Fight Night in Auburn Hills
In November 2004, sports fans saw an immensely unnerving sports brawl take place. Even worse, the fracas occurred here in Michigan, at a Pistons game against the Pacers at the Palace of Auburn Hills. The national sports media, and even the national media in general, have devoted significant space and time to this story -- and rightly so. It is a significant story. However, it places an unfortunate, and mostly undeserved, black mark on the world of sports.
The circumstances leading up to the brawl were not out of the ordinary. Late in the game, with the Pacers having the win in hand, Ron Artest committed a hard foul on Ben Wallace. As one might expect from a modern athlete, Wallace took offense and shoved Artest. This had the effect of clearing both benches, but that resulted only in typical pushing and shoving. As the scuffle was ending, Artest made the decision to lie down on the scorers table and don a broadcaster's headset, as if giving an interview. A fan found this distasteful, so he threw a cup of something at Artest, hitting him in the chest. This inflamed Artest's volatile temper, prompting him to race into the seats in pursuit of the fan. However, since Artest had been lying down at the time, he had no idea who had thrown the beer; to compensate, he simply proceeded to pummel any fan that was in his path.
From the Detroit News:
"The first person he hit was Mike Ryan of Clarkston.
"'I have no idea,' Ryan said of why Artest picked him. 'He was on top of me, pummeling me and he said, "Did you do it? Did you do it?" And I said, "No, man, no." He kind of shoved me and went off on other people.'"
Predictably, some of the fans took exception to Artest's actions, so they began returning the favor; this caused two more Pacers to enter the seats. At one point players from both teams were in the seats, with a few fighting and most trying to end the fight; both coaches were trying to end the fight; even one or two broadcasters, including former Piston Rick Mahorn, made an effort to end it. Eventually the players exited the seats and began to leave the court. Several fans abandoned all intelligence and ran onto the court -- and even into the players' tunnel -- in pursuit of the Pacers; one such fan was promptly knocked unconscious. As the Pacers were walking through the tunnel to their locker room, the fans continued to rain food and drinks -- and even a chair or two -- down on the players' heads.
Pistons coach Larry Brown picked up the arena microphone to address the fans and their behavior, but he was upset to the point of being speechless. He threw down the microphone and stalked off the court.
In the aftermath, almost everyone was disgusted with the events of Friday evening ... but everyone was disgusted at different people. Some blamed Wallace for shoving Artest; some blamed Artest either for his jejune antics after the initial pushing and shoving or for his leaving the court to confront the fans; some blamed the Palace security staff; some blamed the Detroit fans; some blamed everyone within a mile of the incident.
Several players -- most notably Detroit's Wallace and the three Pacers who first entered the seats -- were immediately and indefinitely suspended by the NBA. Commissioner David Stern later announced the suspensions: Wallace for six games; the two Pacers who followed Artest into the seats for thirty and twenty-five games; Artest for the rest of the season. Other players from both teams received standard one-game suspensions simply because they left the benches during the initial scuffle.
Blame is not exclusive to any one person or group in this situation. Ben Wallace bears some blame for shoving Ron Artest after the foul; the players who came off the benches bear some blame for inflaming the situation; Artest bears blame both for his juvenile antics and for his assaulting fans; the fans bear blame for their boorish behavior.
However, the athletes, and Artest in particular, should bear the most blame simply because their position as professional athletes demands more responsibility and restraint in their actions and in their responses. The level of reverence they receive in modern culture should compel an equally high level of personal responsibility. Without a doubt, some of the fans were inexcusably uncivil; but at the same time, some of the athletes were inexcusably childish. It is never right to hurl objects at athletes, but it is exceedingly wrong for any athlete to assault fans over a thrown cup of anything.
A professional athlete should be capable of maintaining his composure under such hostile circumstances; just as he is expected to remain athletically controlled despite a hostile crowd, so must he be expected to remain emotionally controlled despite the abuse of churlish fans. The fan's action was irresponsible; Artest's action was reckless and dangerous, and it sets a parlous precedent. Artest, and perhaps his two helpful teammates, should be charged and prosecuted. When he entered the seats, it was no longer a fight within the game, and Artest's health was not threatened by the fans until he threatened their health. It was assault with no contextual justification.
So, by all means, let the guilty fans feel the full consequences, even to the point of banning them from the Palace. Suspend the guilty players, too. Mete out fines where necessary, both to fans and to players. But please, apply the proper scale. Without Artest's asinine display and lack of self-control, this would have remained only a minor skirmish. Wallace began the scuffle; Artest inflamed it to a serious broil by taking it off the court and into the seats. It was a juvenile response to a juvenile provocation. Because of this and because a professional athlete should maintain a high level of personal responsibility, Artest's season-long suspension is the minimally proper response from the NBA; now is the time for the Oakland County prosecutor to pursue further consequences.
This idea is only strengthened by Artest's well-documented history of irresponsibility. He has been known to have very little control over his temper, and this incident has shown that despite a surfeit of less serious incidents, he has not changed. His season-long suspension is "minimally proper" because at some point the NBA needs to realize that Artest and his ilk ultimately are harmful to the league. Continuing to tolerate uncontrollable players such as Artest or Latrell Sprewell may draw attention to the league, but it is chiefly negative attention; further, such players serve only to encourage the fans' bad behavior because the fans find it easy to provoke explosive responses from the volatile players.
In the wake of this incident, it is absurd that the players union claims that Artest is being unfairly punished because of his history. That history should prompt serious consequences. The necessity of self-control has been clearly demonstrated to him in all prior incidents, but he blew his top yet again on Friday. He should be heavily punished because he has no excuse for his lack of self-control; Simply put, he should know better by now.
In order to maintain -- or regain -- credibility and popularity, the NBA should value character over headlines. More incidents such as Friday's donnybrook will cause significant harm to the league. The NBA's greatest players, even the colorful greats, possessed at least a modicum of self-control and responsibility along with their athletic ability; consequently, they did not manage to overshadow their own athletic achievements.
No matter their ability, headline-grabbing time bombs like Artest cannot be considered great, and they should not be tolerated. Major sports leagues in the modern world seem to believe that they face a choice between headlines and quality of character; they would be wise to realize that their long-term health is best served by a dearth of tolerance for uncontrollable individuals such as Artest.
Finally, there was one bit of humorous irony in the Pother at the Palace. Rasheed Wallace joined the Pistons with an established reputation as a hothead; on Friday, he was involved not as a combatant, but as a peacemaker. Rasheed Wallace as a peacemaker? The world truly is arsy-varsy.