What looked like a full blown riot occurred on national television during a Friday night contest between the Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers.As the game was winding down and with the Pistons virtually out of it, Indiana?s Ron Artest committed a questionably physical foul on Pistons? star Ben Wallace. Wallace immediately confronted Artest and violently shoved him a few feet across the court.
Although Artest always seems to get himself in trouble one way or another, this time he was admirably calm. He not only ignored the shove, but also distanced himself from Wallace after having a towel thrown in his face. It was not until moments later when a fan threw a cup of beer at him that we witnessed discouraging NBA history in the making. Artest quickly jumped from the press table and into the crowd to wrestle the fan to the ground.
After he approached the man, multiple fans were pulling him back and sneaking in quite a few punches in the process. Other Indiana players such as Jermaine O?Neal and Stephen Jackson came to the aid of their fellow player and began getting physical with the crowd as well.
The chaos rapidly increased by the minute while fans were continued to throw beers, chairs, and other foreign objects, as others rushed onto the court to square-up and fight with the players. The situation simply became beyond the control of stadium security.
Children were huddled together in tears, an elderly women was trapped underneath a mix of scrummaging, police were ran around with pepper spray all while players and coaches tried desperately to retreat to their locker rooms while defending themselves along the way.
A lot of times athletes end up taking a whole lot of heat for poor decision making, but this time it seems that the only real people at fault were belligerent Pistons fans. Sure, the players probably could have reacted a little less passionately, but I?d be lying if I were to say that I didn?t fully understand their position. If you had things thrown at you and were physically attacked, would you just stand around as if everything were OK?
No. I don?t believe professional athletes were stripped of their rights as human beings when they signed their contracts, and I think it?s time we stop holding them to an unrealistic standard. Now you might be asking yourself: “With all of that negativity, how could the city of Detroit also be the Hero of the Week?” Well, allow me to answer that question as happily as I can. The reason these classless fans have earned a gold star in my book is because of what they have done for our very own city of Philadelphia.
It now appears that the worst fan/player interaction in the history of American competition has had absolutely nothing to do with Philly, and we cannot be blamed for the final straw in the need for a complete cultural change in professional sports! For abruptly tearing down a respected and championship-winning city, ruining the excitement of a live basketball game for many innocent bystanders, violently pushing the need for a change in crowd participation, and of course finally getting Philadelphia fans off the hook (at least for now) the city of Detroit, you are the hero and zero of the week.