Marcus Bryant
11-22-2004, 04:20 PM
First off I think Artest's suspension was quite appropriate.
On second thought, Jack lucked out. Big time. I think the two things going for him were that he'd pretty much had an incident free career up until that point and that Artest was the one who took things into the stands to begin with.
Yet, he went into the stands with his fists flying and he absolutely nailed a fan. At least JO'Neal can trot out the lame excuse that the fans were on the court.
You can say that Artest's actions, while inexcusable and worthy of his punishment given his history of lack of self control, are at least understandable as being a heat of the moment kind of thing, an instantaneous reaction to being hit with something (a full cup of beer might feel a little strong when dropped on you from 30 feet). But what is Jack's excuse? He clearly did not go into the seats showing signs of peace. If you watch the entire episode from Artest's original hard foul through to Artest's scramble into the seats it is clear that Jack was looking for a fight.
Upon reconsideration and reflection, I'd say Jack got off easy from the league. Obviously he's going to be a party to a fair amount of litigation over the next year(s), but the league had every reason to send him packing for the rest of the season. Perhaps he got off easy because the league didn't want the Pacers to suck that bad. I don't know.
On second thought, Jack lucked out. Big time. I think the two things going for him were that he'd pretty much had an incident free career up until that point and that Artest was the one who took things into the stands to begin with.
Yet, he went into the stands with his fists flying and he absolutely nailed a fan. At least JO'Neal can trot out the lame excuse that the fans were on the court.
You can say that Artest's actions, while inexcusable and worthy of his punishment given his history of lack of self control, are at least understandable as being a heat of the moment kind of thing, an instantaneous reaction to being hit with something (a full cup of beer might feel a little strong when dropped on you from 30 feet). But what is Jack's excuse? He clearly did not go into the seats showing signs of peace. If you watch the entire episode from Artest's original hard foul through to Artest's scramble into the seats it is clear that Jack was looking for a fight.
Upon reconsideration and reflection, I'd say Jack got off easy from the league. Obviously he's going to be a party to a fair amount of litigation over the next year(s), but the league had every reason to send him packing for the rest of the season. Perhaps he got off easy because the league didn't want the Pacers to suck that bad. I don't know.