The Brawl

The big news in sports is the Pacers/Pistons game brawl involving the fans. One of the ugliest incidents in sports history.

Long story short: Ron Artest fouled Ben Wallace hard. Wallace took exception and shoved Artest and both benches cleared. While things were starting to calm down a fan hit Artest (who was lying down on the scorer's table) square with a beer. Artest, predictably, went bananas and jumped into the stands and all hell broke loose. Artest was swinging, Stephen Jackson ran in to help him and was throwing with a fan.

As people were pulling Artest away, a fan started punching Ron from behind, which led to more madness. As they pulled Artest and the rest of the Pacers into the locker room, fans were blasting all of the players with sodas, beers and whatever else they could find to throw. A folding chair was even launched into the melee.

The incident was calming down but the fans would not let it go. I think Artest had every right to go after that fan for his stupid actions, just like Todd Hundley went into the crowd after someone stole his hat. The respect issue runs both ways. Treat people the way you want to be treated. If throwing beer on someone gets you your kicks, expect a violent reaction.

At one point Artest had his arms restrained by some people in the crowd and if not for Stephen Jackson, Artest would of been a sitting duck. More Pacers players tried to come in to help but were greated with cheap shots to the back of the head by some of the Pistons fans. I give alot of props to the Pacers players, they were going toe-to-toe against a hostile crowd while the best shots the fans could get in was when the Pacers players had their backs to them. You Piston fans are real brave.

Finally they get Artest out of the crowd and some fat dumbass wants to challenge Artest to a fight on the court! Artest greeted him with his fist, and they both fell down. Some other people seperated the two and Jermaine O'Neal made sure that fan would never step foot on a court to challenge an NBA player again. He nailed the fan square to the jaw with a right fist dropping him like it was a boxing match.

If you ever watch Maximum Exposure on WGN, they could fill a whole hour show with all the drama that went on. The fans crossed the line, and sports commentators and experts are correctly defending Artest for his actions. There is only so much a man can take. I don't like Artest's attitude, but I agree with his decision in this case. Artest didn't escalate the situation when he went after the guy who threw the beer on him. It was escalated the moment that fan decided to throw the beer on Artest.

Just an amazing and ugly night in Detroit.