Just saw the tape of the Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers game. 45.9 seconds left, Ben Wallace goes to the hole and is fouled hard by Ron Artest. Wallace mushes him in the face, the benches clear. Artest moves away from the melee and reclines on top of the scorers table.
He is struck in the head by an object from the stands....and it's on.
Artest goes into the stands after the fan. Takes the wrong fan out. Another fan attacks him, Stephen Jackson rushes to his aid, as do other Pacers.
Over to the left (from the standpoint of the television viewer) a larger fan coldcocks Fred Jones, twice. Almost levelling him. And then back to the right a chair comes from off camera and hits someone in the head.
Artest gets away and is on the court trying to compose himself...when a fan walks up on him. Hands moving to form fists. Ron Artest mushes him, socks his boy, then an injured Jermaine O'Neal comes running and clocking the fan.
Larry Brown picks up the mike to calm the crowd down. But what the hell is HE going to say? He drops the mic in disgust.
As the Pacers leave with security covering them, fans through everything but the kitchen sink at them as they exit.
A few thoughts come to mind.
I've been in brawls like this. Not as a participant...usually I'm the voice of reason. The last one off the top of my head was in 1997...the year Michigan went undefeated to win a share of the National Championship.
Only they didn't REALLY go undefeated that year. They took a loss at the hands of my fraternity. My younger chapter brothers still have the tape.
Something like that has a trigger, but the trigger while being the catalyst doesn't quite explain everything. This isn't at all like what happened in LA--there were no gang rivalries bubbling close enough to the surface that knowledgeable folks should've known what was going on. And the Palace doesn't have a history of violence. Hell, I might have to go back twenty years or so to the last major act of violence at some type of entertainment event.
But once the contagion spreads, you've really got no choice. You have to either throw hands yourself, or move back. You protect those that cannot protect themselves--move those unconnected out of the way, as well as women and children in general. Once I knew I couldn't prevent Charles Woodson, and the rest of the squad from taking a loss, I took a seat. The only time I got up was to tell the person taping the scene from above to stop the damn tape, because I figured folks could get kicked out of school if the tape got out.
Artest will probably get the brunt of the punishment, but he was protecting himself.
I have to think about this some more--I just saw the tape fifteen minutes ago.
Perhaps those who wonder whether the dynamics of European style soccer brawls would ever hit the US have their answer. Either the NBA is going to end up installing draconian mechanisms of fan regulation, or I think something like this is going to happen again.
Posted by at November 20, 2004 01:03 AM | TrackBack
My wife and I were at the game but left before the fight,a couple comments 1. Palace are culpable for security or lack of 2.Palace is culpable for selling beer to the end note,can't buy beer after 6 innings at Tiger stadium after 3rd quarter Ford field (where lions play) and beer is cut off at Red wings games also.
Posted by: tootsie at November 22, 2004 12:00 PMtootsie