Response to recker17
This is in response to recker17's blog entry, In Response to Scott, which was in response to a comment of mine in recker17's blog entry Pacers-Pistons Brawl.
recker17, do you really, honestly think that Artest lying on the scorer's table is anything but inciteful? If he needed to cool down, to get away from Big Ben, why not just walk the other direction? Why not take a seat at the Pacer's bench? Why not just go stand under the basket, or just turn his back? He stretched out on the scorer's table; he put on an announcer's headphones. He was trying to infuriate Ben Wallace further. It would be like if your brother was trying to pick a fight with you and your mom was scolding him, and while she was scolding him you were making faces at him. His actions were immature and intended to elicit a response.
Of course, his actions do not excuse fans throwing things at him, that was totally deplorable. But the ideal way to handle this would be to point out the offender to security and let them handle it. What you should not do is fly off the handle and attack random folks in the stands.
Yes, Artest is talented. He's one of the top 25 NBA players out there, IMO. But he's #1 on the crazy level. The dude does have anger management issues, and if he can't control those (which he obviously couldn't in Detroit last Friday), then he does not deserve to play in the league. If you want to be in the NBA you need to abide by its rules, and a core rule is no running into the stands and beating on random, innocent fans!