Fans deserve share of blame for melee

[D-Dogg]

It was plastic cup!!!

Athletes are too cocky and arrogante.

Throwing the beer at Artest with intent to harm is an assault. The cup was one of the hard plastic cups, not the thin, light ones. It also hit Artest in the eye/nose, on the edge of the cup's bottom..I've got a similar cup right here, and I just took it empty and dropped it from about 6 inches onto my cheekbone by my eye. Smarted a bit. Now fill it up and toss it from about 15 feet away. I bet it hurt. This isn't about someone pouring beer on him...it was about a solid object hitting him in the face as he lay down doing nothing.



And for what's more...it is VERY clear that the cup hit him in the face, and not in the chest. I've seen this a billion times now, and it is crystal clear that the cup strikes him in the face.

 

[elindholm]

Nobody has claimed that Artest is the smartest guy in the world--there's no law against being stupid.

Aw hell -- there go the 25 citizen's arrests I was planning to make today.

Chaplin, we have a criminal justice system partly to discourage people from taking the law into their own hands when they feel wronged. Vigilantism is a great hit with the media and with our baser instincts, and I agree that it sometimes meets our current legal standard, but generally that standard is quite high. If Mr. Beer Cup v. Artest case went to a legal court, there is almost no chance that Artest's counterattack would be considered valid self-defense.

 

[Toro]

Throwing the beer at Artest with intent to harm is an assault. The cup was one of the hard plastic cups, not the thin, light ones. It also hit Artest in the eye/nose, on the edge of the cup's bottom..I've got a similar cup right here, and I just took it empty and dropped it from about 6 inches onto my cheekbone by my eye. Smarted a bit. Now fill it up and toss it from about 15 feet away. I bet it hurt. This isn't about someone pouring beer on him...it was about a solid object hitting him in the face as he lay down doing nothing.



And for what's more...it is VERY clear that the cup hit him in the face, and not in the chest. I've seen this a billion times now, and it is crystal clear that the cup strikes him in the face.

People who throw beer are trying to get someone wet. I think we can all agree that the beer thrower in this case was most likely thinking that and not trying to hurt Artest with a PLASTIC CUP.

 

[elindholm]

The cup was one of the hard plastic cups

Do you have proof of this? To include "collector's cups" with beer at sporting events is quite unusual. (Although I guess some people are saying it looked more like soda, which would be more understandable.)

 

[Toro]

Bottomline in my opinion is that Artest was wrong for going into the stands.

He should of ask for security to locate the fan who threw the cup and kick that fan out of the arena.

If his kids were there watching (if he has kids) the game, how would he as a parent react? Going into stands to brawl. If so, what a bad example to show his kids.

Very sad for all the parents who were in attendance with there kids at the game who had to explain it to their kids on the way home from the game.

 

[D-Dogg]

The cup was one of the hard plastic cups

Do you have proof of this? To include "collector's cups" with beer at sporting events is quite unusual. (Although I guess some people are saying it looked more like soda, which would be more understandable.)

Not any hard proof, but I'm 99% sure it was a cup more like this one:

http://www.aahperd.org/ngwsdcentral/merchandise/cup.jpg

More like that than your standard SDS beer cup--multiple views of it and I've paused it and looked close.

It was soda, I believe, because it had ice in it as well and unless it was a michilada, you don't put ice in beer. It looked to be a special type cup, and soda. It definitely wasn't your run of the mill Keg Party Cup(TM) though.

 

[boondockdrunk]

You guys are forgeting the MAIN issue here. Artest will now have plenty of time to go promote his rap album.

But I think that the fault falls on everyone. The fans should not have thrown the beer, the players should not have gone into the crowd, and when the one guy came onto the floor (just like those guys that attacked teh Royal's first base coach) all bets are off. I dont blame O'Neal for clocking the guy, it wasnt right, but he didnt go into the stand. Fans need to realize that there are conciquences when you tresspass.

 

[JCSunsfan]

I think Artest is a punk and should not have gone into the stands, and like I said, the thing I'm most worried about is what changes will be made to the game itself and it's presentation that will affect the way we all watch and enjoy basketball games.

Some simple ones.

1. Have family friendly alcohol free sections, maybe about 25% of the seats, and mingle them all through the building.

2. Stop the sale of beer after the half.

3. Suspend any player that aggressively enters the stands for the rest of the year.

4. Charge fans that go out onto the court with criminal trespass.