Stern Hands Out the Suspensions
In my last blog entry I predicted suspensions for the players involved in Friday night's fracas in Detroit:
- Artest and Jackson I said I wouldn't be surprised if they were suspended for the entire season, and at least for a month or more.
- For O'Neal I predicted a 10-15 game suspension.
- For Ben Wallace, whose hard shove to Artest started the whole unfortunately chain of events, I predicted 8-10 games.
Well, the word has come down from the mount today, and here are the results:
- Artest for the rest of the season
- Jackson for 30 games (won't see PT until January 22, 2005)
- O'Neal for 25 games (won't see PT until Janurary 14, 2005)
- Wallace for 6 games
Pretty harsh penalties, Stern & crew are trying desperately to send a clear and consistent message: scare the fans and be prepared to ride the pine. And this is a good message to send the players - it is the fans, after all, who pay their astronomically high salaries. They're the ones buying the tickets, buying the jerseys, watching the games on TV, drinking the sports drinks these players pimp, and so on. Yes, professional atheletes have to endure quite a bit from hostile, away-court fans, but this is part of the game. These NBA players put up with it (or they should put up with it) because they are being paid to do just that. I mean, if these guys were getting less than what they'd get at a regular 9-5 job, then who'd want this career? But they're getting paid millions. If they can't handle some verbal abuse, they're in the wrong profession.
So the Christmas matchup between the Pacers and Pistons will be somewhat anticlimactic, seeing as the Pacers will be without Artest, Jackson, or O'Neal, the three fist-throwers from Friday night's brawl. Riddled with injuries, it will be interesting to see how the Pacers proceed through the next couple of months. They played with a six man rotation last night and nearly toppled Orlando thanks to superior play from Fred Jones. It'll be interesting to see if they pick up some currently unsigned free agents or try to roll with diminuitive roster. In either case this team, that's currently sitting a 7-3 atop the Central Division, has a challenging road ahead of them.
One last link before I go... there's an official Timeline of the Pistons-Pacers Brawl for those who are interesting a (forgive the term) blow-by-blow account of the evening's events.