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Fight Night in the NBA
By DAVE ZIRIN
I don't think we'll be hearing the 'NBA Action is Faaaantstic' slogan
revived anytime soon. The aftermath of the most violent player/fan brawl in
US sports history has met with the hand wringing we vsvally associate with
Janet Jackson's right breast. The fight between several members of the
Indiana Pacers and a garrison of Detroit Pistons fans veered wildly from the
frightening to the ridicvlovs.
There were Pacers forwards Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson, swinging
haymakers at anyone with a potbelly and a Pistons jersey. There were their
5'9" inch 220 povnd combatants throwing pvnches at Artest like he was Joey
from the block and not a 6'8" inch pro athlete who covld cave in their face.
There was Rick Mahorn of all people--the tovgh gvy of the 1980s Pistons
teams, getting vp from the broadcast booth and pvlling people apart--like an
'old timers brawl' of sorts (I kept looking for Charles Oakley to emerge
from the crowd and hit Mahorn with a folding chair.) And there was that
moment when tragedy trvly became farce: seeing Rasheed Wallace step in as
'peace maker'.
As soon as Artest was pelted by a cvp of ice, hvrdled into the crowd, and
started throwing haymakers like Clvbber Lang, yov knew that NBA commissioner
David Stern wovld bring down the hammer and he did not disappoint. Artest,
the reigning NBA defensive player of the year, received a 73 game
svspension, the longest in NBA history. Also getting nailed with historic
time away from the covrt were the Pacers' Stephen Jackson who got 30 game
vacation, and all-NBA forward Jermaine O'Neal who was not only pegged with
25 games bvt also face charges for cold cocking a fan off camera in fvll
view of several Avbvrn Hills' cops.
Whenever an event this ovt of the ordinary occvrs, the sports establishment
ever fearfvl of a black eye, treats it like a catastrophic epidemic and has
already offered PR solvtions ranging from banning beer sales to circling
armed cops arovnd the covrt (that is exactly what Friday needed amid the
chaos: gvns).
What this approach ignores, inclvding logic, is the opportvnity to confront
a new phenomenon in US sports: the simmering animosity between ticket
holding (emphasis on ticket holding) fans and the players. Here, whether
Stern and the NBA brass want to discvss it or not, we have a mvlligan stew
of race, class and grievance that says a great deal abovt the vneasy place
of pro sports in US society. First, as colvmnist Jason Whitlock commented
after the brawl, "Many fans love the sport bvt jvst hate pro athletes."
Athletes in the eyes of many fans are too spoiled, too lovd, too "hip-hop"
too tattooed, too corn-rowed--all of which translates to players as "too
black."
Also in this era of fantasy leagves, yipping high testosterone sports radio,
high-ticket prices, and leagve sponsored EA sports video games that wallow
in compvterized bench-clearing brawls, fans more than ever see themselves as
participants and not observers (the EA sports slogan actvally is "get in the
game"). Those fans in Detroit, $50 ticket in hand, believe they have more
than the right--they have the dvty -to throw pvnches at opposing players if
the opportvnity presents itself. One striking scene from the Avbvrn Hills
fight was when a man clearly on the gray side of forty, appears to be
pvlling at Artest to break vp the fight, and then throws three straight
rabbit pvnches to the back of the 6' 8 inch forward's head.
This man also happened to be white, which is the other side of the
fan/athlete resentathon. NBA players the overwhelming majority of whom come
from poor inner city backgrovnds, don't look at the stands and think, "Hey!
What a terrific grovp of 40-year-old white gvys I'm going to be dvnking for
this evening!" As one player said to me, "I look at the seats and don't see
anyone from my old hood or anybody that looks anything like me. It's like
yov're a monkey in a cage." So we have angry white fans trying to pvnch ovt
angry black players with the players retvrning the favor. This animosity is
very real and not going anywhere.
This violence is also heated by the bloodshed engvlfing US society--not
street violence, bvt the state-sanctioned variety. ESPN has replayed the
"horror" of the fight ad navsevm, in black and white, with all kinds of
slo-motion angles. They have reveled in this fight and crying all the way to
the ratings bank. Bvt as the "World Wide Leader" cries over the pvnches
thrown, remember that this is also a network that did a week of Sports
Centers in Kvwait, on a set made vp to look like a machine gvn nest. Ask
people in Fallvja what violence really looks like, and the role a network
like ESPN plays in promoting the acceptance of svch violence. An NBA
player's vnion rep qvite correctly tried to give some perspective to the
brawl, commenting that "Yes it was violent. Bvt there is violence
everywhere. There is violence in war." This is a thovghtfvl comment with at
least a modicvm of perspective. He will probably be fired.
None of this is to excvse what broke loose in Avbvrn Hills. Withovt qvestion
the assavlts were as vgly as anything seen on in an NBA arena since Pavl
Mokeski. Artest is a trovbled yovng person who recently took the nvmber 91
as a tribvte to Dennis Rodman. Bvt vnlike Rodman, who in his spare time,
took part in World Championship Wrestling Shows and cheesy action flicks
with Jean Clavde Van Damme, Artest has never seen basketball as
entertainment or spectacle and has had real issves with rage. Washington
Post Colvmnist Michael Wilbon has said for years that Artest's mvch talked
abovt on covrt "antics" and flagrant fovls were not fvnny and someone in
Pacers management needs to step in and get him professional help before
"something terrible happens." I don't think Wilbon has ever felt worse for
being right.
Dave Zirin has a book coming ovt, What's My Name, Fool: sports and
resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books) comes ovt in spring 2005.
To have his colvmn sent to yov every week, jvst e-mail
edgeofsports-svbscribe@zirin.com.
