http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apad8VxJeR0

The Malice at the Palace

For my paper on violence I want to focus on a basketball game that was played by the Indiana Pacers and the Detroit Pistons on November 19, 2004. The location of the game was in at The Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The Pacers–Pistons brawl also known as The Malice at the Palace; it was an altercation that occurred in a National Basketball Association (NBA) game between the Pistons and Pacers. ESPN's Jim Gray reported late Saturday that, “Detroit's Ben Wallace, whose shove of Artest sparked the melee, felt bad about the circumstances Artest now finds himself in and had contacted Artest through an intermediary to apologize. Officials stopped the game with 45.9 seconds remaining after pushing and shoving between the teams” The fighting began on the court and then extended into the stands after a plastic cup with beer was thrown at then-Pacer player Ron Artest. The consequence led to nine players being suspended without pay for a total of 146 games, which led to $10 million in salary being lost by the players. Five players were also charged with assault, and all five were eventually sentenced to a year on probation and community service. Five fans were also legally charged, and John Green, who threw the cup at Artest, received a lifetime ban from attending Pistons games. The fight also led the NBA to mandate increased security presence between players and fans, and to ban the sale of alcohol after the third quarter.
After the brawl there were many players and coaches that said they felt they were fighting for the lives out there. At the time Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said, "I felt like I was fighting for my life out there," and he later added on, "I'm sorry the game had to end this way." To feel that you life is begin threaten out there like that during a basketball is very intense situation. Some of the reactions of fans and announcers were:
Several NBA players and coaches said the brawl was the worst fight they had ever seen, and 83% of fans who voted in a SportsNation poll on ESPN.com said that the fight was the "ugliest incident of fan-player violence" they had seen. Initially, Piston fans were blamed for the incident, as John Saunders referred to the them as "a bunch of punks" and Tim Legler said that "the fans crossed the line." Radio host Rush Limbaugh called Detroit "New Fallujah", after the Iraqi city, and 46% of the voters in the SportsNation poll said that the fans were to blame for incident. However, others said that Artest and the other players involved were to blame.” (ESPN.com)
Some of the reactions of players around the league were that it must have been a extreme situation for a player to react like that. Quentin Richardson of the Phoenix Suns watched the brawl on TV, and said "I have never seen a fight like that in a game since I was in high school," he said. "Man, there are going to be some lawsuits. You don't think some of those fans aren't going to want some NBA money?" (NBA.com). Also the Lakers' Lamar Odom saw it for the first time as he was being interviewed. "Whoooo. When you see things like that, just think about what it takes for NBA players to go into a crowd," Odom said. "Sometimes fans get kind of out of hand, but it must have taken a lot for NBA players to go into a crowd and start a fight."(NBA.com)
There has been situations like this over seas like in England and other European countries were soccer matches end up in some time of violence and carrying on to the field. Soccer fans are very devoted to their teams, fights start in the stands and then some lead into riots. But this violence happens all the time here in the U.S. as well almost every time there team wins some sort of championship the city then has to move the police officers into riot mode. Such incident happened in 2001, in Los Angeles when the Los Angeles Lakers won their first championship in 12 years. Fans riot the streets burned down polices car and smashed shop windows and ran off with televisions, computers and furniture. The riots were compared to the Rodney King riots. Philip Delves Broughton said that “The violence was reminiscent of that which followed the acquittal of a police officer who beat up the black motorist Rodney King in 1992.”(Telegraph.com) Violence in sports always around, sports can be very intense and can carry into violence. Especially when you have died hard fans that support their team to the fullest the bleed there team color.
One of the key factors that help Artest to get to this level to jump into the coward was the action of the fan. The fan is a key person to look at because with out the fans there is no leagues or sports, with there money they can afford players salaries building stadiums and so on, so a team can function. One way that a fan can enjoy the game and release some of there stress is thru the consumption of alcohol beverages. Many people use alcohol in form to become another person. Some use it to make them into something there not and help them become out going in a situation while begin sober would not let them react that way. Some fans like to create situation that will cause problems for people near them and result into an argument and some time fights. The fan that threw the beer at a NBA player had to been drinking in order to attempt this act that he did. Obviously he was drinking because his beer was full and able to throw it a Artest. He was probably not thinking about the actions that he might be causing because one you are under the influence of a