I'm sorry if this has been posted elswhere but I haven't seen it yet.
I've seen cryptic messages & I've seen some people come right out & state their feelings. But I've not seen a place where we've actually put it down. So I thought we should have a place for future referance.
What we're going to do in this thread is state how we feel & where we stand about a few topics related to this incident. I'll list out the topics & then I hope everybody answers them. This can be for Pacers & non-Pacer fans alike.
Here is the list.
1. Ron Artest season long suspension
2. S. Jackson 30 game suspension
3. J. O'Neal 25 game suspension
4. David Stern's handling of the situation
5. Ron Artest future with the Indiana Pacers
I'll go ahead & begin & for those of you new to the board even though I won't seem to be by some, I am a life long Pacers fan.
1. Ron's suspension. I was hoping for 50 games. But I understand the season long recess for Ron. He is a gifted athlete, as I've said before capable of being one of the top 10 players in the league. However he does not have control over himself & I don't know that he ever will. If this was his first offense then I think the penalty would have been less but Ron has a violent past. So ultimately I do understand why this punishment was so hard.
2. Jackson. Did I miss it somewhere, isn't Jackson the only player we have not heard from? Hasn't everybody other than him expressed some form of remorse? Jackson on the floor was a disaster. He was pulling out his jersey & challenging every member of the Pistons team. However, in his defense there were some mitigating circumstances that must be taken into consideration. When he had his back turned Rasheed Wallace shoved him out of the way to get to Ben & Ron. He didn't give him a gentle push either he almost doubled him over. This set Jax off. Then we will never know what he was going into the stands for because the min. he rounded the corner he was immediately hit by the flying fluid. The person was right in front of him & he started swinging. By then all reason was gone. He did get a good hit in on the bald guy so I guess out of anybody he actually eventually hit the right guy. 30 games is harsh, but appropriate.
3. J.O. If I haven't pissed off my fellow Pacer fans before I sure will now. The man was getting up off of his back when J.O. ran from the side & clocked him. BTW, John Ewdwards was standing with J.O. there was no other fan scuffle as we've heard on here. J.O. looked over his shoulder & saw A.J. punching the guy & came running. I do not buy the defense of the guy was on the floor so everybody should clock him. Bull. Does that mean if a fan runs on the floor the Police should shoot him? No. & even if it does make sense to hit a person on the floor how much is enough? One punch? Two punches? Every member of the team & staff? The man was on his knees trying to get up & J.O. just clocked him. Of course I'm not sure what hurt worse the fact that J.O. hit him so hard or the fact that while he was on his back the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the score board that read Pacers 97 Detroit 82 Now in O'Neals defense I thought all along he was the trouble in the tunnel, turns out it was David Harrison that hit that fan. J.O. didn't help matters by not leaving & wanting to fight the entire section. 25 games will probably be lightened a little but I bet not by a lot. Given his past it's hard to say if this is to long or not. But I guess I'll go with thinking this is a little much.
4. Stern, or as he's known around here Lucifer. As a Pacers fan I feel F#cked. But unlike some of my fellow fans I don't blame Stern for this. He had to hit & he had to hit hard. He was facing a societal problem & one in which he had the ability to control. If we could all step away from being Pacers fans for a moment we would see that he is being universally praised for his action. He is telling the player (who he has control over) that if you go into the stands these are the serious consequences you will face. Anything less than this & he would be being grilled alive by the media in general & were not talking sports media here folks. He would have been grilled by all the networks, newspapers & such. I know that we hate the fact that fans in Detroit got to basically ruin our season. But that is beyond Sterns control. Sure he can fine the Pistons for something & he even gave Ben Wallace an above average suspension for what he did (I know we all want him gone with Ron but let's be honest most on court scuffles end with a 2 game suspension & that is with fist being thrown) But Stern can't fine the fans who did this. His only authority is with the player & it is a wide ranging authority & anybody who thinks that the players union will get this away from him is nuts. The rest of the league is in lock step with him on this & so are his large corp. sponsors. So to clarify, although I'm not thrilled with the way Stern handled this, I do understand.
5. Ron's future. Look, I'm not a hypocrit about this, so I can't be confused with jumping ship because he's in trouble. I've been telling you guys for a couple of years now that Ron was going to be the downfall of the team. I had no idea this would be the downfall. I can't imagine him doing any more harm to this franchise if he tried. Like I said about three weeks ago when that little incident happened, if you didn't see the problem with Ron by then you never would & true to form some of you are going to go down defending this guy. He is a hell of a basketball player, but sometimes that just isn't enough. I think Ron has played his last game for our team & if not anything the guy does from this time forward the management deserves. Now to true Ron fans, you have my deepest sympathy. My favorite player melted down just before he left as well (not nearly on the collosal scale that Ron did) so I know the feeling. But sometimes you just have to cut the chord.
Ok, I'd like everybody's opinion on thes points & feel free to blast mine cause I know some of you will.
