Posted by TMS:

Posted by joec32033:TMS...you did not really just compare Ron Artest to Jackie Robinson, did you?

Two different worlds, two different societies, two different cultures.....they are way too different....If Jackie did what Artest did, there may never again have been blacks in baseball.....Jackie was playing for a whole race of people....I think that comparing the two is giving WAY too much credit to Artest and I am a big Artest fan.

my simple point was, there have been countless athletes in the past who have had to put up w/alot worse than Artest did when someone threw a cup of beer on him, & they never charged into the stands to start a riot...Artest doesn't get a pass with me just because that stuff wouldn't fly on the streets today...street rules don't apply at an NBA game, otherwise there'd be a riot almost everytime someone cursed at a player for shooting up a brick in crunchtime.

btw, Jackie Robinson was not my only example...only the most extreme case of a guy who had to put up w/more than anyone could have imagined & always kept his cool on the field...there have been countless more athletes who've played professional sports in this day & age who don't take it upon themselves to lay a beatdown on fans who are half the size they are just to take out their own frustrations & anger over the emotions of the moment after having a beer thrown at them or alot worse things, like batteries, bottles, baseballs, etc...

by the way, how did you guys react over Milton Bradley throwing a bottle into the stands after someone had thrown it onto the field? if he had rushed into the stands to beat the crap out of some anonymous fan who didn't even thrown the bottle to begin with, what would you have said about it? that he was justified in doing it & that it was self defense?

The answer for both baseball and football are very simple...int he outfield in baseball, the walls are extremely high, so if a fan does throw something short of a player climbing a vertical wall, there is nothing he can do.....In football the stands are so far back that and the walls are so high, there would be ample time for teammates to restrain players...and players would be tired by the time they got to the stands...

I can see your point, but I just don't think it's valid given the circumstance of basketball and the circumstances of these 2 very different sports.