Squawker24 Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 New York Knicks forward Antonio Davis was suspended five games by the NBA on Thursday for entering the stands during a game at Chicago to confront a fan he thought was harassing his wife. I think this punishment is fair, under no circumstances should a player be allowed to go into the stands for any reason. I know he was trying to protect his wife but that is why there is security. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lascar78 Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 agreed. They understand that it was a family concern, but they have to make it like leaving the bench in a fight, automatic sizeable suspension Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted January 20, 2006 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 I think it's too harsh. Why penalized Davis for what was ultimately a security problem. I'm sorry, if somebody is hitting my wife, I'm going to the stands too. What would the NBA had said if an intoxicated man had hurt Davis' wife or worst? NOTHING.. Yet they expect Davis to sit down in that situation... That's BS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shock Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 absolutely they should fine and suspend him. His wife is notorious for getting into altercations at his away games. no one ever laid a hand on her or were yelling at her. She put her hands on someone and attempted to physically confront someone else and was restrained. She tried to fight latrell spreewell a few years ago. People say a real man would have protected her, but i say a real man ends a problem not starts one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lascar78 Posted January 20, 2006 Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 the bottom line is he can stay on the court, run to that area (but stay on the court), and yell for security. I guarantee the guy isn't going to do anything at that point. It has to be clear that under no circumstance whatsoever can players go in the stands. If not it becomes too hard to clarify who can and who can't, and you're at risk for another brawl. And now Davis is being sued by the guy for a million plus. Again, I understand why Davis went up and so does Stern. This is about setting an absolute rule. If it wasn't because of him being scared for his wife, he would have gotten 15 games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted January 20, 2006 Moderators Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 Quote: absolutely they should fine and suspend him. His wife is notorious for getting into altercations at his away games. no one ever laid a hand on her or were yelling at her. She put her hands on someone and attempted to physically confront someone else and was restrained. She tried to fight latrell spreewell a few years ago. People say a real man would have protected her, but i say a real man ends a problem not starts one. Seriously, did no one else notice that she was escalating the problem at a minimum. I assume the guy made some rude and profane comments towards the Knicks players and probably her husband but she was the one out of her seat in his face and putting her hands on him. Also, it looks like she was doing that sarcastic "calm down" routine some people do because they know when you are having a verbal altercation and that suddenly one party starts going "shhh...calm down....just calm down..." and waiving their hands in that calm down motion that it is likely to make the other person snap. I understand that Davis thought his wife was in some kind of danger and that the security, who was there, wasn't doing enough but the NBA can't have a situation where it is OK for players to make that judgment call. If a player wants to protect his wife they need to seat her next to a body guard or security. If the league wants to do it, they can set up a separate section for the players' families. I don't think the book should be slammed on Davis since he maintained his cool but crossing the line into the stands is high risk for the league. I thought the 5 games was just right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin chillzatl Posted January 20, 2006 Admin Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 nobody was hitting his wife. in fact, his wife is the one that caused the disruption in the first place. If it was a security matter, he could have walked to the scorers table (or the security that sits behind the bench) and had them go check on things. But by jumping the scorers table, he made it a league matter and not a security matter. The guy had no idea that she was a players wife. His wife didn't like the fact that a fan was booing her man and she got up in his face. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted January 20, 2006 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 I saw the roll of footage that the news has shown, but that's only apiece of it. I doesn't show what two fans say happened... that she put here finger in his face and that he slapped her hand away. So there's more to the story than that. family is family man. If it were your daughter in the stands being bothered by some intoxicated fan or your wife in the stands, you would have gone up to see what the problem was too. Because as the man of the family, you are the protector. You can't wait for some half ass security to get his ass to the situation. They said that there were security people in the Aisle watching the game before Davis went up there. Mr.HOnline is not going to break up a fight when he's only making $6.25 an hour with no benefits... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin chillzatl Posted January 20, 2006 Admin Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 at this point it's been pretty well covered. Some fans were booing the Knicks and razzing AD and she didn't like it, so she went over and told him to shut the fxxk up. I don't even think the fan that she said it to had even gotten out of his seat and he wasn't drinking. Some other fans behind him told her to sit down and shut up and then she got up in their faces. As others have said, this isn't the first time that she's done stuff like this either. and no, I would not go running into the stands, period. Part of being a professional is to not being a fly off the handle jackass who can't pay attention and think before you let your base instincts take over. It's one thing to see a man pushing your wife or daughter around. It's another to see your wife up in some guys face making a scene. That's what AD saw and instead of doing what he should have done, as a professional (get one of the security guards to go check on the situation) he over reacted, jumped the table and ran into the stands. He should have gotten more than 5 games for hte principle of it. the players have no business going into the stands for ANYTHING. I don't care if it's someone throwing a beer on them or someone talking to their wife or girlfriend. Because regardless of what the situation is, there is nothing they can do that will make it better. He can only make it worse. In some situations it could be much much much worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted January 20, 2006 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 20, 2006 Well, the way it was presented on ESPN by two fans they talked to outside the arena was: Kendra and the kids kept standing up and cheering when the Knicks would do something good. Then he said to her "sit down Bitch" after which she got in his face.. She pointed her finger in his face and he slapped her hand. All the rest of that is BS. IF it's my family, I'm going to see what the matter is. Because as Marriotti has said, Chicago is not known for it's great security. I mean, in a baseball game a father and son jumps out on the second baseman.. Come on man... if his wife gets hurt by a fan, what then.. Do you still say (in effect) well she had it coming?? Moreover, who are you penalizing? AD? AD didn't go into the crowd with fist a blazing. He actually was very calm and his demeanor was not a violent one. I think Stern has to analyze more than just the letter of the law sometimes. Sorta like that off the bench rule in a fight.. It really stinks (several years later) that he penalized Pat Ewing for getting off the bench during a fight and the footage showed the Ewing was going in the opposite direction of the fight... What's the intent of the rule? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squawker24 Posted January 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 Actually, the father son team assaulted the Royals first base coach. Fans run onto the field of play in all sports, in the NFL some guy runs onto the field during a Philly game and spreads his late mothers ashes which at the time apeared to be a white powder supstance(a security threat?), a fan runs onto the field and steals the ball from Favre. These non-violent examples of events easily could have turned the other way, is this a result of lack of security? Should there be security guards on every inch of the field at all times including pre-games and post-game until every fan has left the building, or in every isle in every row of the arena to police everyone and make sure they are all holding hands? AD didn't go into the stands fists a blazing. So that makes it ok for a player to jump into the stand and play the part of sucruity superhero? So should any player be allowed at any time to enter the stands and confront a fan who he thinks is disrespecting or touching a member of their family? If AD was not suspended as harshly I can guarentee you that the thought of going into the stands for any insane reason would cross the mind of every player. They would see it as ok and would not be punished as long as they didn't throw any punches, Because I'M protecting my family. it would be a fxxkin circus every night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted January 21, 2006 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 21, 2006 You raise an interesting point, but here's how I see it. I have been watching basketball for over 30 yrs. I have only seen a player go into the stands maybe 3 times. I think it's an over reaction on Stern's part to penalize any movement into the stands by a player. Over reaction from the fight last year. The question still remains... What husband or father is going to remain "professional" if he sees his family being assualted in the stands. You can claim whatever you want about what it turned out to be, but Davis said he believed that his wife was being assualted. I think as commissioner, it's Stern's job to go case by case with his penalties and not just penalize with a broad knife. It's like speeding. There are speed limits. Police are trained to stop and ticket Speeder.. But should the police ticket a guy who is speeding in a life or death situation (trying to get to the Hospital)... How about a woman in labor trying to make it to the Hospital? Some incidents are greater than the rule. IMO when your family is being assaulted, that's greater than the rule. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominiqueWilkins Posted January 22, 2006 Report Share Posted January 22, 2006 I think it’s fair, because the NBA does have rules, and the players need to obey by them. Davis basically went into the stands casual, so nothing big would be started, and the fans knew he wasn’t going to just punch anyone that he passed. I hope it never happens again and I hope the fan doesn’t get any money for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators AHF Posted January 23, 2006 Moderators Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Diesel - When a player goes into the crowd in a hostile arena don't you have to see it as a strong possibility that fans will talk @#$* to him; they will throw things at him; some may try to fight him to get him ejected and help their team; etc. etc. It is very high risk. There is just no place for it in the game. The NBA has to institute rules and procedures that protect the league and a policy of "no harm, no foul" for entering the stands would open the door way too much to potential violence. I think the league needs to make it clear that it is unacceptable under any circumstances for players to enter the stands due to the risks involved and so players know what measures they need to take with their families to keep them safe in advance of the situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Diesel Posted January 23, 2006 Premium Member Report Share Posted January 23, 2006 Arenas need better security.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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