[edit=110=1101193775][/edit]
I've seen cryptic messages & I've seen some people come right out & state their feelings. But I've not seen a place where we've actually put it down. So I thought we should have a place for future referance.
What we're going to do in this thread is state how we feel & where we stand about a few topics related to this incident. I'll list out the topics & then I hope everybody answers them. This can be for Pacers & non-Pacer fans alike.
Here is the list.
1. Ron Artest season long suspension
2. S. Jackson 30 game suspension
3. J. O'Neal 25 game suspension
4. David Stern's handling of the situation
5. Ron Artest future with the Indiana Pacers
I'll go ahead & begin & for those of you new to the board even though I won't seem to be by some, I am a life long Pacers fan.
1. Ron's suspension. I was hoping for 50 games. But I understand the season long recess for Ron. He is a gifted athlete, as I've said before capable of being one of the top 10 players in the league. However he does not have control over himself & I don't know that he ever will. If this was his first offense then I think the penalty would have been less but Ron has a violent past. So ultimately I do understand why this punishment was so hard.
2. Jackson. Did I miss it somewhere, isn't Jackson the only player we have not heard from? Hasn't everybody other than him expressed some form of remorse? Jackson on the floor was a disaster. He was pulling out his jersey & challenging every member of the Pistons team. However, in his defense there were some mitigating circumstances that must be taken into consideration. When he had his back turned Rasheed Wallace shoved him out of the way to get to Ben & Ron. He didn't give him a gentle push either he almost doubled him over. This set Jax off. Then we will never know what he was going into the stands for because the min. he rounded the corner he was immediately hit by the flying fluid. The person was right in front of him & he started swinging. By then all reason was gone. He did get a good hit in on the bald guy so I guess out of anybody he actually eventually hit the right guy. 30 games is harsh, but appropriate.
3. J.O. If I haven't pissed off my fellow Pacer fans before I sure will now. The man was getting up off of his back when J.O. ran from the side & clocked him. BTW, John Ewdwards was standing with J.O. there was no other fan scuffle as we've heard on here. J.O. looked over his shoulder & saw A.J. punching the guy & came running. I do not buy the defense of the guy was on the floor so everybody should clock him. Bull. Does that mean if a fan runs on the floor the Police should shoot him? No. & even if it does make sense to hit a person on the floor how much is enough? One punch? Two punches? Every member of the team & staff? The man was on his knees trying to get up & J.O. just clocked him. Of course I'm not sure what hurt worse the fact that J.O. hit him so hard or the fact that while he was on his back the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the score board that read Pacers 97 Detroit 82 Now in O'Neals defense I thought all along he was the trouble in the tunnel, turns out it was David Harrison that hit that fan. J.O. didn't help matters by not leaving & wanting to fight the entire section. 25 games will probably be lightened a little but I bet not by a lot. Given his past it's hard to say if this is to long or not. But I guess I'll go with thinking this is a little much.
4. Stern, or as he's known around here Lucifer. As a Pacers fan I feel F#cked. But unlike some of my fellow fans I don't blame Stern for this. He had to hit & he had to hit hard. He was facing a societal problem & one in which he had the ability to control. If we could all step away from being Pacers fans for a moment we would see that he is being universally praised for his action. He is telling the player (who he has control over) that if you go into the stands these are the serious consequences you will face. Anything less than this & he would be being grilled alive by the media in general & were not talking sports media here folks. He would have been grilled by all the networks, newspapers & such. I know that we hate the fact that fans in Detroit got to basically ruin our season. But that is beyond Sterns control. Sure he can fine the Pistons for something & he even gave Ben Wallace an above average suspension for what he did (I know we all want him gone with Ron but let's be honest most on court scuffles end with a 2 game suspension & that is with fist being thrown) But Stern can't fine the fans who did this. His only authority is with the player & it is a wide ranging authority & anybody who thinks that the players union will get this away from him is nuts. The rest of the league is in lock step with him on this & so are his large corp. sponsors. So to clarify, although I'm not thrilled with the way Stern handled this, I do understand.
5. Ron's future. Look, I'm not a hypocrit about this, so I can't be confused with jumping ship because he's in trouble. I've been telling you guys for a couple of years now that Ron was going to be the downfall of the team. I had no idea this would be the downfall. I can't imagine him doing any more harm to this franchise if he tried. Like I said about three weeks ago when that little incident happened, if you didn't see the problem with Ron by then you never would & true to form some of you are going to go down defending this guy. He is a hell of a basketball player, but sometimes that just isn't enough. I think Ron has played his last game for our team & if not anything the guy does from this time forward the management deserves. Now to true Ron fans, you have my deepest sympathy. My favorite player melted down just before he left as well (not nearly on the collosal scale that Ron did) so I know the feeling. But sometimes you just have to cut the chord.
Ok, I'd like everybody's opinion on thes points & feel free to blast mine cause I know some of you will.
[edit=110=1101193775][/edit]
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