Antonio Davis Hops into the Stands
We've now officially had our first “player into the stands” episode since the infamous Ron Artest/Stephen Jackson brawl in Detroit last season. In last night's game against the Chicago Bulls, New York Knick Antonio Davis hopped the scorer's table and headed up to the tenth row where his wife was seated. Watching the event, Davis was calm and collected, no punches or shoves or yelling was exchanged. Davis was escorted back down to the court by security and a referee and was then ejected from the game for leaving the court.
Davis's postgame comments summed up his reasons for leaving the court:
I witnessed my wife being threatened by a man that I learned later to be intoxicated. I saw him touch her, and I know I should not have acted the way I did, but I would have felt terrible if I didn't react. There was no time to call security. It happened too quickly.
It's hard to argue with that, especially considering that his demeanor in the stands was civil. I understand how the NBA wants to keep the paying fans and paid atheletes separated, and I expect Stern & co. will hand out at least a one-game suspension, but at the same time I know virtually every husband would act in the same manner as Davis. While he is a professional athelete, he's a human being and a man, too.
There's a good discussion on ESPN.com from readers on what they think the fallout will be from Stern. My favorite comment: “It's his wife. Nothing the league could do to him would be worse than what his wife would do to him if he had seen it happening and hadn't acted.” Truer words have never been spoken! :-)