Brothers (AX/Casey00), I do agree with you guys on the issue that the yOUNG athletes need to be helped. Well, one can be helped only when he is in the position to get helped by. I am not going to buy the post-brawl innocence Artest is trying to sell. He has the rest of the regular season to get helped. He can do community services, get some anger management therapies, ..... and all the things he needs to. I don't think the league will show him the back if he puts effort into those activities. I do not buy the fact that SHORTENING THE SUSPENSION (added the therapies, counselling etc.) is the only the way to help him. I haven't heard him apologizing the fans he personally hammered. In general yeah ... but not specifically. If he is that good of a person, he should have made some efforts to reach those fans he personally attacked in the stands or on the floor. Of course, the fans should do the same. Artest is not gonna lose anything (respect, pride, whatever) if he goes to the fans and says sorry. That just makes him a better person and a better athlete. Welll EGO..... It's the easiest job in the world to SOUND like a nice guy in the aftermath of all the mishappenings. Artest battered the fans in the stands for the first time. But his ON-court violence is nothing new to the sports world. On that respect he is the one who had been suspended for the longest durations by the league in last 3 seasons. if he was that good of a learner, he would have learned his lessons by now. Again, I don't mean to say there isn't any area where he can improve. HE can be the most behaved and respected player in the league: that's always possible. Seeing how he had progressed (or the opposite) as the seasons had gone by, i don't see that happening. LEt's live in the present and in the fact. he is the most violent athlete on the court. His history need not to be accounted for last FRiday's brawl. THE way he behaved that night is good enough to suspend him for the rest of the season. PEriod. don't you think he could have been banned from the game?? Maybe we gotta do some retro-analysis also. YEs brother Casey00, Artest like every other athletes and like every single human works for his money. There's no reason to be jealous about his fatter pAYchecks. Talking about profession and suspensions and salaries... let's get real. You work for a company, you did something stupid and you got fired. You can try to prove your innocence but when it's all evaluated and investigated and you are proved to be at fault, What are you gonna do about it?? WHine ! cry! You won;t have the checks coming every other thursay or friday.That's how any profession works. I would be happy or at least would have a reason to be happy to know that even though if I got fired, a charity of my choice is benefitting from it. No, that doesn't happen in most of the professions. At least, Artest is going to be a hero for some of the charities. And MY brother, I don't see the reason why/how, you can blame the ORganization or fine the organization for all that happened last Friday night. Again, what organization are you pointing to? Is it the NBA, Pistions or the PACERS?? I don't think anybody including the security personnels could do anything, if players and the facts act as fast as they did last fRiday night. I have no doubt that if Artest hadn't run to the stands, the security would have gone to the stands and try find and eject (+ file criminal charges!!) the fan who threw the beer cup. Do you? Besides, you cannot lock the fans or the players sitting on bench such that they cannot move. I cannot imagine that happening in the professional sports. It's upto the fans and the athletes to control their emotions if we want to avoid those kind of incidents. IF someone tosses a cup or anything at anyone, what do you think what went wrong?? security?? Nopes, it's the individuals. And also please someone go tell Artest that the Scorer's table is not a bed where players can lie down. Some people think Artest was cooling down (and I agree) while he was lying on the table, yet I cannot say someone is wrong if he or she comes to me and tells me that Artest was just showif offby laying on the table. it sounds less real yet who am I To judge? As of fans throwing objects at the players, Ax bro, I guess whoever had anything that can be thrown, threw towards them. That's sad but that happens all the time. Wish, such things never happened and happens. Baseball fields are the most common sites here in America. Football (i meant soccer especially international) and crickets (india Vs. pakistan) are the worst in the world. <

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