Malice in the Palace Part 2

It is less than 24 hours after the worst altercation in WNBA history, and I cannot help but be amazed that history has repeated itself at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit. Back in 2004 the NBA saw a brawl in Detroit that has since harmed the game, but optimistically I anticipate the WNBA will not fall victim to the same fate. Where the NBA suffered the consequences of being called a league of thugs and punks and instigated the David Stern revolution, the WNBA may actually attract publicity that will positively promote the league.

On November 19, 2004, I remember turning on Sports Center and finding to my great shock that there had been a massive melee between the Indiana Pacers, the Detroit Pistons, and the not so gracious fans in attendance at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Ron Artest, at that time a Pacer, fouled the Pistons' Ben Wallace on a layup attempt, which was really the smart basketball move, with Wallace making fewer than 43% of his free throw attempts during the '04-'05 season, but lacked class in a 15 point blowout. Wallace completely went nuts, which surprisingly was met with Artest mocking Wallace with a calm satisfaction as he lay along the scorers table while tempers flared on the court. Reggie Miller, the wily Pacers veteran, expected the worst from Artest and tried to keep him calm and away from trouble as he quickly grabbed the microphone headset off of Artest's head when he pretended to do a radio interview. You cannot fault Reggie for trying, after all Artest is the guy who got a job at Circuit City in Chicago after signing a multi-million dollar deal with the Bulls; he is clearly nuts. Artest's sanity could only last so long.

Pistons fan, John Green, threw the girly softball pitch of his life, drilling Artest in the chest with a cup. Then, as the enraged Artest climbed into the stands, Green played the innocent while the four-eyed dope next to him was going crazy shouting and pointing at Artest. Naturally, Artest decked four-eyes and then Artest got a face full of soda from the fan behind four-eyes. Out of nowhere, Pacer teammate Stephen Jackson was on the spot to deck soda thrower and the brawl was on. Green, the pansy cup tosser and former convicted felon, starts to sucker punch Artest in the back of the head. The stands behind the scorers table swam with flailing arms and sucker punches as peacemaking players and coaches attempted to extract the players from the stands with eventual success.

Upon Artest's return to the court two Pistons fans came onto the court to menace Artest, and as one would expect Artest got in three or four punches on one of them before his fat friend fell on Artest knocking him back. Moments later the fat friend took the most vicious punch of the night from Jermaine O'Neal as he ran in sliding across the court. Next, a police officer threatens Artest with pepper spray while Reggie Miller rushes in pleading to just get Artest off the court. It makes you wonder where this officer was when punk fans where coming on the court to attack players. Eventually the Pacers players made it off the court showered with all the trash Pistons fans could muster with the classiest fan throwing a chair.

That week the suspensions were handed down in a way that completely crippled the Pacers, which at that time was one of the true championship contenders in the league. I was upset at the injustice of rewarding the Pistons and their fans for instigating the deplorable occurrences of that night. The aftermath of the past three and a half years has been even worse. The event sparked a new era of image consciousness on the part of NBA commissioner David Stern. Players have an appearance code to follow that includes business casual dress and no headphones or medallions. Penalties for players, coaches, and owners have been ramped up. The physicality of the league has been greatly reduced as was seen most dramatically with the Heats 2006 Championship behind Dwayne Wades NBA Finals parade to the free throw line averaging over 16 attempts per game. In short the the "Basketbrawl" of 2004 gave the league a black eye that has made the NBA less entertaining to watch.

Jumping forward to July 22, 2008, the Los Angeles Sparks were playing the Detroit Shock in a WNBA regular season game. The Sparks rookie phenom and former Tennessee standout, Candace Parker, was the recipient of several hard fouls down the stretch and tempers rose amongst the players. Then off of an inbound play, the Shock's Plenette Pierson was tangled up with Parker and both players fell to the ground. Pierson then rushed Parker, bumped and straddled her to prevent Parker from getting up, and then was pulled to the ground by Parker.

Next, Pierson's teammate, Deanna Nolan, dove on top of Parker. The benches cleared. Cheryl Ford injured her knee trying to restrain Pierson and she had to be carted off in a wheelchair. Lisa Leslie, Sparks center and one of the all-time greats in women's basketball, confronted Rick Mahorn, former Pistons Bad Boy of the 1980's and also a figure in the 2004 NBA brawl. Mahorn appeared to shove Leslie to the ground, and in retaliation DeLisha Milton-Jones struck Mahorn in the back of the head. While lacking the fan involvement and long lasting drama of its NBA counterpart, this episode of "Malice in the Palace" has likely already drawn as much national media attention for the WNBA as any other event ever.

While the WNBA has long been the punch-line to many a male chauvinist joke, the truth is that these women play basketball at a very high level. The average WNBA player is more fundamentally sound, a better mechanical shooter, and a better team player than the average NBA player. The US Women's Basketball Team that won gold in Atlanta in 1996 was just as impressive as the true Dream Team of the US Men who were so dominant in Barcelona in 1992. The women of that 1996 team founded the WNBA which right off the bat was a league of exceptional talent.

With the emergence of stars like Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker the WNBA has the star power to wow arenas and TV audiences if they only get a chance. Where NBA players fighting gave the perception of thuglike behavior, this WNBA melee shows the world that the women to play with passion, fire, and physicality. I hope that ESPN broadcasts this story like crazy and with no regular season meetings left, if the Sparks and Shock meet in the WNBA finals every game better be broadcast with live national coverage on ABC.