Posted by Andrew:

How many fights that included punches thrown have happened in the NFL this year?

Lol. Whose gonna punch a guy wearing a football helmet.


And ya, Stern is *****ing up the league.

Back in the day, they'd call a punching foul.

Now they suspend for 15 games.

Fights happen.

Stern needs to wake up and smell reality. We're mammals. We fight. If there's no aggression, there's no intensity, w/o intensity every superstar would be like Yao Ming or Tim Duncan.


God that would be the pits.


[Edited by - bobs3304 on 12-18-2006 9:05 PM]

Hockey is not good to bring into this.
Its a dangerous sport - players are hit with high sticks, cut by skates, smashed to the boards with the head by legal hits by the way, getting concussions, brake legs, losing eyes.
The fight is just innocent entertainment. Nobody gets injured in hockey fights.
in opposite fight in hockey are protecting star players from getting involved and living the fighting to professionally prepared individuals.
Basketball is the game of skills and fights are unnecessary. But at the same time if 2 players will exchange the paunches or shows - just eject them for the game and forget about it.
Making this a big sin instigating this ugly hit and run, pushing and shoving brawls.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by Killa4luv:

most of you are really clueless when it comes to ANYTHING that deals with race.

i know plenty about racism & what it feels like to have racial slurs thrown at you by people i don't even know while growing up, or to have people have preconceived notions about the type of person i am or how i live by the color of my skin... i don't think you are qualified to make a statement like that unless you know everyone on this board & what their life experiences have been like... you don't have to be black (or even a minority for that matter) to know a thing or 2 about racism.

Don't let Killa get to you. He's an academic, and you know how they love to lecture.

Posted by arkrud:

Posted by Killa4luv:

you guys are making this into more than it is. Race does play a factor, but its really culture. Hip-hop = thug, and 90% of the black players are part of this hip hop culture that some people view as thuggery. Moreso thanin football, definitely way more than in baseball, and Hockey, fuggedaboudit. I would have to really go into an in depth conversation about this to make some of you understand because from my experience on this board, most of you are really clueless when it comes to ANYTHING that deals with race.

Its no different than the dress code thing, the dress code was put in place to negate the whole hip hop presence in B-ball, nothing more.

And btw, yes that makes it a racial issue, but I wont belabor this point because some of you don't get it, and aren't even trying to.

But add in the major factor that Stern is basically some kind of facist, and thats why this stuff goes down. He's trying to do what he sees as 'purifying' the game, not in the Larry Brown sense, but in the sense that the sport becomes more marketable to more people in the US and globally. He is only viewing these things from a corporate perspective.

Lastly, Marshmello Anthony needed a big suspension, you can't be one of the faces of the league and do something so stupid in a game when the entire world is watching. Realy really dumb move on his part, he wasn't even the one who got fouled, his team will suffer, and definitely miss the playoffs now.

I guess you right... When I watch the basketball I never think about the race of the players. This is weird to me to think about the person this way. I think about his heights, athletism, skills, personality but never think about race, nation, and religion.
But it looks like it is not so for you... Strange man – it’s 21 century...

You ain't from around here, are you?

Posted by Killa4luv:

you guys are making this into more than it is. Race does play a factor, but its really culture. Hip-hop = thug, and 90% of the black players are part of this hip hop culture that some people view as thuggery. Moreso thanin football, definitely way more than in baseball, and Hockey, fuggedaboudit. I would have to really go into an in depth conversation about this to make some of you understand because from my experience on this board, most of you are really clueless when it comes to ANYTHING that deals with race.

Its no different than the dress code thing, the dress code was put in place to negate the whole hip hop presence in B-ball, nothing more.

And btw, yes that makes it a racial issue, but I wont belabor this point because some of you don't get it, and aren't even trying to.

But add in the major factor that Stern is basically some kind of facist, and thats why this stuff goes down. He's trying to do what he sees as 'purifying' the game, not in the Larry Brown sense, but in the sense that the sport becomes more marketable to more people in the US and globally. He is only viewing these things from a corporate perspective.

Lastly, Marshmello Anthony needed a big suspension, you can't be one of the faces of the league and do something so stupid in a game when the entire world is watching. Realy really dumb move on his part, he wasn't even the one who got fouled, his team will suffer, and definitely miss the playoffs now.

Isn't it a tad ironic that you suggest the NBA's stance is racist/fascist and then go on to suggest yourself that Melo "needed" a big suspension?

blueseats and Dannyweis you have missed my point.

When I talk about how the fight was handled, I am really speaking from the perspective of the media, not the league.

I think the suspensions for most other players was excessive, I don't think Marshmellos was. He has an oppurtunity to be the face of the league and cash in one that. Max contract, ridiculous endorsement money, there is great responsibility that comes along with that. When you throw it away over something really trivial, like that brawl and go out of your way to punch someone in the face, its bad, not as bad as the media make it like its a crime against humanity, but its a bad thing from a business standpoint, and its mainly all on him, as he wasn't provoked in any real way. Nate and JR just tussled, I think 10 games is excessive for those guys and suspending JJ for having maloce in his heart, is just crazy.

I call stern a facist, i can't even go into it, but he overdoes everything. Nearly every suspension he gives out is about 5 games too long. Mellos is too, but he needs it, he needs to learn the lesson, I can't believe he was so stupid!

Posted by Killa4luv:


Nearly every suspension he gives out is about 5 games too long. Mellos is too, but he needs it, he needs to learn the lesson, I can't believe he was so stupid!

When you say this is it too long from a basketball perspective (team missing their player) or a individual monetary perspective? Or maybe both?

Posted by Andrew:

Posted by Killa4luv:


Nearly every suspension he gives out is about 5 games too long. Mellos is too, but he needs it, he needs to learn the lesson, I can't believe he was so stupid!

When you say this is it too long from a basketball perspective (team missing their player) or a individual monetary perspective? Or maybe both?

Both. I mean what happened that warrants a guy like Jeffries missing 4 or 6 games? Thats alot of games. nate and JR missing 10!! They weren't even hurt, they didn't hurt any fans any worse than flying in the stands for a loose ball. Its too much. Mello maliciously punched someone in the face, and he wants to be the face of the league, hes gotta pay for that. He could have hurt someone badly and tried to.

The league knows occasional skirmishes and confrontations will occur from time to time. There will always be flagrant fouls and those recipients who'll get up incensed. Occasional pushing or a punch will forever ensue. There are reasonable penalties in place for such occurrences. But it's these large, sprawling, spillover, brawls that the league simply has to do everything in it's power to deter and contain. Otherwise the relationship (proximity) between the fans and the court will have to be changed, and that would be to the detriment of the fans.


As to the race issue, I really think it's more of a generational, or class (for lack of a better word), type issue. I doubt there are many black gentlemen of, say, Clyde's era, who feel bad that players are required to attend practice, dress professionally, keep their guns at home, not accost referees after every call, and to let the fans watch the game without fearing for their own personal safety. I really don't see what role race plays in that.


Lastly, in spite of all bravado and machismo most of us bring to the game, and how we long for the days when men were men, and Oakley roamed the earth... I think an alternative truth is that many of us love this sport for it's beauty and grace. We enjoy the "ballet" of it (where's that picture of Steph in a tutu when I need it) and we just don't want it to become hockey on sneakers, or WWF with a ball.

There is an integrity to the game that deserves to be preserved that transcends race, fashion, trends, or anything else of the here and now.

[Edited by - BlueSeats on 12-19-2006 10:30 PM]