Enjoy the Break Ron

March 15, 2005 | Justin

Ron Artest is a prima donna. Within the next month he will have a new shoe named after him and a rap album–which he asked the Indiana Pacers for a few days off to record–hitting stores across the country. It looks like Mr. Artest will have plenty of time to promote both of them as he won’t be playing basketball anytime soon.

Last Friday, Artest jumped into the stands and proceeded to attack multiple Detroit Pistons’ fans–with the help of his teammates of course–after getting hit by a cup thrown from the crowd. The fight then exploded onto the court with fans venturing down looking for a fight–or perhaps a shot at Artest’s bank account.

Sadly this event isn’t isolated. Lately, player/fan violence seems to be on the rise. There was Frank Francisco throwing the chair earlier this season and that fight between the Dodgers’ bullpen and Cubs fans in 2000 that resulted in 16 Dodgers receiving suspensions. Fans of professional sports are getting out of hand. Days of simple heckling have given way to full on verbal abuse with the occasional thrown object. The reasoning behind this probably has a strong connection to the amount of alcohol sold at professional sporting events, coupled with stadiums packing fans in, leaving fans within a literal stones throw of the players.

Though, unruly fans in no way excuse an athlete for retaliation. They are paid millions to play a game in which fan abuse comes with the territory. They should never enter the stands, even when provoked as Ron Artest was. The players should leave the retaliation to stadium security or the local police. The NBA agreed and handed Ron Artest a season long suspension and gave three other players suspensions of up to 30 games.

In order to really curb the rising player/fan problem, something needs to be done to the fans involved as well. The fan who threw the cup at Artest or the fans who ventured onto the court looking for trouble should be prosecuted, have any opportunity of a civil suit against the players thrown out and have future tickets revoked. The price of admission does not include the right to assault the players. The NBA needs to stand up and show they will not tolerate this behavior from their fans in the future.

So to you Mr. Artest, wear your new shoes everywhere and promote that rap album you worked so hard on. And enjoy your time off because you undeniably deserve it. And to the fans involved, hopefully your day of reckoning will soon be at hand.

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Published, Ron Artest, sports