That jackass who threw beer on Artest

[ChipFish]

From the standpoint of the law... Artest is in trouble.
He was not protecting himself... He was retaliating.

From the standpoint of the league.... He is in bigger trouble...
He attacked several of the people that make the league money.
As well as turned off at least one fan (Anyone see the little boy crying?)

A professional sports league will not and should not tolerate a player going into the stands for any reason aside to shake hands, catch a ball, accidentally etc.
Although it may not seem fair, Professional athletes do have a higher standard to live up to.

Edit to add: Just wanted to point out that I really did love watching it!
Heard after the game "Hey I went to the basketball game and a hockey game broke out!"

[eddo31]

i thought it was interesting seeing what chris chelios had to say about the incident. he was at the game, sitting courtside, and he said it was absolutely insane. he also said that it was clearly wrong to go into the stands, but at the same time he didnt think he would have remained on the court if his teammate was in the stands. he would have gone in as well, is what he said, even though he knew it would be wrong.

mitch albom had some interesting things to say in his column yesterday, basically saying that this is a black eye for everyone involved.

[PShabi]

I played basketball in high school and we were really tight. Any scuffle my teammate was involved in woulda led me right in, no questions asked. Your brother goes into a fight, whether he started it or not, you'll be right behind him.

Woulda done exactly what Stephen Jackson did.

[TajaUk]

lol i would have loved to have seen this happen. Similar things have happened over in the Uk a few times, but never as a result of people actually throwing things at the sportperson involved. He deserved a right good slapping hope he gets arrested for assault.

[GeoffM]

Trust me, if you needed to see this, just throw in a random English soccer game with thousands of drunken englishman in the stands when a fight breaks out.

I'm sure if you do a google search you are likely to find the clip. On TSN up here they even showed the chair that was tossed randomly thru the air, I wonder who that hit?

[jimmytheg]

the chair hit an older gentleman who was knocked unconsious, horrible spelling i know. if i'm not mistaken he is one of the people who have already sued.

[TajaUk]

lol, i have been watching Leeds UTD for years, thru the years I have seen riots, many many fights, police charges, drunken stampedes etc etc.. Its really cleaned itself up over the last 10 years, no such fun at soccer games now.