substance it does not let you think things thru and make bad judgment calls that you might not do when you are sober. The problem of selling alcohol at sporting events is not the issue because not at people consume enough alcohol where they do not know what they are doing. Some stadiums and arenas let you tail gate in the parking lot, where you can camp out and cook some food and can consume alcohol beverages. So, some of these fans are already coming into the event intoxicated or wasted. Some police officers look the other way when you are walking down the event drink an alcohol beverage and not tell you to get rid of it. Even the banning of sales would not help people to act a certain way. An experience that I have seen going to a sporting event is that some people sneak in some type of alcohol that they could put into there soda, so this person could have been a minor drinking, that can lead into more problems that a person can get into trouble. It also hard not to want to get a beer or a alcohol beverage when almost all sporting events just club you over the head with advertisement with there product. Every where you turn there is a sign for beer or a good looking person having a alcohol beverage, they are just like cigarette advertisement so or later you are tempted to want to have a beer or something. So it is team and sporting events fault at time for fans to be acting the way they do. If teams or sporting events denied the use of sponsor form alcohol companies then maybe teams would not have fans that act in such a manner that they would need to act in such a behavior that affects the outcome of a sporting event.
Another key topic that Mike Lopresti writes for Gannett News Service was that he talks about, “It was the shot of a terrified little boy fighting back tears, comforted by an adult, who presumably then had to explain why a basketball game had turned into a street fight” how do you explain this to a little boy that wants to be one of these NBA player that this is not how you are suppose to act. Many boys and girls dream to be athletes when they grow up. Although Artest is not one of the know best player in the league he still needs to set a example for the youth that watch and models themselves based on these athletes behavior. There was a Nike campaign that includes Charles Barkley in which he said that I am not remodel, and you should look at your parents or the other examples that he uses to be remodel for these kids. But in during this era there was a Gatorade commercial that talks about wanting to be like Mike, which referred to be like Michael Jordan. Jordan was the poster person of the NBA he was face of the league, almost every body want to be like him, he was one of the few athletes that carry himself well and did not get in to trouble publicly, and if he did or ever got into trouble you never heard about it. In sports there is a saying that you give the torch to a player that was good and is about to pass him prime give it to the next great young star. Jordan thus gave this torch to a player named Kobe Bryant he was a young 18 year old player when he came into the league. He then committed a crime with a young girl that ruined his image and thus lost many of his sponsors and his creditability form the league. In Lopresti article, Detroit melee latest black eye to degenerating NBA he talks about Kobe actions in that:
“the Los Angeles Lakers, turned into a pack of carnivores, eating one another in print or on tape. Kobe Bryant, faced with a felony, tried to sell out his teammate as a diversionary tactic at the first squeeze. We still don't know if he is guilty of sexual assault. But he is the face of the Lakers, cheered nightly for his point totals, his broken sense of team forgotten. The quintessential all-for-one and one-for-himself. A true me-firster. The essence of today's NBA.”
But after a few years later I guess people and fans forgot the crime that he did. Since he is such a good player people forget about what he did. At first the Lakers try not to make him the face of the franchise and use all the other players on the team. After the years past and Kobe begin such a good player he started to become the face of the league again. People quickly forgot about his act, he changed his basketball number and his basketball jersey top the NBA in sales. People are always quick to forgive someone. He is currently the face of the NBA he now plays a key role in a program that the NBA created called NBA Cares that helps people and kids that need help also since the playoff has started the have used Kobe image to prompt the playoffs and using him to get ratings and prompt this event for the NBA. Kobe is doing a great job of re-establishing his image but it as fan should we not forget or is it ok for players to act like this as long as they are good? We are not prefect and we all do like to give people second chances to try to prove themselves. Ron Artest is a perfect example of this that his actions caused him lots of troubles but able to come back from that.
What I do not understand is why that people do not understand Artest action to leap into the crowd and act like this. Lopresti argues that:
“A couple inanely suggested going into the stands is a perfectly respectable response to being provoked. Is that where we are now? Some idiot — deserving of arrest — hurls a plastic cup of beer, and a 6-7, 246-pound professional basketball player feels so threatened to go charging into the stands, with the inevitable bedlam to follow? It was a macho reaction, blind with rage and blinder to common sense. An athlete puts himself in immeasurably more danger leaving the court and attacking the stands. The beer was not going to hurt Ron Artest. But some drunken fool in the seats might.”
