And Kreidler comments in the Bee:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/11508535p-12420135c.html
4 players in brawl benched by NBA
But prosecutors and league officials have much to sort out.
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, November 21, 2004
The inevitable recriminations from one of the worst brawls in modern American sporting history began Saturday, which is not at all the same as saying that the people in charge have an idea of how to prevent such riotous behavior down the line.
Using the words "shocking, repulsive and inexcusable" to describe Friday night's collective mayhem near the end of a game between Indiana and host Detroit, NBA Commissioner David Stern on Saturday indefinitely suspended four of the players involved, each of whom wound up in the stands among fighting fans - and two of whom were videotaped punching fans in the face.
Detroit authorities, meanwhile, said they had identified most of the people seen in video footage of the altercation, but added that the process of determining whether and against whom to press charges would be a slow one.
"The whole fiasco could take weeks to decide," Oakland County, Mich., prosecutor David Gorcyca told Detroit-area reporters Saturday.
Reactions and condemnations flowed from all corners of the sports world, as the shocking video of the ugly altercation - it came in the final minute of a Pacers-Pistons game being televised by ESPN - was replayed ad nauseam on the major cable news and sports outlets.
But as to the larger questions, the experts largely fell silent. The fact of the matter is that contemporary sports leagues in the United States increasingly have used close-in access to the players and coaches as a selling point to top-money ticket-holders, and one result has been a general blurring of the line that once separated fan and participant.
The more recent history of the major sports is pockmarked by several such uneasy interactions, with fans more or less openly intruding on game situations. Many of them were benign; a few were troubling. Nothing even approached the scale of what transpired at the Palace at Auburn Hills in suburban Detroit.
"It was a disgraceful situation," Bill Walton, the ESPN analyst and basketball Hall of Fame player, told his TV audience. "There were no winners whatsoever."
Indeed, the episode that Kings executive Jerry Reynolds called "the ugliest thing I've seen in my 20 years in the NBA" seems more immediately suited to spotting the losers.
Begin with Indiana forward Ron Artest, whose hard foul of Detroit's Ben Wallace with 45.9 seconds left in a game the Pacers led 97-82 touched off the first sparks.
An angry Wallace responded to Artest's foul by turning and giving him a hard chuck to the upper body and face, and the Pacers' and Pistons' benches both nearly emptied in the ensuing on-court scramble. But it wasn't until a plastic cup of beer thrown from the stands rained down on Artest, as he lay on the scorer's table near courtside, that the full-scale riot commenced.
Artest, seemingly losing all control, charged several rows up into the stands and began swinging and punching, actually going after the wrong fan initially.
He soon was joined by teammate Stephen Jackson, who can be seen on the tape wildly punching at several different fans, several of whom also are seen attempting to attack the players from behind.
Stern suspended both Artest and Jackson, along with Detroit's Wallace and Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, meaning the three Pacers might not be available when Indiana plays the Kings at Arco Arena on Dec. 3.
On ESPN's video of the incident, both Artest and O'Neal are seen punching fans who came onto the basketball court in the middle of a fracas that gained intensity and a kind of frightening power by the second.
Officials eventually called off the remainder of the game as the Palace scene dissolved into montages of flying food, hurled chairs, pepper spray and Indiana players being doused with every imaginable concession-stand item as they tried to make their way to the safety of their locker room.
"I felt like I was fighting for my life out there," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle told reporters after going into the stands to try to pull his players away from the brawl.
Blame for the incident spread Saturday in every available direction, from the players - Artest chief among them - who could not control themselves to fans who appeared ready and willing to fight with pro athletes several inches taller and much stronger.
Stern appeared to temper his outrage toward the players, saying in his statement, "This demonstrates why our players must not enter the stands, whatever the provocation or poisonous behavior of people attending the games."
Stern called the incident "a humiliation for everyone associated with the NBA."
As for the "indefinite" suspensions, the term simply means the players are not eligible to compete in games until the NBA determines their ultimate sanctions, a decision expected to come as early as today. Under league rules, nearly every player on both teams is in for some form of suspension for having left his respective bench area during the fracas.
Artest, O'Neal and Jackson began serving their suspensions Saturday. Indiana, limited to six players because of the suspensions and injuries, dropped an 86-83 decision to Orlando. Wallace's suspension will start tonight against Charlotte, the next game for the Pistons.
