Brawl in Detroit
I was running some errands this morning and saw a picture of Artest on the cover of the L.A. Times, his jersey stretched out like he had been in a fight. “Damn,” I thought, “looks like Artest went crazy again, maybe he needed a suspension for some more time on his album.” When I got back, I hit ESPN.com's NBA page and found out just how excitingly terrifying that brawl had been. What an insane fight. Here is my analysis, and what I think will come of all of this.
First, the hard foul on Ben Wallace from Artest was, perhaps, a bit over the top. There was less than a minute left in the game with the Pacers well ahead. I know they had been bringing it to Ben all night, and this was just a continuation of that, but I could see how Ben's frustrations would have boiled over, seeing as his team had lost the game and he had been manhandled throughout the 48 minutes. So Artest was sending a message: “Each time you come out, I'm gonna defend you and play hard, so get used to it.” I can see Ben's reaction, though. It's like on the courts I play at, if it's point all, no one complains about a hard foul. But if you're losing 12 to 3, and a guy beats you for a layup that will win the game, and you clobber him, he's gonna be pissed off and get up in your face.
Ben's reaction was a bit strong, though. A shove is one thing, but a shove to the face is another. Perhaps he was just letting off steam, or maybe he was hoping Artest would respond, and get suspended for much longer. But Artest played it cool, did the right thing. He backed off, figuring he'd have the last laugh - Ben would get suspended and the Pacers had the W. He did take it a bit too far when he laid down on the scorer's table, though, and I think that's what prompted the fan to chuck his drink at Artest. Regardless, the fan shouldn't have thrown a drink, even if Artest had decided to moon the crowd.
Once that drink was thrown, Artest overreacted. When a fan throws something, the smart athelete gets to center court, or goes back to the lockerroom. Like in the ALCS, when the Yankee fans started throwing beers on the field after Alex Rodriguez's karate chop on the way to first was ruled an out, the Sox manager rounded up his players from the field and had them come in. You can't let a fan in the crowd provoke you, because you should know that the League is going to come down on you so hard if you go into the stands. (Vernon Maxwell's charge into the stands in '95 cost him 10 games (~12% of the season) and $20k.) Plus, getting hit with a plastic bottle might hurt, but it's not going to injure you or kill you. Now if a fan's throwing Chinese stars, sure, defend yourself, or get the hell out of the way, but a drink? Retreat, calm down, and think.
And so Artest treks up in the stands, and the look on that white guy's face is prescious. Here's a 5'9”, 155 lb. white guy, seeing this 6'7”, 247 lb. black guy running up to him. If I were that white guy, I think it would be about then that I'd crap my pants. What's hilarious is that (supposedly), Artest got the wrong guy. If everything had ended there, I don't think Artest would get more than a 10 game suspension, but it escaled when Stephen Jackson ran into the stands behind Artest and threw a punch. Punching a person who's (indirectly) paying your salary is not a smart thing to do. I have no idea why Jackson went up with Artest and threw a punch, and I think he's going to get some serious pine time.
At this point, Artest probably could have walked away with a suspension lasting only a few games. But, no, he had to elevate it from crazy to “Artest-crazy.” As Artest was walking back toward his bench, a fan that had come onto the floor stood between him and the bench and, likely, made some jarring remark. The smart thing for Artest to do would have been to ignore the fan, or even just push him lightly away. (I mean, Artest has a good 10 inches and 60 pounds on this guy.) But no, what does Artest do? He winds up - you can see it, he freakin' steps back pulls his fist back - and then clocks this guy. Oh crap. We have now lost sanity. And if that's not sufficiently insane, Jermain O'Neal decided to get in on the action, flying in from stage right to deliver a more devestating punch to another fan who had meandered onto the court.
What a crazy series of events. The questions now are:
- What actions will be taken against the players who are (currently) suspended indefinitely? (Ben Wallace, Artest, Jackson, and O'Neal.)
- What actions will be taken against the fans who either threw items onto the court/players, or went onto the court?
- How will this incident affect the NBA?
Had the brawl not errupted the way it did, I think Wallace would have been looking at a 2-5 game suspension. Even though Wallace did not participate in the in-stands melee, I think he will get a more severe suspension and fine because his act instigated this whole mess and the NBA, I don't think, will want to look soft here. I am anticipating a 8-10 game suspension, and a hefty fine. Yes, the same penalty Maxwell got for punching a heckler 12 rows up in '95.
I think Jackson and Artest are going to get crazy suspensions. Upon watching the video for the first time, I thought to myself, “I wouldn't be surprised if they were suspended for the entire season.” That seems a bit too long, a move that would infuriate numerous fans, owners, and players, but I still wouldn't be surprised to see these guys sitting for months. 15 games? 20 games? 25 games? None of these amounts would surprise me in the least. O'Neal will be suspended, no doubt - you just shouldn't be punching a fan unless he punches you first, and even then you're just asking for a civil law suit - but his suspension will not be as drastic as Jackson's or Artest's, as he refrained from going into the stands and only punched a guy who was between him and his bench. I'm thinking at least a 10-game suspension for O'Neal, maybe as many as 15, though.
(In re-reading my estimates, I think they may be way off. I don't know if the League has the cojones to suspend three team players for what would amount to one or more months of play. Stern and crew like to keep a tight grip on the family-friendliness of their league, but forcing out three players on one team for several months may be a bit too drastic. Although it's hard not to watch the footage and think that these players deserve less of a suspension. Yes, I know the fans are at fault here, too, but the players need to show more restraint and professionalism.)
Now, what will happen to the players? I doubt anything more than revokation of their season tickets will occur. I don't think you'll see any criminal suits being brought up, no one will go to jail, no one will be fined. Reportedly, one fan was taken to a hospital via an ambulance, so we might be looking at some civil suits. I don't know the status of that white guy Artest charged, but if he is truly innocent and was truly hurt, I wouldn't be surprised to see him try to make a stink in court. Hell, I'd do it, if nothing else just to be able to see Artest in court for a few days, get some photos, try to get an autograph (hehe), razz him about his music producing career, etc., etc. The fans will likely also get to do the talk show circuit: Jim Rome's show, The Best Damned Sports Show, etc. They'll get their 15 minutes.
Will the NBA change? For this season, most definitely. I think you'll see Stern responding to this by requiring beefed up stadium security and sending out the message to other players, “If you screw with the fans under any circumstances, we will suspend you for a long, long time.” But once this season wraps up, and the media's attention turns to the impending bargaining between the League and the Player's Union, you'll see this focus on security deminish a bit until something like this happens again. And things like this don't happen that often in sports, maybe once or twice a decade. (An interesting corollary: ESPN.com has a piece on the Greatest Brawls of All Time. My favote one was when, in 1918, Ty Cobb fought a one armed, two-fingered fan in the stands: “A couple of days worth of heckling by Yankees fans finally got to Cobb at the old Yankee home, Hilltop Park. Cobb vaulted into the stands behind the Tigers' bench and went right after a man identified, pseudonymously, as 'Otto Blotz.' The Peach pummeled Mr. Blotz, who couldn't fight back with his fists -- he only had one hand, and that hand had only two digits.”)
In the meantime, there is definitely going to be some fun discussions over at rec.sport.basketball.pro, and a slew of oped articles around the Web, such as this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this... well, you get the point.