Tao of Pauly

Basketbrawl

Ron Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season after his involvment in one of the more retarded blemishes on the face of the NBA. That's what happenes in the Big D when you have an NHL lockout. It reminds me of that old joke... A bunch of people when to see the Pacers play the Pistons and a hockey game broke out in the stands.

Unless you've been living under a rock the last few days, the brawl at the Pictons-Pacers game has been big news everywhere. I love a good brawl, but that was a little ridiculous. Ron Artest is a two bit punk and now I'm glad the Knicks didn't draft him (I know they drafted the inept and invisible Fredrick Weiss and is one of the many reasons why I hate the Dolans. Never draft a French athlete under any circumstances). I guess now that Artest is done for the season he'll have all the time he wants to pursue his music career. Here's a link to a picture gallery of the brawl.

If anything comes out of this it's that NBA players will know to never go into the stands ever again no matter what. Now if someone comes onto the court or field of play, well that's another story. They deserve everything they get... and more. That little punk who got the bitch slapped out of him... well, that dipshit got what was coming to him. And you know he's going to sue everyone possible for 8 figures.

Every party involved is to blame. The players should have acted like professionals and ignored the taunts and thrown debris from the idiot fans. That's why they get paid the big bucks... to ignore them and act in a professional matter. The fans are a bunch of inbred retards. Some of them should go to jail and not be allowed to file lawsuits against the NBA players. The lot of them should not be allowed to attend major sporting events. Security has to shoulder some of the blame. As does the media outlets (including this blog) for sensationalizing the brawl. Sure, it sells pictures and ad space. But what makes me cringe that the mob metality took over fast. Everyone was lucky it did not get uglier.

If Americans were as passionate about politics as they were about sports, we'd be better off as a country. Ah, give the sports world a week or so to come up with another newsworthy fodder for the masses.

Make sure you read what Mean Gene had to say on his poker blog. Here's a bit:

After Artest was dragged back to the court some complete moron ran onto the court and started waggling his shoulders like he was ready to rumble. Artest clipped him with a punch and then started duking it out with another idiot as a security guard grabbed the first dude--just as Jermaine O'Neal clocked the guy with a right across the jaw. By then most of the Pacer players started heading for the tunnel and their locker room, where they were doused with beer, Coke, popcorn, and anything else at hand. Someone chucked a chair into a mass of people including O'Neal, but it looked like it didn't connect with anyone directly. A ref got hit in the face with a plastic bottle full of beer, and I saw at least one other person who looked like he got hit in the face with a thrown object. Jamaal Tinsley tried to run back through the tunnel and hit the fans about with what looked like a broom or dustbin, but he was pushed back inside.

In case you haven't been watching, the NY Knicks won two out of their last three and blew the game at Dallas this weekend when they had a chance to beat the Mavs.

Basketbrawl Part II

America's second best writer (Ho hum HST's got the juice) Neal Pollock sounded off on the brawl. Here's a bit:

If George W. Bush Ran The NBA... Ron Artest would win the Most Valuable Player Award.

Intelligence would show that the drink the fan threw on Artest contained a teaspoonful of anthrax.

All NBA fans would be reclassfied as enemy combatants.

The owners would push through a midnight rule change that makes it impossible to suspend any player who "shares the goals" of the NBA.

And the government would scale back financial aid for hundreds of thousands of low-income college students, thereby creating more interest in the NBA as a career option.

Pollock cracked me up today.

Basketbrawl Part III

Mike Wise had a few things to say about the brawl in an article titled NBA Meltdown Provides Blame Aplenty which appeared in the Washington Post. Here's a bit:

Most who have seen the video respond with shock and disbelief. But this has been coming for a while. Players and fans have been on a collision course for some time. And, frankly, it's surprising an ugly event of this magnitude didn't happen sooner. If you want the sad truth, some players actually respect what Artest, Jackson, and O'Neal did to those fans. It made them feel empowered in a way that every player who has ever been harassed wants to feel.

It's surprising John Starks did not bum-rush the man in Indianapolis, who stood behind the Knicks bench for much of the late 1990s, yelling, "Hey, psycho boy!"

It's surprising that Dennis Rodman, the Artest of his day, did not inspire such anger and violence between player and fan. The antics of players like Rodman and Artest are tolerated by their teams because they help them win. Better channeling that emotional fine line on the court than deal with it in counseling, those teams figure. Counseling gets no one to the playoffs.

We are to blame, too. The only relationships some players have with their fans are on the drive to the game. They turn on the radio and hear the vitriolic people who call them names. They hear the national "host" who incites them. Knowing tension and anger sell, broadcast executives find someone to fit their suits, Crossfire-style. They hire people who will take sides on sports issues the way people take sides on Roe v. Wade.

Wise had some great points. I'm suprised something of this nature didn't happen sooner.