5th Year Anniversary of the Malice in the Palace

Today marks the fifth anniversary of one of the most violent brawls in the history of professional sports. Typically, situations such as these occur in soccer stadiums across the globe, but in the United States you would rarely see something so heinous to the point where fans would get involved. On November 19, 2004, the world witnessed the biggest clash between NBA players and basketball fans. It was just another day in the premature NBA season when with under a minute left to play at the Palace, a scuffle between Indiana's Ron Artest and Detroit's Ben Wallace took place. This eventually led to Artest walking towards the scorer's table to cool off from the confrontation with the former Pistons star. Unfortunately, the scuffle would later turn into the first huge player fan brawl in NBA history after a Pistons fan threw a cup filled with beer at Ron Artest who was lying on top of the scores table. To make matters even worse, Artest would run up the stands and attack a fan that had nothing to do with the beer thrown at him. Players from both teams would also get involved with the fans that were attacking anyone wearing a Pacers uniform. Pacers players would not only throw punches at the players, but random fans as well. Pistons players on the other hand were trying to stop the fight while fighting the Pacers players.

When I saw this game five years ago on NBA on TNT, I wasn't surprised of Artest's reaction since he pretty well known as a hot-head throughout his career. This is a brawl that brought the worst from both sides and I have never thought it would last so long. Seeing the children cry in the stands was the worst part of the entire brawl. For them to experience something so brutal at a young age can be very traumatizing for them. Many players from both teams did get suspensions and fines, but Artest was suspended for the rest of the season without pay. He did however return the next season, but was eventually traded to the Sacramento Kings during the 2005-06 season. Ron Artest was recently signed by the Los Angeles Lakers after leaving the Houston Rockets during the summer. Any further information regarding this horrific event was provided by www.espn.com.