal was, who
was promptly showered with beverages- by white
and black fans alike.

 

[Lance Alworth]

Stephen A. Smith represents the unfortunate future of sports "journalism." What's astounding is that, unlike other less than articulate black "announcers" like Michael Irvin, Eric Dickerson or Charles Barkley, this clown is not an ex-pro athelete. Therefore, his high-level position is truly incomprehensible, unless one postulates an active conspiracy to promote blacks that sound like
"real" homeboys to prominent posts in the media. Only Adrian Dantley, who is, without question, the most stupid "commentator" to ever grace a network studio, is in Smith's grammatical class

I was wondering why I had never heard of him until recently. I figured he was an ex-basketball player, but he's not even that. The only possible explanation of him even having a job is like you said, a conspiracy ot promote ebonics rambling blacks into high positions of broadcasting. And while I've never actually heard Adrian Dantley speak, I seriously doubt he could be much worse than Smith. Anyone that uses the term "boo-boo the fool" during any kind of sports broadcast, no matter what it is, has no credibility whatsoever

 

[Realgeorge]

Many in my circles, here in the DC suburbs, have been wondering how the NBA managed to go so many years without a real brawl. Now we've had one. Hopefully the trend will continue! Gunshots can't be far behind. If it happens at a Bullets game -- er, Wizards -- we'll see lots of hang-wringing in the Post and the Washington Times. Somehow it will be White Middle Class America's fault.

 

[jaxvid]

I downloaded a clip of the brawl and it is all white fans against black players. Some of the fans held their own against the much bigger players.

What a bonus! Pay several hundred dollars for a court side seat and get a chance to punch an over paid, spoiled NBA thug. Seat = $250, Beer to throw at player = $9.50, opportunity to take a punch at a punk like Ron Artest = priceless

 

[bigunreal]

You bring up another point, which I also noticed; the fact that the
much smaller (and probably inebriated) white fans didn't seem afraid of
the huge athletes attacking them. Of all his ungrammatical, asinine
comments, Stephen A. Smith's "best" was undoubtedly his protest against
one of the fans "sucker punching" a player in the stands from behind.
Yeah, poor white fan; don't you know you're supposed to stand still and
get pummeled by the giant attacking you, much like the victims of "Sir"
Charles Barkley's drunken bar room assaults. Really, the reaction of
the lame, wanna-be-comedians at ESPN reminded me of the media response
to the L.A. riots. Hordes of blacks breaking windows, stealing anything
and everything, and attacking hapless white bystanders, but the white
talking heads on television solemnly wondering "who was to blame," then
always discovering that it was somehow the fault of racist whites.

 

[BeyondFedUp]

The thugs in theNBA ( and other black dominated sports) are out of control. These barbarians have a total disregard for ethics, sportsmanship, morals, and authority. Even worse, these savages are not called on the carpet for their despicable deeds, but rather they are even PROMOTED in their foolish, vile and asinine actions on the court or off, on the field, or on the sidelines, in the locker room, or out engaging in deviant behavioron their owntime. How many times do we see a black athelete get up after a play, a tackle, a dunk, a catch or whatever, and overreact and go into a jungle "dance" andjig around obnoxiously? I don't see whites do these dumbthings unlessone of them momentarily lost their mind and copied a black athelete's style of celebration for some unknown reason. No, it's almost ALWAYS the black clown who acts and even speaks in utter contempable language in interviews and we wonder why the networks continue to glorify and promote these types of things.The answer in a word I believe is, to "normalize" this insane and ridiculous type of behavior and make it "okay" and even desensitizethe viewers to things even a few years ago appalled whites and the general public.It's past time to hold networks accountable. Let's tell them that we don't want these things in our sports world and to stop doing things like "Mic'd Up" on MNF with blacksgetting "bleeped out" for profanity every few wordsand listen to criminals involved in federal murder investigations like Ray Lewis speak in total broken almostincoherant english/ebonics. (Like, I really want to hear this guy!) I cannot hardly even have my young daughter watchsports because of what she might hear. We need to tell the ruling elite, (I know what group they are, do you?)of the media we have had enough. Just because they have no regard for the white fan other than the almighty dollar doesn't mean we have to stand for this, not to mention the caste system entrenched in the college and especially pro ranks of the sports world. Time will tell if things continue to get worse. Edited by: BeyondFedUp

 

[jaxvid]

well said!

 

[Lance Alworth]

 

[Don Wassall]

This is the best article in the corporate media I've seen about the brawl so far. Not surprisingly, the author is black:

RACE PLAYS ROLE AS NBA DEALS WITH DETROIT FIASCO

By JASON WHITLOCK

Kansas City Star

NBA commissioner David Stern sent a message to his players Sunday.

