Nevermind what you think about the suspension, imagine what this means for the Indy fans. If I was a season ticket holder, I'd be incredibly pissed. This article from the Indy Star is just the beginning of the screaming...
Fans greet suspensions with outrage, su ion.
Many feel Stern punished only one side in Detroit brawl.
By Jeff Rabjohns
Ryan Carrell of Carmel will be at Conseco Fieldhouse on Tuesday night for the Indiana Pacers' game against Boston.
He'll have with him a pe ion he'd like Pacers fans to sign before sending it to NBA commissioner David Stern.
Carrell wants to pass a message to Stern: You messed up.
Carrell, who owns a Pacers 10-game mini-season package, feels Stern's punishment of Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Stephen Jackson is excessive.
He's not alone.
A number of Pacers fans expressed outrage at Stern's decision to suspend without pay Artest for the rest of the season, Jackson for 30 games and O'Neal for 25 games following Friday's melee in Detroit.
Fan reaction ranged from outright anger to conspiracy theories that Stern has a personal vendetta against Artest and doesn't want a small-market team like the Pacers to reach the NBA Finals.
In his pe ion, Carrell wrote: "By suspending players in the manner that you have suspended them as well as failing to make an initial statement about the fans involved in this fight, the ramifications facing the Detroit franchise and the alcohol that was the true initiator in this melee, the league has lost complete control and given so-called fans across the country the precedent to hereby physically (affect) NBA games.
"A fan who does not like a player or a specific team can affect that team and player for possibly the entire season and/or playoffs by enticing that player to react as any human being reacts when being physically assaulted."
Friday's fight in the stands started when a Pistons patron threw a beverage on Artest, after he was attacked by Pistons center Ben Wallace following a foul. Artest and Jackson went into the stands and threw punches, and the fight later resumed on the playing floor when fans came onto the court to confront Artest and O'Neal.
"I really don't blame Artest for doing what he did," Donny Harper of Indianapolis said. "I am 31 years old and I have a 10-year-old daughter, and I can honestly say I would have done the same thing that he did. As for the fans that came on the floor and got hit, they shouldn't have been on the floor in the first place, so they should have nothing to say."
Mike Egner of Indianapolis, who described himself as a die-hard Pacers fan, blasted Stern.
"These suspensions that are coming down are absolutely preposterous," he said. "The play before Ben Wallace was fouled by Artest, Ron Artest was fouled by Ben Wallace and there was no call.
"I think the commissioner should be fired for the decision, and I think the fans of Detroit were not civilized in the reaction in what transpired on the floor."
Said Orville Henry of Indianapolis: "I think that it's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of. They've never suspended baseball players, football players or hockey players for the whole season. This is just terrible. It practically puts our team out of business."
Said Vernon Snodgrass of Indianapolis: "It's ridiculous. I think they're forgetting that Artest was assaulted last year when he was hit in the head with a quarter in Detroit.
"How many times do you have to be assaulted and nothing happens? He has the right to defend himself. He did act unprofessionally, but to be suspended for the rest of the year is ridiculous. And Jermaine for 25 games? The guy he hit was on the court."
Brian Gaddie, 36, of Indianapolis, said the type of fan behavior exhibited by Pistons fans who threw beer and trash -- and even a chair -- at Pacers players has him fearful of taking his niece to an NBA game.
"There are fans who think that because they buy a ticket and they're tired from working all day, they can come to an NBA game and let it all out, say whatever they want," Gaddie said.
"I don't understand why these fans can't be policed better."
For Sunday's game at the Palace of Auburn Hills against Charlotte, a Pistons spokesman said the team increased security personnel from 100 to 200.
"Look at all the cops here," said Pistons season ticket holder Jordan Dunne, 17. ''It wasn't even like this during the playoffs."
Said Pistons season ticket holder Janet Wood about Friday's fight: "Our seats are by where the (Pacers) departed. It was pretty frightening. Honestly, when I was listening to all the coverage the next day on the news and reading it in the newspaper, I felt embarrassed that I was here and part of the crowd."
http://www.indystar.com/articles/7/196671-2157-092.html
Not surprising , coming from an Indiana newspaper. I'll bet you find just the opposite opinion from Detroit. Everything being reported is slanted toward what fits your situation. Sound like the presidential election? Much the same!! What's in your wallet?????
funny how the indy fans are not even mad at the dumb players who caused all this. dam those hoosiers are blind
hey indy fans you ever consider blaming who is really at fault here?
you really think most NBA players would react the as animals like artest and jackson, then get your head out of your ass
what really pisses me off is that none of the indy players have apologized for their behavoir. hey Artest, Jackson and O'Neal YOU for giving the NBA this black eye then being so arrogant that you dont even apologize and for indy fans that support these ass holes YOU too
Last edited by GoSpurs21; 11-22-2004 at 10:31 AM.