The teams next play each other in Indianapolis on Christmas Day, and the next time the teams meet in Auburn Hills is March 25.
Artest has a history of on-court physical confrontations and league and team suspensions, and most recently was benched by his own coach for asking for some time off early this season because of a hectic schedule, which he said included promotion work for his upcoming rap album.
Officials at The Palace denied that lax security was an issue. On Saturday, though, Pistons spokesman Tom Wilson told reporters the team plans to use "playoff-level security" beginning with today's game against Charlotte, doubling the number of armed police and ramping up other security personnel.
At Arco Arena late Friday night, Kings players almost to a man said they did not want to speak to the issue after seeing video of the scene in Detroit, which occurred just about the time the Sacramento-Memphis game was getting under way.
Forward Chris Webber, a Detroit-area native, declined to comment in detail but said he felt the incident did not fairly reflect on his hometown. Two years ago, though, after a courtside incident in New York that involved famous Knicks fan Calvin Klein and Webber's friend Latrell Sprewell, Webber spoke somberly of the thin line that separates "fan" from "fanatic."
"I think it's fair to say every player fears the worst," Webber said at the time. "That's one thing that's great about our league, the access to players. ... (But) if a guy can get close enough to give you a pat on the back, he can get close enough to do anything."
The fans whom Artest initially charged toward in Detroit were not in the first row, but rather simply close enough both to be clearly heard and to hurl objects that could hit anyone at courtside. Such is a commonplace in the NBA, where the first seats literally line the playing floor and the next several rows, all sold at sky-high prices, are incredibly close to the action.
Two years ago in Boston, the benches had to be cleared because someone set off a stink bomb behind one of them, and a fan in Sacramento defaced a souvenir basketball of the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal after simply walking over and grabbing it off a scorer's table.
More often, the banter between fans and players or officials goes from joshing to ugly or expletive-filled in shockingly short order. And thus is tested the NBA's essential relationship with its high-paying fan base.
"People are putting all the burden on Artest, and I don't think that's fair," Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy told reporters. "He's an easy target because of all the things he's been through. But some fans have gotten to a point where they think they can do or say anything."
Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/basketball/kings/story/11508535p-12420135c.html
4 players in brawl benched by NBA
But prosecutors and league officials have much to sort out.
By Mark Kreidler -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Sunday, November 21, 2004
The inevitable recriminations from one of the worst brawls in modern American sporting history began Saturday, which is not at all the same as saying that the people in charge have an idea of how to prevent such riotous behavior down the line.
Using the words "shocking, repulsive and inexcusable" to describe Friday night's collective mayhem near the end of a game between Indiana and host Detroit, NBA Commissioner David Stern on Saturday indefinitely suspended four of the players involved, each of whom wound up in the stands among fighting fans - and two of whom were videotaped punching fans in the face.
Detroit authorities, meanwhile, said they had identified most of the people seen in video footage of the altercation, but added that the process of determining whether and against whom to press charges would be a slow one.
"The whole fiasco could take weeks to decide," Oakland County, Mich., prosecutor David Gorcyca told Detroit-area reporters Saturday.
Reactions and condemnations flowed from all corners of the sports world, as the shocking video of the ugly altercation - it came in the final minute of a Pacers-Pistons game being televised by ESPN - was replayed ad nauseam on the major cable news and sports outlets.
But as to the larger questions, the experts largely fell silent. The fact of the matter is that contemporary sports leagues in the United States increasingly have used close-in access to the players and coaches as a selling point to top-money ticket-holders, and one result has been a general blurring of the line that once separated fan and participant.
The more recent history of the major sports is pockmarked by several such uneasy interactions, with fans more or less openly intruding on game situations. Many of them were benign; a few were troubling. Nothing even approached the scale of what transpired at the Palace at Auburn Hills in suburban Detroit.
"It was a disgraceful situation," Bill Walton, the ESPN analyst and basketball Hall of Fame player, told his TV audience. "There were no winners whatsoever."
Indeed, the episode that Kings executive Jerry Reynolds called "the ugliest thing I've seen in my 20 years in the NBA" seems more immediately suited to spotting the losers.
Begin with Indiana forward Ron Artest, whose hard foul of Detroit's Ben Wallace with 45.9 seconds left in a game the Pacers led 97-82 touched off the first sparks.