If somebody was to do something like that to me I would have the same reaction as Artest, although it might not be right it just seem like it would be the right thing to do, somebody there trying to challenge me needs to know that provoking somebody that should expect that something bad could happened. Artest has had some histories of problems in the NBA he has:
“Artest has been involved in some bizarre situations and has been suspended frequently, but his latest antics topped them all. Earlier that month, he was benched for two games for asking Coach Carlisle for time off because of a busy schedule that included promoting a soon-to-be-released rap album. Artest also destroyed TV monitors at Madison Square Garden and missed the team flight to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals at Detroit one season.”
Also, another thing to look at is the upbringing of Artest; this might be reason why he might have reacted this way. “Artest was born and raised in the Queens Bridge projects in Queens, New York. He played high school basketball at La Salle Academy and college basketball at St. John's University from 1997–1999.” (TruWarier.com) He was brought up in a tough area were you are taught to defend yourself. The Queens Bridge project is one of the hardest places to grow up in the U.S. He did attend college but he was only there for two years and was not able to finish his education and maybe helping him with the decision he made that day so that he could maybe avoid that situation a d walk away from that. Many African American youth look at sports to try to get out of the ghetto and try to take care of there own, I think Artest had the same idea and try to get out of school early and support himself and his family. Leave College early could have been a mistake for him because maybe if he stayed in school he could have gotten a better education and maybe had made a different choice for the night of the brawl.
In addition, the act that Artest was a bad situation for both fan and athletes, they both need to carry themselves in different ways. There are rules that fans need to follow and not break, but what Lopresti wants to do is:
“The first thing the Pistons should do is end beer sales at halftime. The second thing they should do is overhaul their security operation. But the issue is not one night of uncivilized behavior. It is what this league is in danger of becoming. So frantic to be trendy, so eager to make stars. A place where, in the headlong pursuit of individual glory and glitter, there is no place for moderation and decorum is a concept for yesterday. An atmosphere where a man does what he wants to do, be it player or customer. Even if it leaves frightened kids weeping.”
This idea would not work because fans would find a ways to bother athletes even if they stop alcohol sales. The increase of security idea would be good because it would to watch the fans and not do a criminal act. At Dodger Stadium they have Los Angeles Police officers scrutiny the stadium and they are very quick to reply to a situation occurring in the fans sections
In conclusion, Artest actions are shocking to see but many people would react the same way. It might be macho or a “man thing” but it hard not to fight back if something is thrown at you. People would get into fight just because somebody step on there shoes, in a movie called Do the Right Thing a situation like this happened were there about to get into a fight over a small matter that is blown up into a bigger situation. The NBA promotes this behavior the let the TNT channel prompt the playoffs with a slogan called “We Know Drama” to sit here and say we do not like then why would so many people watch it? In the 2009 playoffs there is a series between the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics and promoting by saying how much a battle and fight that the series is having and replaying all the images with people bleeding and shoving and pushing each other. After the Detroit Mayhem On March 25, 2005, the Pacers played at The Palace for the first time since the brawl. The game was delayed 90 minutes after a series of bomb threats were aimed at the Pacers locker room, but the game eventually started after no explosives were found. In the ESPN article it stayed that, “Two of the key figures in the original incident missed the game, as Artest was still suspended and O'Neal had an injured shoulder. In the game, the Pacers stopped the Pistons' twelve game winning streak with a 94–81 win.” (ESPN.com) so the games did contained but that first time the pacers came to Detroit was a very situation what they had to go thru. Artest lose approximately $5 million in salary due to his actions and beginning suspended doing the thing he loves. Recently after a playoff win Artest joked with the media and his teammate Yao Ming by saying that, “After showing his vast reservoir of guile in the press, the NBA's Most Notorious celebrated this Rockets milestone by downplaying the whole thing, and making a warm-hearted joke about the Auburn Hills brawl.” (SPORTINGNEWS,com) people have moved on from the brawl and hopefully athletes can control themselves and not cause further violence to a situation and maybe control it, I know it hard for them with all this emotion and energy going thru them it hard to think about what your doing, but athletes are on a whole different level and have to develop tough skin because they are measured thru a different light.

