speedracer said:
I agree about revoking season tickets, banning certain fans from NBA games, etc...but jail time? Who's gonna convict a guy for chucking a drink at someone?
Well chucking a drink (and lets face it, it ended up going way beyond that) is in fact an assault in the eyes of the law. So it is a crime punishable by jail time and/or fines etc.
And Stammer...how this varies from other incidents is simple...this escalated into an unreal scenario with dozens and dozens of fans attacking players with a combination of fists, malted and sugary beverages and salty snacks. If its a couple of yahoos, like most of the other incidents, well its a couple of yahoos...this was way more than that. Every Indiana player, coach, trainer etc. who tried to exit the floor was pummelled with various food and other items as they walked to the tunnel by many fans, not just a few, and this was after the other stuff, including fans running onto the playing floor to try to engage in physical altercations with Pacers' players.
This may even make me rethink the NY hockey fan and his "Drive a Porsche Hextall" chant as the most ignorant fan in all the land, Pissed-ons fans may now reign supreme in that.
Now I know its still only a small percentage of the overall fans, but its a much larger percentage than usual in these kind of incidents, and the behavior was much more egregious.
And I don't believe its Motown's first incident, John Saunders even mentioned getting hit by something thrown by a fan during a Dead Things game many years ago.
And as for "what should the fans have done?" Well aside from the fan that Artest went after and maybe his friends (if he had any) , the others should clear out and just let security diffuse the matter, much like you say the players should have not responded.
And as for the fan who started it, he should have acted like a New Yorker and just allowed Artest to beat him with his own shoe and the incident could have been over in a flash, with Artest getting a well deserved 25 game suspension to promote his rap album "How to Dismantle an Atomic Crowd", while most everyone else comes away unscathed.