A riot broke out in Detroit Friday night with less than a minute to go in Detroit's loss to Indiana, 97-82. The mess erupted when Ron Artest fouled Ben Wallace while the later was attempting a lay-up. It was a regular foul. It can't even be considered for a flagrant foul. The hot headed Wallace, facing their inherent defeat, lashed out at Artest pushing him with both hand in the throat area. The cool Artest, just backed down as the furious Wallace continued to charge on. The other players eventually got into the action as well. When everything seemed to be settling down, Artest, who was lying down on the official's table, presumably showing that he was just chillin, got hit buy a beer bottle by a nearby fan. Artest instinctively leaped out into the audience and tried to attack the fan. After that, all hell broke loose.
The fans of Detroit should be ashamed of themselves. They perpetuated the bad side of their stereotype as a blue-collar city. They eventually lashed out at all the Indiana players and coached, including their head coach and Reggie Miller. The crazed mob of Detroit who lashed out on the Pacers are not true basketball fans. Perhaps they were just caught in the moment, but if I was caught in the moment would I attack innocent bystanders? I don't think so. Calling anger management experts, you have a huge market in Detroit.
Ben Wallace should be suspended for at least a month. Ron Artest played it cool with his co-player. I sympathize any possible sanctions that may be thrown against him. He kept his cool. He understood that the players were really into the game. Perhaps he should have understood the fan, but a fan's assault is something outside the game. He knew that instinctively and he reacted.
It's been around thirty minutes since the riot, I'm still waiting for news from NBA.com. Let's see what happens.
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