Man is that writer so full of it. Something like this happens once every so often when fans get pissy and shower the floor with everything that's not nailed down. Fans throwing stuff is nothing new. Players going the extra mile to go after the fans (and innocent ones at that, from the looks of the replay) is something new. If he wants to pe ion to get someone fired it should be the Pacers management who let Artest do this much without getting him some professional help.
And maybe I'm not seeing something, but when did anyone "confront" O'Neal? From the looks of things he went out of his way to hit that guy on the floor.
Actually, the Indy paper has some surprisingly-harsh things to say about the home-town hooligans (see below).
Regardless, I'm not an Indy fan....but I am empathizing a bit with them right now. They purchased their tickets in good faith this year, and the organization (one that keeps Artest and Jackson-style knuckleheads around) let them down. Sucks to be them...
Bob Kravitz
Like the players, NBA pulled no punches
November 22, 2004
It's fair.
And it's just.
It's the sentence NBA Commissioner David Stern was morally compelled to hand down Sunday if he wanted to salvage the dignity of his league and his game.
How could he have been expected to show leniency here? He simply could not. He had to send a message. He had to make it clear that no matter how badly a player is provoked, he can never, ever, go into the stands. Anything less, and he risked having his league reduced to a circus sideshow.
Ron Artest deserved the full-season suspension and should be grateful he wasn't kicked out of the game for life.
Stephen Jackson got what he deserved. As did Jermaine O'Neal. As did Detroit's Ben Wallace. As did everybody else whose actions stained themselves, their organizations and the entire sport.
At some point, it's hoped that Stern will also determine the Detroit Pistons' ins utional culpability in this incident, and consider whatever fine might be appropriate. That, Stern said Sunday, will come in time.
In the short term, though, Stern knew he had to act quickly and decisively. This was arguably the ugliest moment in the history of American professional sports. And there was no time to waste.
"I've seen somewhere in the neighborhood of (20,000) to 25,000 games," Stern said during an early-evening media conference in New York. "This is the worst one I've ever seen in the NBA. Period."
Clearly, this destroys almost any hope of the Pacers winning an NBA championship, a sad realization given the talent the team has collected. This looks like Reggie Miller's final season, and it's unlikely his team will give him a final shot at a ring. The fans also get jilted, because they paid big money for tickets and will now be left with a team that bears no resemblance to the real Pacers.
But something far more important than one team's season was at stake here. Stern had to strike a blow for civility and basic decency. He had to redraw the line that's supposed to exist between athletes and fans. It wasn't just his own sport that was on the line; it was all sports, which continue to be marked by escalating violence.
Human nature being what it is, people now will quibble about the specifics of the penalties, scream that Wallace started it and the fans got out of hand.
Here is what we can't forget. They went into the stands. What Artest and his teammates did was patently unforgivable. We may understand their reaction on a very human level; who wouldn't confront some clod who douses them with a beer? But dealing with abuse is an unfortunate part of the job.
At some level, the Pacers have themselves to blame, because they're the ones who continued to keep Artest rather than trade him. They knew he was a time bomb. They knew his peculiar brand of madness might undermine his team. But they knew he could play, and they stayed the course, no matter how many times he ran afoul of the rules.
This is not a time for Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird to be looking at Stern. This is a time for them to be looking in the mirror.
As for Artest himself, the time has come for him to use this opportunity not to promote his music, but to get himself well. The press pass does not en le us to reach conclusions about another man's physical or mental health, but the body of evidence has grown to the point where it's apparent his problems go beyond simple immaturity and eccentricity.
A normal person does not do the things he's been doing for years.
Of course Stern took Artest's history into account with this verdict. How could he not?
The last thing Artest needs now is for people to turn him into some kind of martyr, telling him he was done wrong by the powers-that-be. What he needs now is for people to tell him he does, in fact, need some kind of help.
He's not just a talented basketball player, but he is, by all accounts, a good-hearted person. These days do not have to be wasted. These days could, in fact, prove to be his salvation.
Ultimately, though, this wasn't about Artest or any of the individuals who got caught up in Friday's melee. It was about having the courage to do what was right for fans and players and the game itself.
"We cannot allow our sport to be debased," Stern said.
It's harsh.
But it's fair.
And it's just.
http://www.indystar.com/articles/0/196688-2580-092.html
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