Work Cited
Artest, Ron “NBA Funhouse” 2009 flv=1>
Artest, Ron TruWarier.com 2009
ESPN.com news services “Artest, Jackson charge Palace stands” November 19, 2004

ESPN.com news services “Suspensions without pay, won't be staggered” November 22,
2004< http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=1928540>
Lopresti, Mike “Detroit melee latest black eye to degenerating NBA” USA Today From

The Press Box 11/20/2004
2004-11-20- lopresti-brawl_x.htm>

NBA.com Player Profile 2009

Shoals, Bethlehem “Ron Artest Redemption Tour Rolls Onward”www.sportingnews.com

May 01, 2009
/23691/ron_artest_redemption_tour_rolls_onward>

TNT.com 2009 < http://www.tnt.tv/>

Artest, Ron TruWarier.com 2009

The Brandon Teena Story & Susan Stryker

After watching the Brandon Teena Story and reading, "My Words To Victor Frankenstein Above the Village of Chamounix Performing Transgender Rage" by Susan Stryker, it was interesting to look at these works. I never thought that transgender is such a big issue. I am glad that I live in California where these issues do not come up as in other places like in Nebraska. The Brandon story was interesting to look at and sad to see this documentary. It was very sad to learn about Brandon and the rest of the victims that are killed. Even though Brandon did not always follow the law he did not deserve the action that John Lotter and Thomas Nissen did to Brandon. They first raped her then killed her, even though Brandon lied to his family, friends and girlfriends. He stole from friends and family to get things that he wanted, he lied to get things from girlfriends, he would buy his love so that he was with the girls he loved. Although it seems he was a criminal, his heart was in a good place. His actions did not need to lead to what was ended up happening to him. First from the John and Thomas, second from the sheriff that did not believe him and last the whole justice and criminal system that did not help Brandon. It is amazing to see that events, like this still go on in America.

The work by Susan Stryker was good to look at because it shows how a transgender person feels. It was interesting how she made the comparison to Frankenstein to transgender people. I topic that I thought was interesting was the experience of her trying to have a baby. She straddles her partner having birth and this was going to be the closet way she could experience this event. No matter how much and how much money she spent she could never really feel like women because she could not give birth. I never thought that there were so many issues in becoming a transgender person, I figured since you are changing yourself to become what you want to be you are able to be happy. It just seems no matter what you want to be, somebody not going to be happy with what you are.

Long Night's Journey Into Day

After watching the documentary Long Night's Journey Into Day, it was interesting to see what is happening in South Africa. I saw a lot of these connections to the U.S. or more locally to Los Angeles. All the events that happened in the documentary remind me of event that took place in the LA County. In South Africa I did not think that there were so many racial issues, even in the U.S. race and racial violence is still a problem today even after we had vote a Black President.

The first case they showed about the foreign exchange student Amy Biehl and how there were four black men that killed her; it was interesting to see that how they got off with the charges. But one thing that surprised me was that the parents of Amy meet with the families of the killers. I thought this was interesting because one of the Journalists bring up about how a person would feel like after going thru a event like this. I feel like I like the old saying and eye for eye, I like to quote the rapper Jay-z when he tells “Now if you shoot my dog, I'ma kill yo' cat” I think this quote would best sum up how I would get remorse.

The Guguletu 7 case reminds me of the Rampart Scandal that took place in Los Angeles Police Department with in the Rampart division. Some of the Rampart police officers would set up people and plant weapons and drugs, just like the group planted weapons on the individual’s part of the guguletu 7 case. Just like in this case it was there own people or own race doing harm to the same race of people.

Another thing that was interesting was Robert McBride case because he was a black person doing the terrorizing to a white people, of course that happens in the U.S. but the always get convicted but for Robert it was not so much they let him of the hook and this usually is what happened to the white officers who are begin convicted or put on trial they drop the chargers or beat the case. This film is very interesting and to see how South Africa is connected to the US and fighting over racial issue.

Fanon and Lee

In the Movie Do the Right Thing and the book The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon is see some of the ideas of Spike Lee and Frantz Fanon in that they are both trying to show the struggles and minorities of begin colonize by different groups. Although Frantz focuses on more a worldwide views then that of Spike. Frantz look at it as a big picture, while Lee looks at it more of a detailed look. Lee focuses on a neighborhood while Frantz looks at the struggles of Algeria. In the movie you see the different struggles that race go thru in ones neighborhood that has such diversity. While in the book it look more at two areas in which France and Algeria are fighting and try to get there independence.

