Who deserves the blame for the Pistons-Pacers brawl?

[McMaster]

I'm in the middle. I've seen the video of it many times and I think the players are to blame becasue they got out of hand. It was just a foul they can move on. But the fans are to blame they made it worse by throwing the beer at Ron Artest and then it was both from there on.

[twins15]

I'd say about 75% fans, 25% players, so I voted for fans.

[AO street ballin]

More like 90% fans 10% players

[NomarFan5]

Actually, Id say 99% fans 1% players.. because none of the players really got out of hand until the queer threw the beer on Artest.. then that sparked it all.

[Penning10]

This kind of junk happens to players all of the time. They're trained to ignore this stuff. Beating the hell out of somebody (the wrong person no less) is unacceptable under any circumstances, and that is in control of the players (more specifically Ron Artest) and the players alone. If you can't control yourself, you shouldn't be in professional sports.

[Molina00]

I can understand Wallace shoving Artest so I'm not gonna place blame on him. Artest was fine until the fan threw the drink on him but Artest still didn't have to re-act the way he did. I would say 60-75% fans fault, 25-40% Artest's fault.

[doublee]

Everybody deserves blame in this one from the fans to the players to the Pistons for not having adequately trained security to prevent Artest from getting to the fan in the first place.

[Penning10]

Everybody deserves blame in this one from the fans to the players to the Pistons for not having adequately trained security to prevent Artest from getting to the fan in the first place.
I forget who said it, but during one of the interviews after the fight on ESPN, he had said that most of the security guards were near the exits of the stadium seeing as it was the end of the game.

[Molina00]

I forget who said it, but during one of the interviews after the fight on ESPN, he had said that most of the security guards were near the exits of the stadium seeing as it was the end of the game.

I think most of the security guys were basically like ushers instead of real security anyway so they wouldn't have done much good.

[doublee]

I think most of the security guys were basically like ushers instead of real security anyway so they wouldn't have done much good.

Yeah, I heard the same thing on ESPN Radio last weekend. One of the hosts said he had been to games there before and the bulk of security were guys you would expect to see ushering people to their seats or pointing you to where the rest room is.

[dlp1313]

I would say Artest should get some blame, but the fans were just WAY out of hand and deserve most of the blame.

[hehateme71]

fans, it is pretty much all the fans. fans have no right what so ever to be throwing things at these guys. I dont care what the reason, it is just stupidity, artest was fine until it, so it was the fans. if I was artest I probably would have done the same thing. thats just how I am so I cant blame the players, cause after artest got into it, the other players were trying to help out

[AO street ballin]

This kind of junk happens to players all of the time. They're trained to ignore this stuff. Beating the hell out of somebody (the wrong person no less) is unacceptable under any circumstances, and that is in control of the players (more specifically Ron Artest) and the players alone. If you can't control yourself, you shouldn't be in professional sports.

At no time is a basketball player trained to be calm when things are gettin thrown at them. When do you, in basketball, see stuff gettin thrown. No where. There is no right for a fan to throw anything. Ron was actually doin a good job for once bein calm just talkin to the scorers and then he gets something thrown at him.

[Penning10]

At no time is a basketball player trained to be calm when things are gettin thrown at them. When do you, in basketball, see stuff gettin thrown. No where. There is no right for a fan to throw anything. Ron was actually doin a good job for once bein calm just talkin to the scorers and then he gets something thrown at him.
Anybody other than Ron Artest and IMO, nothing would have happened. Athletes get things chucked at them all of the time. It's unfortunate that in this situation Artest was focusing all his energy on not beating the shit out of a Piston. Then a fan threw a beer and all hell broke loose.

[slinky]

I believe Ron was lying on the scorers table, is there a real reason for him to lay down? If he was just standing normally, perhaps he wouldn't have provoked the fan to throw something at him. I believe it is 50% blame for both. The fans provoked it, but Artest reacted. Either way, that is 50% no matter how much he provoked you. Jackson didn't help by making it worse.

The security would have only done so much. The cup was thrown, what would a security guard do about that? Also, Artest jumped in fast. After that, no one could have stopped it.

[thechadman2]

I say equal. The fans started it, but Artest made it rediculous.

[doublee]

Anybody other than Ron Artest and IMO, nothing would have happened. Athletes get things chucked at them all of the time. It's unfortunate that in this situation Artest was focusing all his energy on not beating the shit out of a Piston. Then a fan threw a beer and all hell broke loose.

Really? Given the way Stephen Jackson went 'thug' on two or three different fans I would say he would have gone into the stands himself. I would not put it past AI to go into the stands himself. He seems to get out of control at times when he loses his cool and seems to go off on stupid stuff at times.

[slinky]

Stephen Jackson wasn't the only one, I believe Anthony Johnson(?) went in as well. Plenty of players went in, some couldn't like Jermaine O'Neal. And AI who doublee? Allen Iverson or Al Harrington?

[doublee]

Allen Iverson.

[badbladez8]

i understand the fact that yes, a fan did cross the line by throwing his/her drink at artest. but artest crossed the line by going into the stands. the fan wasnt right to throw anything at the player, but artest gets paid to play the game. when artest began his "rampage", he could have possibly known the exact fan that threw the beverage. the first fan that artest hit was provoking him when artest jumped into the crowd, the fans face turned to fear. Then artest contiued to go after random fans. Stephen Jackson entering the seats only lead to the situation escalading. I think the only fan who deserved something would be the fan who threw the drink and the one or two people who ran onto the court looking for trouble.

[slinky]

Allen Iverson.
I wouldn't be sure about Iverson, he does do stupid stuff and act emotional, but as far as I know he keeps it on the court. He doesn't start fights or be the headcase Artest is. His temper is because of his emotion in the game, whereas Artest can't keep his temper on the court.

[sethnel99]

Gotta be kidding it was definently the fans. It would have been just a little argument. But then, the fan threw a beer at him. That started the whole big fight.

Btw interesting side-note, i dont know if any of you knew this, but: the guy who threw the beer used to be the neighbor of the judge of some case involving the incident.