By issuing three of the harshest penalties in league history - a 73-game suspension of Ron Artest, 30 games for Stephen Jackson and 25 games for Jermaine O'Neal - Stern let his players know that the league will aggressively try to clean up its image problem.

For their role in Friday's ugly brawl at Detroit, the Pacers, favorites to represent the East in the NBA finals, received the death penalty. Indiana's season is over. O'Neal, Artest, both All-Stars, and Jackson are Indiana's three best players.

Stern had no choice. TV ratings for the league have been steadily falling since Michael Jordan's heyday. The league's image has been in decline since Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Jordan ruled.

Allen Iverson, Latrell Sprewell, Kobe Bryant, Dream Team failures, an embrace of all the negative aspects of the hip-hop culture and a horrid style of play have conspired to make the NBA easy to ignore. By decimating the Pacers and publicly acknowledging that there has been a lowering of expectations in terms of player (and fan) behavior, Stern made it clear he's not in denial about the NBA's troubles.

I am, however, concerned that the league's players will remain in denial. Surrounded by groupies and yes-men, fortified by multimillion-dollar contracts and endorsement deals, it will be easy for NBA players to misinterpret Stern's warning.

In this column, I am calling on my peers in the media to level with NBA players (and all professional athletes) and tell them what's really going on.

American sports fans, particularly those who consistently shell out the hundreds of dollars it takes to attend a professional game, are fed up with black professional basketball players in particular and black professional athletes to a lesser degree.

Yeah, let's cut through all the garbage and get to the real issue. The people paying the bills don't like the product, don't like the attitude, don't like the showboating and don't like the flamboyance. The NBA, which relies heavily on African-American players, is at the forefront of fan backlash. Stern realizes this, and that's why, spurred on by the Detroit brawl, he is reacting decisively.

What the players must come to grips with is that just because race is an element in the backlash, that doesn't mean the backlash is fueled by racism.

We're witnessing a clash of cultures. A predominately white fan base is rejecting a predominately black style of play and sportsmanship.

Who is on the right side of this argument? The group that is always right in a capitalistic society. The customer. That's why Stern, endorsed by his owners, came down hard on the players. He stated that the NBA would take steps to ensure that its fans improved their behavior. But Stern knows the real solutions are in the hands of his players. A good businessman caters to his audience. They don't play country music at my dad's inner-city bar for a reason.

Stern's players must bow to the desires of their fan base.

In general, African-American athletes have always been - for lack of a better description - more expressive and flamboyant on the field of play. Go back to the Negro Leagues - showboating was part of the entertainment package. The Negro Leagues catered to a predominately black fan base.

We, black people, begged for integration. We demanded the right to play in the major leagues, the NBA, the NFL, the NHL. These leagues accommodate a white audience. As long as the customer base is white, the standard for appropriate sportsmanship, style of play and appearance should be set by white people.

This is fair, particularly when the athletes/employees earn millions of dollars and have the freedom to do whatever - and I mean whatever - they want when they're not playing or practicing.

If African-American players are unwilling to accept this reality, NBA owners will speed up the internationalization of their team's rosters. Many African-American players with NBA-quality skill will soon find themselves circling the country playing basketball with Hot Sauce and the And 1 Tour while Yao Nowitzki collects a $10 million NBA check.

The black players will have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[Colonel Callan]

The whole incident is a symptom of what's gone wrong with society at large - in more ways than one - and a prelude to what's coming up. Many white fans didn't seem intimidated at all. Whites are angry - but many don't know why. The anger is simmering, but it's being fostered in the subconscious. The whites aren't only angry at the overrated, over paid, surly black athletes. They're angry at ... everything! At a social system set up to denigrate and thwart whites at every turn. A civil war is looming. Laugh if you want. But it is coming. And I have no doubt whites will eventually reclaim the US and clean it up. No doubt at all. The cracks in the system are already showing, whether it's whites who now succeed in "black sports" despite the attempted brainwashing, or whites taking up protecting the US border with Mexico in parts of Arizona. Things like this sorry incident last Friday are good for us in the long run.

 

[Don Wassall]

Another of the many good things to come out of the Black Boys Gone Wild incident is that Austin Croshere finally gets a chance to start. He led Indiana with 25 points tonight. Croshere has a lot of talent but has always been underused by the Pacers, especially when Isaiah Thomas was coaching the team.

 

[JD074]

He was probably given that big contract when Bird
was still coaching, and then Thomas came in and
somehow Croshere disappears. Just like every
white player who was on the Knicks roster somehow
disappeared when Thomas came to town.

And, of course, it's no coincidence that Croshere
was one of the calmest, best behaved players during
the brawl on Friday.