Sports Is Great

Who could forget the Pacers-Piston brawl in which players from the Indiana Pacers went into the stands and fought with the Detroit fans? The incident took place on Novemmber 19, 2004 when Detroit Piston's player, Ben Wallace pushed Ron Artest after receiving a hard foul. Several players from both teams joined the fray. But the real escalation in violence took place when a fan threw a cup at Artest. This lead him to run into the stands and confront the spectator. Pacers players, Stephen Jackson and David Harrison followed leading to an all out brawl between them and the fans. After the incident, Artest was suspended for the remainder of the season, Stephen Jackson was suspended for 30 games, Jermaine O'Neal was suspended for 25 games, Ben Wallace for 6 games, Anthony Johnson for 5 games and Reggie Miller, Chauncey Billups, Elden Campbell, and Derrick Coleman were each given a game suspension for leaving their respective benches.

"On December 8, five Pacers and seven Pistons fans were charged, O'Neal was charged with two counts of assault and battery; Artest, Harrison, Jackson, and Johnson were charged with one count each. Five of the fans, including Green, received one count of the same charge; Bryant Jackson, a 35-year-old fan with prior criminal convictions, was charged with felony assault, for throwing a chair. The two fans that were on the court (Shackleford and Haddad) were charged for trespassing. " On February 17, 2005 the NBA imposed an alcohol policy for all NBA arenas which reduced the size of Alcoholic beverages to 24 ounces and cap of two alcoholic beverage purchases for any individual person. Alcohol sales were also banned after the end of the third quarter.

...