The Case of Antonio Davis





Knicks forward Antonio Davis ran into the stands during Wednesday's game in Chicago after saying he saw his wife involved in an altercation with a fan. That fan says he won't sue Davis if he apologies. The NBA suspended Davis five games. Was it just? Read the arguments and lay down your own verdict.


His Plea: Innocent

"I witnessed my wife being threatened by a man that I learned later to be intoxicated. I saw him touch her, and I know I should not have acted the way I did, but I would have felt terrible if I didn't react. There was no time to call security. It happened too quickly." - Antonio Davis


The Defense

I keep coming back to the same thing: Intent.

As in Davis' intent when he took to the stands.

This wasn't a man possessed by rage, looking to attack a specific fan for an attack real or imagined. This wasn't a man taking advantage of a chaotic situation, looking for random fans to sucker punch.

This was the president of the NBA Players Union, walking slowly and steadily to where his wife was involved in what he perceived as a threatening situation. A man in his position knows he's not 'supposed' to go in the stands per NBA rules, but the rules for a husband are different.


The Prosecution

Forget the "you'd do it, too" claims offered in Davis' defense. That macho reaction was used after Artest bounded off the scorer's table, as if there was only one way to handle a cup of ice or beer or soda hitting you from several rows away.

Wrong. There were, and always are, several ways to react, with the preferred option being to alert security, point out the chief offender and watch carefully while those hired to handle crowd control earn their pay.

Naive? Maybe. Too slow? Hard to know. But wrapping yourself in a cloak of "I was protecting my family" is cowardly, too, a law-into-your-own-hands move that isn't condoned elsewhere in society. -- Steve Aschburner

YOU BE THE JUDGE!

Well, I would have to find Antonio Davis guilty due to the simple fact that rules have been laid down. And no where in those rules does it state that "a marriage ... blah blah blah"

If someone had a gun in his wife mouth, I wonder what he would have did.

Seeeeccccurrrritttty....

Rules have been established, yes, but what specifically are the gradations of the punishments for going into the stands? Obviously they have different terms of suspensions for this, just like they have different degrees of penalties for guys who throw hands. Whatever the minimum penalty for going into the stands is, that's what Tony should have received, no more.

AD should be suspended, but I support what he did. It's just the price that has to be paid for breaking the rules and putting himself in a situation that could have escalted into something ugly. But totally behind him on this. I mean Lupica was saying he should have called security, but security is a joke. This is proven by the fact that he was allowed to walk slowly to the fan w/o security impeding him at all. Would you trust that kind of security to protect your wife if you thought she was in danger?

Posted by bigpimpin:

Enyspree, have you EVER seen me call any of your stupid threads a stupid thread. No matter how stupid your stupid threads are.

Ok your topic is stupid.

There is nothing to debate. Davis was wrong......Brown says 5 games was too much.....I think 5 games is fair.

Anybody would have done what Davis did. If I was playing in the park and someone was messing with my family the same thing would happen. Would I get fined for stopping the game? Should I jump on my cell phone and call the cops instead of coming to the aide of my fam? To me it's the same ****.

I think they're all stupid in that story, that Axelrod guy for screaming profanities, Kandra for getting into the argument instead of calling a usher, and AD for showing that athletes can go in the stands.

Now you choose, dumb or dumber? Enough with that story already

Posted by Ira:

The question in my mind is what happened between Davis's wife and the fan. There are two different stories and I don't see how, at this point, we can determine who was telling the truth.

THANK YOU!