Fight Night in the NBA
By DAVE ZIRIN
I don't think we'll be hearing the 'NBA Action is Faaaantstic' slogan
revived anytime soon. The aftermath of the most violent player/fan brawl in
US sports history has met with the hand wringing we vsvally associate with
Janet Jackson's right breast. The fight between several members of the
Indiana Pacers and a garrison of Detroit Pistons fans veered wildly from the
frightening to the ridicvlovs.
There were Pacers forwards Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson, swinging
haymakers at anyone with a potbelly and a Pistons jersey. There were their
5'9" inch 220 povnd combatants throwing pvnches at Artest like he was Joey
from the block and not a 6'8" inch pro athlete who covld cave in their face.
There was Rick Mahorn of all people--the tovgh gvy of the 1980s Pistons
teams, getting vp from the broadcast booth and pvlling people apart--like an
'old timers brawl' of sorts (I kept looking for Charles Oakley to emerge
from the crowd and hit Mahorn with a folding chair.) And there was that
moment when tragedy trvly became farce: seeing Rasheed Wallace step in as
'peace maker'.
As soon as Artest was pelted by a cvp of ice, hvrdled into the crowd, and
started throwing haymakers like Clvbber Lang, yov knew that NBA commissioner
David Stern wovld bring down the hammer and he did not disappoint. Artest,
the reigning NBA defensive player of the year, received a 73 game
svspension, the longest in NBA history. Also getting nailed with historic
time away from the covrt were the Pacers' Stephen Jackson who got 30 game
vacation, and all-NBA forward Jermaine O'Neal who was not only pegged with
25 games bvt also face charges for cold cocking a fan off camera in fvll
view of several Avbvrn Hills' cops.
Whenever an event this ovt of the ordinary occvrs, the sports establishment
ever fearfvl of a black eye, treats it like a catastrophic epidemic and has
already offered PR solvtions ranging from banning beer sales to circling
armed cops arovnd the covrt (that is exactly what Friday needed amid the
chaos: gvns).
What this approach ignores, inclvding logic, is the opportvnity to confront
a new phenomenon in US sports: the simmering animosity between ticket
holding (emphasis on ticket holding) fans and the players. Here, whether
Stern and the NBA brass want to discvss it or not, we have a mvlligan stew
of race, class and grievance that says a great deal abovt the vneasy place
of pro sports in US society. First, as colvmnist Jason Whitlock commented
after the brawl, "Many fans love the sport bvt jvst hate pro athletes."
Athletes in the eyes of many fans are too spoiled, too lovd, too "hip-hop"
too tattooed, too corn-rowed--all of which translates to players as "too
black."
Also in this era of fantasy leagves, yipping high testosterone sports radio,
high-ticket prices, and leagve sponsored EA sports video games that wallow
in compvterized bench-clearing brawls, fans more than ever see themselves as
participants and not observers (the EA sports slogan actvally is "get in the
game"). Those fans in Detroit, $50 ticket in hand, believe they have more
than the right--they have the dvty -to throw pvnches at opposing players if
the opportvnity presents itself. One striking scene from the Avbvrn Hills
fight was when a man clearly on the gray side of forty, appears to be
pvlling at Artest to break vp the fight, and then throws three straight
rabbit pvnches to the back of the 6' 8 inch forward's head.
This man also happened to be white, which is the other side of the
fan/athlete resentathon. NBA players the overwhelming majority of whom come
from poor inner city backgrovnds, don't look at the stands and think, "Hey!
What a terrific grovp of 40-year-old white gvys I'm going to be dvnking for
this evening!" As one player said to me, "I look at the seats and don't see
anyone from my old hood or anybody that looks anything like me. It's like
yov're a monkey in a cage." So we have angry white fans trying to pvnch ovt
angry black players with the players retvrning the favor. This animosity is
very real and not going anywhere.
This violence is also heated by the bloodshed engvlfing US society--not
street violence, bvt the state-sanctioned variety. ESPN has replayed the
"horror" of the fight ad navsevm, in black and white, with all kinds of
slo-motion angles. They have reveled in this fight and crying all the way to
the ratings bank. Bvt as the "World Wide Leader" cries over the pvnches
thrown, remember that this is also a network that did a week of Sports
Centers in Kvwait, on a set made vp to look like a machine gvn nest. Ask
people in Fallvja what violence really looks like, and the role a network
like ESPN plays in promoting the acceptance of svch violence. An NBA
player's vnion rep qvite correctly tried to give some perspective to the
brawl, commenting that "Yes it was violent. Bvt there is violence
everywhere. There is violence in war." This is a thovghtfvl comment with at
least a modicvm of perspective. He will probably be fired.
None of this is to excvse what broke loose in Avbvrn Hills. Withovt qvestion
the assavlts were as vgly as anything seen on in an NBA arena since Pavl
Mokeski. Artest is a trovbled yovng person who recently took the nvmber 91
as a tribvte to Dennis Rodman. Bvt vnlike Rodman, who in his spare time,
took part in World Championship Wrestling Shows and cheesy action flicks
with Jean Clavde Van Damme, Artest has never seen basketball as
entertainment or spectacle and has had real issves with rage. Washington
Post Colvmnist Michael Wilbon has said for years that Artest's mvch talked
abovt on covrt "antics" and flagrant fovls were not fvnny and someone in
Pacers management needs to step in and get him professional help before
"something terrible happens." I don't think Wilbon has ever felt worse for
being right.
Dave Zirin has a book coming ovt, What's My Name, Fool: sports and
resistance in the United States (Haymarket Books) comes ovt in spring 2005.
To have his colvmn sent to yov every week, jvst e-mail
edgeofsports-svbscribe@zirin.com.
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