Of Egos and Thugs
So, I've been taking a lot of attitude from a lot of people in the past few days and I'm frankly getting sick of it and starting to show a little attitude of my own. If you don't want to read my expression of that, then skip on by this thread on your cheery little way.
So, the main headline is the fight that broke out at a Pacers - Pistons game in Detroit, when some no doubt loudmouthed fans opened their mouths one too many times and pissed off seven foot tall, paid strongmen (NBA players). Now, I don't care what bar you're in, pissing off a seven foot tall, two hundred twenty pounds of pure ripped muscle guy is just damn stupid, because even the bouncers know to call in friends. So, here's the scene, 45.9 seconds left in the game, foul called on Ben Wallace (Pistons) after he shoved Ron Artest (Pacers) on a drive to the basket. Artest is pissed and lays into Wallace, referees break it up, call the game over with the 20-point margin. Artest goes to the commentator's table and lays down on it (because it's not like people are working there or anything) to cool down. Then some hotshot Cy Young wannabe in the stands chucks his cup at Artest and all hell breaks loose.
Artest storms into the stands and lays a serious sucker punch on the fan. Stephen Jackson (Pacers) follows suit laying out another fan, and as an all-out battle erupted in the stands between players and fans, security was overwhelmed. Players were grabbed by body guards and rushed to the locker rooms. Fans in the stands scattered, looking like they were running for their lives. Fans were taking their best shots at the players who had come into the stands and at one point, a chair was thrown (and I don't think a player threw it). So, the smoke clears, Detroit police come in to clear things up and the NBA reacts (woo hoo =/ ).
So, after nice people are hospitalized with injuries, what does the NBA do? They suspend players. Nine players got suspended for a total of 143 games and $11,549,832 in lost pay. Artest, Jackson, and Wallace took the brunt of it for instigating the whole thing. So, what gets me is the NBA calling the fines "harsh." ESPN called the suspensions "stern," and I'm sitting here thinking to myself, that's NOTHING! If I start a fight, my ass is fired. These assholes with criminal records as long as my (well, you figure it out) get off with a couple of days more to work out in the comforts of their teams' million dollar gyms. Sure, they're losing money, but in my opinion, that's bullshit. Money's no object to these guys, so it's not a punishment to take it away from them.
Now, the reporters are saying they're thinking about criminal charges, and I'm thinking to myself "if I throw a punch and they realize I have martial arts training, I'm going to jail, no questions asked, because I know better." These guys train for hours EVERY DAY to hone their bodies as athletes, so what removes them from the same legal classification? Fame and skin color. They're rich and they're famous, meaning they can buy their way out of jail, and that's bullshit. They couldn't control themselves and punched some guy. He probably deserved it too, honestly, but as any athlete knows, once you play, you're held to a higher standard. And these so-called "professionals" should understand that. Instead, they get breaks, hire people to bow down and kiss their asses, women to come and quite literally beg to give them anything they want, and it feeds their already large egos until they think they are above everything. And, if our legal system wasn't so blatantly corrupt, these guys would all be sitting in a jail right now tossing salads (or making their bunkmates toss salads.)
So, what should be done? Every player who threw a punch should be banned from professional play. They've demonstrated clearly that they cannot act professionally. The players that rushed to break things up should be suspended for 5 games each because the NBA's rule is not to leave the bench. The ENTIRE security force should be retrained at their personal expense, because they too, failed to act properly. The fans that threw punches should be banned from attending NBA games, as they have proven they don't realize their watching a game. And last but not least, the NBA commissioner should be bitchslapped several times for calling his "decision" harsh, because it wasn't. Suspending these guys won't make them stop fighting. Castrating them might help, but the anabolic steroids would probably more than make up for the testosterone deficiency that would cause... it'd be more of a not-so-subtle reminder to act like a man, instead of a eunuch.
Over the last few years, the NBA's permissive attitude on fighting, kicking cameramen (Rodman), headbutting (Rodman), strangling coaches (Sprewell) has been, well, pathetic. Hell, Artest was suspended by the NBA for 12 games last season for 5 separate instances of serious misbehavior and once more by his own team. Clearly, the suspensions aren't working. Every one of these thugs needs to be treated accordingly, regardless of their "ballin' skills". I can bounce a damn ball too, but when a doctor berates me, I have to be mature and take it, and so should these guys. These fecking miscreants should be screened psychologically before allowed to play professionally and be idolized by kids who'll learn that behaving like an angry chimpanzee is ok because if you're big, black, and famous, you can get away with murder. (and if you've got opinions about that last statement, I'd love to rebutt them.)
