Eminent Domain Stuff
New London Update (2/24/06)
Bad NLDC!
Coverage of the Rally at New London's City Hall (w/ pics)
Monday, November 22, 2004
Ding - Round 1
I always liked the old joke: I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out. Unfortunately, I think we might have to amend that to a basketball game broke out. In the interests of full disclosure, I don't give a flying you-know-what about that sport. As far as I can tell the maturity-to-salary ratio is lower in basketball than in any other sport. Regardless, I am going to weigh in on the latest debacle.
When I saw those two idiots run into the stands and start swinging my second thought (the first being, and I quote, "Woa.") was that their playing days were over. I figured that the league wouldn't stand for such amazingly stupid decision-making. The last time I check I would have a hard time keeping my job if I punched one of the people paying my salary in the nose. So I just assumed that the question would really be whether or not the players who bum-rushed the stands would end up in criminal or civil court before they managed to find a job asking, "Paper or plastic?" So you can imagine my surprise/disgust when I happened to be flipping around on the TV yesterday and ran into the NBA Commissioner's press conference.
The upshot is that Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson, both of whom where in the stands punching people have been suspended for the rest of the season and for 30 games, respectively. That is absolutely amazing to me. Plus, add to that the fact that Artest apparently went after an innocent guy. Imagine what it would be like. Here you've paid about $50 (or more?) to sit courtside. You see a brawl starting on the court, then some idiot hits Ronny with a plastic cup and suddenly this monster athlete is hopping over chairs and people so he can hit you in the face. And the upshot is that he gets suspended for the rest of the season? That's it? I'll tell you what, these guys are lucky I'm not in charge. If it were up to me I would send a very clear message to all NBA players, fans and the entire world: If a player attacks a fan he will never again draw salary from an NBA team. Feel free to go play in Europe or at your local pickup game...but you will never again wear an NBA uniform.
If you think I'm being too harsh, consider this question: Mr. Artest, for another $100,000 could you have managed to restrain yourself?
More:
I just ran into this quote:
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When I saw those two idiots run into the stands and start swinging my second thought (the first being, and I quote, "Woa.") was that their playing days were over. I figured that the league wouldn't stand for such amazingly stupid decision-making. The last time I check I would have a hard time keeping my job if I punched one of the people paying my salary in the nose. So I just assumed that the question would really be whether or not the players who bum-rushed the stands would end up in criminal or civil court before they managed to find a job asking, "Paper or plastic?" So you can imagine my surprise/disgust when I happened to be flipping around on the TV yesterday and ran into the NBA Commissioner's press conference.
The upshot is that Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson, both of whom where in the stands punching people have been suspended for the rest of the season and for 30 games, respectively. That is absolutely amazing to me. Plus, add to that the fact that Artest apparently went after an innocent guy. Imagine what it would be like. Here you've paid about $50 (or more?) to sit courtside. You see a brawl starting on the court, then some idiot hits Ronny with a plastic cup and suddenly this monster athlete is hopping over chairs and people so he can hit you in the face. And the upshot is that he gets suspended for the rest of the season? That's it? I'll tell you what, these guys are lucky I'm not in charge. If it were up to me I would send a very clear message to all NBA players, fans and the entire world: If a player attacks a fan he will never again draw salary from an NBA team. Feel free to go play in Europe or at your local pickup game...but you will never again wear an NBA uniform.
If you think I'm being too harsh, consider this question: Mr. Artest, for another $100,000 could you have managed to restrain yourself?
More:
I just ran into this quote:
"The line is drawn, and my guess is that won't happen again -- certainly not by anybody who wants to be associated with our league." -- N-B-A commissioner David Stern said.No, Mr. Stern, you misunderstand. The reality is that this won't be done again by anybody who wants to play the rest of the season. Based solely on your ruling that is the only conclusion that can be drawn. What are you going to do if this happens again? If some other player runs into the stands and breaks someone's jaw, are you going to suspend him for the -gasp- whole season? Or are you going to posture and suggest that this time the act is worthy of a lifetime suspension? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.
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