Daniel Stern needs to step down if you ask me...not just because of this incedent, but because the game has been sliding down the pooper for quite awhile! While Stern is responsible for bringing the game of basketball to its highest height (with help from Larry, Magic, Michael and others) he has also been the Captain of this sinking ship! Maybe a change and some fresh direction is in order?:confused:

The NBA doesnt care about its image....They are making $$ so why do they care? As long as fans are coming out and the NBA is making money i doubt they care. Plus if they get to the root of the problem wich we all know is the gangsta/ thug image they will be billed as racists. So they cant win even if they do try and change the image. :smash:

Van,
Football has it's share of thugs also,
Ray Caruth, Ray Lewis, Jamal Lewis, Ricky Williams, just to name a few!!!

Some people listen to to much sports radio.

Anyone know if Larry Bird is still involved with this team (Indiana)
It would be amazing that a guy like Larry Bird with so much character and class would have such a thug like Artest on a team he was involved with:smash:

unfortunatly it's about one thing only..........just win baby!!!!

Heard the GM of the Pacers (Bird) commenting on the suspensions on the radio.....:smash:...he sounds as if he believes the players are being railroaded!!!:eek: I think Bird is wearing a suit now and has someones hand up his back!:laughs:

They had the "cup thrower" on the news this morning with his lawyer. This POS was caught on tape, but won't admit it.
Anyway, the other POS Artest was keeping it cool on the table cause he was too cowardly to go after his real problem WALLACE.

So when he gets hit with a cup, he goes postal and attacks some little guy in the stands (who is still holding his cup)....

They have tape of the real thrower getting in a few rabbit punches from behind cause' he's "protecting himself".
Gimme a break, they are all a bunch of cowards. (he said safely behind his keyboard)....
Artest has gone through anger management before, and needs a marathon session.

Stern did the right thing, hopefully it will help. BB is way out of control..

It gets better, the POS has 4 dui's and isn't supposed to be drinking while on probation, (but he has seats a few rows from the court :smash: he must of went to the judical system for the rich).
Good to see him squirm now.

Bigfish - as GM Bird is in a tough spot (and on a pedastal secured from critism that is reserved for all great Boston athletes) Putting the Pacers team on the floor now is like running a gas station with no gas.

you can't say football is any better than basketball thug-wise. just as many if not more in football, only they get to act out their aggression on the field.

i hate to say it too, but the NBA is a friggin joke. you got all these thugs coming out of high school who can barely read and write,who have agents telling them that they will be the next kobe or tracy, when in reality most of them will not be stars or even role players in the league. as a result you have a lot of athletically gifted teens coming into the league who can't even make a free throw, thus taking away from the overall quality of play. as a huge fan of the game it is really disheartening to see the direction the NBA is heading in.

colleg b-ball, on the other hand, is the sh*t....

Blame Jordan. For all the excitement he brought to the sport, MJ made the game about the superstar and not the team rivalry.

And what Bart said...

-spence

Go back further and blame Cassius Clay. The downfall of pro sports started with him screaming at Sonny Liston when he knocked him down. Then Cosell turned him into a circus act and the rest is history.

They had the player and his rep from the Player Assoc. on yesterday, and these idiots had the audacity to blame the WHOLE thing on society, and the war in Iraq.
Instead of taking his lumps and acknowledging his resposibility, this piece of crap is mugging for the camera and try to pitch his CD.
This just goes to show that in professional sprorts, if you bring in the fans, you can literally get away with murder. Then when you are caught red-handed, you sheepishly blame society and move on. I hope the fan that was attacked takes the player, team and the NBA to the cleaners.
On a positive note, we're starting to see move teams take responibility for their actions. How about the college football team that turned down a bowl bid because of the fight on the field?
Just my $0.02 worth.

Tim- South Carolina turned down the Bowl bid because Holtz is retiring now and his replacement, Steve Spurrier, wants no part of a mediocre team in a bowl game. You can bet if they were 11-1 Holtz would have stayed on until January. There was no honor in the decision not to accept the invitation...just the smart move for the school and the two coaches.

That makes more sense. Unfortunately, the news report I had heard was probably given the "politically correct" report. I thought it sounded a little far fetched for a school to turn down a bowl bid.