An angry Wallace responded to Artest's foul by turning and giving him a hard chuck to the upper body and face, and the Pacers' and Pistons' benches both nearly emptied in the ensuing on-court scramble. But it wasn't until a plastic cup of beer thrown from the stands rained down on Artest, as he lay on the scorer's table near courtside, that the full-scale riot commenced.
Artest, seemingly losing all control, charged several rows up into the stands and began swinging and punching, actually going after the wrong fan initially.
He soon was joined by teammate Stephen Jackson, who can be seen on the tape wildly punching at several different fans, several of whom also are seen attempting to attack the players from behind.
Stern suspended both Artest and Jackson, along with Detroit's Wallace and Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, meaning the three Pacers might not be available when Indiana plays the Kings at Arco Arena on Dec. 3.
On ESPN's video of the incident, both Artest and O'Neal are seen punching fans who came onto the basketball court in the middle of a fracas that gained intensity and a kind of frightening power by the second.
Officials eventually called off the remainder of the game as the Palace scene dissolved into montages of flying food, hurled chairs, pepper spray and Indiana players being doused with every imaginable concession-stand item as they tried to make their way to the safety of their locker room.
"I felt like I was fighting for my life out there," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle told reporters after going into the stands to try to pull his players away from the brawl.
Blame for the incident spread Saturday in every available direction, from the players - Artest chief among them - who could not control themselves to fans who appeared ready and willing to fight with pro athletes several inches taller and much stronger.
Stern appeared to temper his outrage toward the players, saying in his statement, "This demonstrates why our players must not enter the stands, whatever the provocation or poisonous behavior of people attending the games."
Stern called the incident "a humiliation for everyone associated with the NBA."
As for the "indefinite" suspensions, the term simply means the players are not eligible to compete in games until the NBA determines their ultimate sanctions, a decision expected to come as early as today. Under league rules, nearly every player on both teams is in for some form of suspension for having left his respective bench area during the fracas.
Artest, O'Neal and Jackson began serving their suspensions Saturday. Indiana, limited to six players because of the suspensions and injuries, dropped an 86-83 decision to Orlando. Wallace's suspension will start tonight against Charlotte, the next game for the Pistons.
The teams next play each other in Indianapolis on Christmas Day, and the next time the teams meet in Auburn Hills is March 25.
Artest has a history of on-court physical confrontations and league and team suspensions, and most recently was benched by his own coach for asking for some time off early this season because of a hectic schedule, which he said included promotion work for his upcoming rap album.
Officials at The Palace denied that lax security was an issue. On Saturday, though, Pistons spokesman Tom Wilson told reporters the team plans to use "playoff-level security" beginning with today's game against Charlotte, doubling the number of armed police and ramping up other security personnel.
At Arco Arena late Friday night, Kings players almost to a man said they did not want to speak to the issue after seeing video of the scene in Detroit, which occurred just about the time the Sacramento-Memphis game was getting under way.
Forward Chris Webber, a Detroit-area native, declined to comment in detail but said he felt the incident did not fairly reflect on his hometown. Two years ago, though, after a courtside incident in New York that involved famous Knicks fan Calvin Klein and Webber's friend Latrell Sprewell, Webber spoke somberly of the thin line that separates "fan" from "fanatic."
"I think it's fair to say every player fears the worst," Webber said at the time. "That's one thing that's great about our league, the access to players. ... (But) if a guy can get close enough to give you a pat on the back, he can get close enough to do anything."
The fans whom Artest initially charged toward in Detroit were not in the first row, but rather simply close enough both to be clearly heard and to hurl objects that could hit anyone at courtside. Such is a commonplace in the NBA, where the first seats literally line the playing floor and the next several rows, all sold at sky-high prices, are incredibly close to the action.
Two years ago in Boston, the benches had to be cleared because someone set off a stink bomb behind one of them, and a fan in Sacramento defaced a souvenir basketball of the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal after simply walking over and grabbing it off a scorer's table.
More often, the banter between fans and players or officials goes from joshing to ugly or expletive-filled in shockingly short order. And thus is tested the NBA's essential relationship with its high-paying fan base.
"People are putting all the burden on Artest, and I don't think that's fair," Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy told reporters. "He's an easy target because of all the things he's been through. But some fans have gotten to a point where they think they can do or say anything."
Reach Mark Kreidler at (916) 321-1149 or mkreidler@sacbee.com.