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Ron Artest Fight – Sports News History |
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NBA commissioner David Stern has faced his share of controversy over the last three or four years, and one of the ugliest incidents involved Ron Artest’s fight in 2004. |
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The NBA has negatively been in the news recently because of the federal gambling charges levied against a referee, who has admitted his guilt to betting and providing tips to illegal bookies on games he worked.
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The league was also lambasted for the officiating in the Phoenix-San Antonio playoff game last season in which two Suns players were suspended for the following game for taking a couple of steps from the bench after the Spurs’ Robert Horry shoved Suns guard Steve Nash.
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But the ugliest of all incidents occurred Nov. 19, 2004 at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit, when Artest ran into the stands throwing punches. Stern suspended Artest for the remainder of the 2004 season (73 games) without pay after the melee – the harshest penalty in NBA history.
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The incident occurred after Ben Wallace and Artest traded shoves in the waning seconds of a Pistons-Pacers game. The incident seemed to be coming to an end until a fan tossed a cup of beer from the stands and hit Artest as he lay on the scorer’s table.
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Artest, 6-feet-7-inches and 246 pounds, jumped from the table and charged a few rows into the crowd, throwing punches and trampling fans. His teammates, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’Neal, followed Artest into the stands and also exchanged punches with some of the spectators.
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The crowd responded by throwing debris and beer toward Artest, Jackson and O’Neal. One fan even threw a chair on the court. Fans were at risk for injury more from the crowd response rather than the actions of Artest, Jackson and O’Neal.
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NBA hall-of-famer Bill Walton, calling the game for ESPN, said the Artest fight was the lowest point of his 30-year affiliation with the NBA.
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Artest, who lost about $5 million for the suspension, has long been considered a loose cannon on and off the court. Before the Nov. 2004 melee, the former St. John's star had been suspended at least 10 times and ordered by a court to undergo anger-management therapy in 2002 for threatening a former girlfriend.
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He is nicknamed “The Beast” by his teammates, and ESPN rated him as the “scariest player in the NBA” a year before he charged the stands to go after fans. |
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Ironically, Artest and Jackson, both central figures in the brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, have been suspended without pay for the first seven games of the upcoming 2007-08 season because of legal problems.
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Jackson, who was suspended 30 games after the brawl in 2004, pleaded guilty in June to a felony count of criminal recklessness for firing a gun outside an Indiana strip club last fall, when he was with the Pacers. He was ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 100 hours of community service.
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Artest pleaded no contest in May to a misdemeanor domestic violence charge stemming from a March 5 dispute with his wife, the latest in a string of off-court problems. Artest was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and a 10-day work project through the sheriff's department. Artest, now with the Sacramento Kings, also was fined $600 and ordered to get extensive counseling.
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Artest will lose nearly $471,000 in salary, about $50,000 more than Jackson.
Artest grew up in the tough Queensbridge housing project in Queens, N.Y., where he was part of a family of eight children whose parents separated when he was in grade school. |
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In recent years, Artest has begun to devote more time to other interests, particularly music. In 2002, he started his own record label – called Truwarier – which issued its first release, from the female R&B trio named Allure, shortly after Artest’s fight with the Detroit crowd.
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Two weeks before the Michigan brawl, Artest was benched by Rick Carlisle, the Pacers’ coach at the time, for saying that he would like to take off a month from the season to promote the album.
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Trouble follows Artest wherever he goes and he tarnishes not only his image with every domestic dispute or showing of uncontrolled anger. He sheds a negative light on the NBA with every suspension he must serve.
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David Stern took a stand in 2004 by suspending Artest without pay for 73 games. But how effective was that suspension? Artest is at it again, with a seven-game suspension to start the upcoming season.
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Any additional problems with Artest and Stern will be forced to consider a lifetime ban from the NBA for Artest. If that extreme were to happened, the negative publicity as a result would adversely affect the league once again.
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Thank you to Javier Morales for this “Ron Artest Fight” article. |
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