Sport-Blog.com

by Tom Hanson

Surely by now everyone has seen the images of the early season National Basketball Association melee, an altercation considered one of the worst incidents of athlete and fan violence in American sports history. As shocking as those images were, the videotape of the Pistons-Pacers brawl has much to teach us, particularly by providing a strong visual reminder of just how tenuous the societal boundary between public civility and abhorrent behavior truly is.

That NBA incident brings to mind the famous book written by William Golding in the 1950's. In "Lord of the Flies" Mr. Golding tells the story of a group of boys who, once removed from society, begin to behave in an exceptionally appalling manner. Within the book is also one of the most gruesome and memorable of visual images, that of a pig's head mounted on a stick, the bloody head awash in black flies.

The NBA brawl was an equally appalling illustration of the depravity to which individuals can descend when civil reciprocity is lost. Of course, the brawl was even more disturbing as it was real, not some work of fiction.

The unfortunate incident began when Ron Artest, a young man seemingly destined to draw flies, committed a flagrant foul on Ben Wallace, the foul coming with about a minute left in the game and Artest's team winning by a healthy margin. Wallace, taking exception to the hard foul, struck Artest a violent blow to the throat. As Artest went reeling back from Wallace, an on-the-court melee began with players and coaches rushing onto the playing floor.

Responding theatrically, Artest continued backpedaling after receiving the blow. When he reached the scorer's table, he promptly prostrated himself on his back, nonchalantly looking up at the rafters while the remaining players began milling about on the floor. One fan, unable to resist a response to this flamboyant foolishness by Artest, tossed a plastic cup with a clear liquid in it, the cup and liquid striking Artest in the chest.

Analogous to the degeneration of the behavior of the boys in Golding's book, Artest promptly raced up into the stands to accost the fan who had thrown the cup. However, Artest unknowingly attacked the wrong spectator. Many fans rushed in to pull Artest off his target. While this was taking place, other teammates of Artest raced into the stands to support him.

With bad behavior begetting more bad behavior, one of the fans dragging Artest back from the accosted individual began swinging wildly from behind the player, striking Artest in the back of the neck and head with a torrent of blows. In yet another shocking development, a man beyond the circle of grappling players and fans picked up a metal folding chair and hurled it into the vicinity of those milling about, the chair a missile without regard for whom it would strike or hurt.

When Artest finally extricated himself and returned to the floor, one more spectator decided to join the fray and challenge Artest. Continuing the pattern of horrific behavior, Artest promptly punched the man squarely in the face, the violent blow dropping the spectator to the ground.

Yet, as disturbing as all of that behavior had been, the final images from the brawl were perhaps the most troubling. As the players were escorted from the court to the locker room by team personnel, numerous fans pelted the departing players with whatever they could lay their hands on. Some launched the liquid from their cups, others tossed the full cups themselves, while still others hurled boxes of popcorn and other food. at the players. The astonishing torrent of debris included a barrage of verbal abuse as well. Given the preceding behavior, one wondered if the departing athletes would turn on their heels to race back up into the stands and again attack their tormentors.

Though people were highly critical of the behavior of the players, many more observers were appalled by the fans' behavior. The entire spectacle was a classic example of how the delinquent behavior of a single person can set off a chain reaction, one person's behavior causing numerous other people to conduct themselves in a way that they would not otherwise act. Ultimately, the brawl also demonstrated the power and the ability of a mob mentality to influence others.

The NBA melee serves as a clear reminder that when even a modest part of our societal moral structure begins to break down, it is exceptionally difficult, if not impossible to reverse negative behavior. It is particularly startling to know that this is true even when such a breakdown begins with the isolated actions of a single person.

Whether it be the tossing of verbal insults, a cup with liquid, or a closed fist, one truly never knows how others will respond when they are victims of or witness to such negative actions. Like the boys in Golding's book, the fans and players involved in the NBA fracas demonstrated that the boundary between civility and abhorrent behavior is exceedingly fragile.