So, the main headline is the fight that broke out at a Pacers - Pistons game in Detroit, when some no doubt loudmouthed fans opened their mouths one too many times and pissed off seven foot tall, paid strongmen (NBA players). Now, I don't care what bar you're in, pissing off a seven foot tall, two hundred twenty pounds of pure ripped muscle guy is just damn stupid, because even the bouncers know to call in friends. So, here's the scene, 45.9 seconds left in the game, foul called on Ben Wallace (Pistons) after he shoved Ron Artest (Pacers) on a drive to the basket. Artest is pissed and lays into Wallace, referees break it up, call the game over with the 20-point margin. Artest goes to the commentator's table and lays down on it (because it's not like people are working there or anything) to cool down. Then some hotshot Cy Young wannabe in the stands chucks his cup at Artest and all hell breaks loose.
Artest storms into the stands and lays a serious sucker punch on the fan. Stephen Jackson (Pacers) follows suit laying out another fan, and as an all-out battle erupted in the stands between players and fans, security was overwhelmed. Players were grabbed by body guards and rushed to the locker rooms. Fans in the stands scattered, looking like they were running for their lives. Fans were taking their best shots at the players who had come into the stands and at one point, a chair was thrown (and I don't think a player threw it). So, the smoke clears, Detroit police come in to clear things up and the NBA reacts (woo hoo =/ ).
So, after nice people are hospitalized with injuries, what does the NBA do? They suspend players. Nine players got suspended for a total of 143 games and $11,549,832 in lost pay. Artest, Jackson, and Wallace took the brunt of it for instigating the whole thing. So, what gets me is the NBA calling the fines "harsh." ESPN called the suspensions "stern," and I'm sitting here thinking to myself, that's NOTHING! If I start a fight, my ass is fired. These assholes with criminal records as long as my (well, you figure it out) get off with a couple of days more to work out in the comforts of their teams' million dollar gyms. Sure, they're losing money, but in my opinion, that's bullshit. Money's no object to these guys, so it's not a punishment to take it away from them.
Now, the reporters are saying they're thinking about criminal charges, and I'm thinking to myself "if I throw a punch and they realize I have martial arts training, I'm going to jail, no questions asked, because I know better." These guys train for hours EVERY DAY to hone their bodies as athletes, so what removes them from the same legal classification? Fame and skin color. They're rich and they're famous, meaning they can buy their way out of jail, and that's bullshit. They couldn't control themselves and punched some guy. He probably deserved it too, honestly, but as any athlete knows, once you play, you're held to a higher standard. And these so-called "professionals" should understand that. Instead, they get breaks, hire people to bow down and kiss their asses, women to come and quite literally beg to give them anything they want, and it feeds their already large egos until they think they are above everything. And, if our legal system wasn't so blatantly corrupt, these guys would all be sitting in a jail right now tossing salads (or making their bunkmates toss salads.)
So, what should be done? Every player who threw a punch should be banned from professional play. They've demonstrated clearly that they cannot act professionally. The players that rushed to break things up should be suspended for 5 games each because the NBA's rule is not to leave the bench. The ENTIRE security force should be retrained at their personal expense, because they too, failed to act properly. The fans that threw punches should be banned from attending NBA games, as they have proven they don't realize their watching a game. And last but not least, the NBA commissioner should be bitchslapped several times for calling his "decision" harsh, because it wasn't. Suspending these guys won't make them stop fighting. Castrating them might help, but the anabolic steroids would probably more than make up for the testosterone deficiency that would cause... it'd be more of a not-so-subtle reminder to act like a man, instead of a eunuch.
Over the last few years, the NBA's permissive attitude on fighting, kicking cameramen (Rodman), headbutting (Rodman), strangling coaches (Sprewell) has been, well, pathetic. Hell, Artest was suspended by the NBA for 12 games last season for 5 separate instances of serious misbehavior and once more by his own team. Clearly, the suspensions aren't working. Every one of these thugs needs to be treated accordingly, regardless of their "ballin' skills". I can bounce a damn ball too, but when a doctor berates me, I have to be mature and take it, and so should these guys. These fecking miscreants should be screened psychologically before allowed to play professionally and be idolized by kids who'll learn that behaving like an angry chimpanzee is ok because if you're big, black, and famous, you can get away with murder. (and if you've got opinions about that last statement, I'd love to rebutt them.)
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