But one area that I see different is that Frantz seems to attack more of the white person for the problems that are begin caused. While in Lee’s movie it show that it just can not be blamed on just one side, he shows that all people involved in the situation of the movie are the different race are just as responsible. In Lee movie it seem like black people are colonizing the neighborhood. I think you see this when the character Buggin Out it trying to force Sal, the Pizza Place owner to chase the Wall of fame and add African-Americans to the wall. But Sal does not want to put any African-Americans on the wall. There are some connections between Frantz book and Lee’s movie but there are also some disconnections that the work does not look at in the same way.

A SIngle Numberless Death Blog

After reading, A Single Numberless Death by Nora Strejilevich there is a passage in the book that I found fascinating. It states that “The secret of assimilating into the new culture was to never look back.” When I read this it made me think about my family coming to the U.S. Although, I was a the first generation to be born in the U.S., I still felt that I had a lot of the custom that I inherited coming from an immigrant family. In order for me to settle and become part of a new culture was going to school and watching on TV, also what my parents would try to teach me.


There was a time in my life that my mom had gotten a promotion but needed to learn more English in order to be successful at her new promotion. She asks my brother and me to stop speaking in Spanish to her and to speak English so she could learn the language. Looking back at this moment now I see that our family was starting to adjust to our new American culture just like Nora was trying to adjust to the life in Argentina. Even assimilating in school it was hard to do because of the language barrier that I had, I was always able to speak the language, but grammar would always set me back, and it was hard to be part of a culture because I was not able to write the language.


Although my experience is not as severe as Nora’s experience because they would force them to perform acts that I could not image happened in the U.S. One of the experiences that the book mentions is that they made people who were Jewish do Nazi practices and tell them to hail Hitler. The worst punishment that I had was to maybe do more homework, but as a youth this experience was not enjoyable. It just that when you are trying to settle in to a new culture you need to let go some of your old custom in order to assimilate into a new culture.

Hostel

After watching the movie Hostel, directed by Eli Roth I thought that the movie was excellent scary or horror movie. I do not find much interest in movies like that, but Hostel is one of my favorite movies. One scene that stands out to me is when Josh played by Derek Richardson and he is begin torture and one of the surgeons cuts the back of Derek ankle, this part of the movie make me feel so squeamish. But the scene that I want to look at, is that there was a scene that I thought I was very interesting. It has to do with the one of the scene towards the end of the movie where the character Paxton played by Jay Hernandez where he follows the Dutch business man into the bathroom.


In a way it reminds me of a event where a U.S. senator of Idaho named Larry Craig. In where the senator was at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bathroom and he got caught by undercover sting trying to pick up another man, to have sex with in the bathroom. I see the comparison this to Paxton roll in the bathroom scene because it was in a public place where allegedly a lot of gay men pick each other up in public bathrooms. In the movie there also a scene where he meets an American Client that is ready to kill someone, and he compares the act to sex. The reason that I think that Paxton might be a bi-sexual is because in one of the begin scene of the movie it looks like he is having a three some with one of his friends.


So to me it seems that he could be exploring with some homo-sexual tendency even though thru out the movie he might seem he is not a homosexual. So I can see the connection that Paxton is having a gay experience by doing this act in bathroom. Because he is getting he revenge and is begin satisfied with the enjoyment of killing the Dutch business man, because if he just wanted to get even then all he had to do was caught the man fingers of but he went on a step further and killed the man and he is not relieve till the man is dead and lying in his puddle of blood. Just like a man might dehumanize a person after sex.

Welcome to Jose’s blog site. Well to start off with the purpose of having this site is because of the class I am taking called LRS 491, which focuses on The Politics of Violence. I am currently a senior at California State University Northridge. I am majoring in Liberal Studies and also getting a minor in Chicano Studies. As you can see I love food, especially In-N-Out. I am a big sports enthusiast; I love football, basketball and baseball. I prefer college football over the professional stuff any day. I am a big Dodger fan as you can see by the photo. Some of my hobbies include collecting Air Jordan’s, working on my Subaru WRX Wagon, and spending time with my children. Well, thank you for visiting my blog page, and do not be shy to leave a comment.