[aberdeenwriter]

Antonio Davis

C B C . C A S p o r t s O n l i n e - F u l l S t o r y :

Knicks' Davis suspended 5 games for fan altercation

Last Updated Thu, 19 Jan 2006 18:07:12 EST
CBC Sports
The NBA suspended New York Knicks forward Antonio Davis five games on Thursday for going into stands during a road game in Chicago the previous night.

FROM NOV. 21, 2004: Pistons-Pacers game ends in a brawl

Antonio Davis stands on the scorer's table after confronting a fan during Wednesday's game in Chicago. (CP Photo)
Davis, believing his wife was in danger, walked over the scorer's table and into the crowd to confront a fan during the chippy 106-104 loss to the Bulls on Wednesday.

NBA vice-president of basketball operations Stu Jackson, who handed down the ruling, said the league accepted Davis' argument that he believed his wife was in trouble during Wednesday's game, but also made it clear that there is no tolerance for players entering the stands.

"We have made it plain to our players and our fans that players may not enter the spectator stands, no matter the provocation, and that violations of this policy will be treated with the utmost seriousness," Jackson said in a statement.

"We have concluded, however, that Antonio's actions were the result of his belief that his family members required his immediate assistance, and have taken those mitigating circumstances into account in setting the length of the suspension."

Davis, once a member of the Toronto Raptors, calmly went into the stands during a timeout to challenge a man he saw harassing his wife, Kendra.

"I witnessed my wife being threatened by a man that I learned later to be intoxicated," Davis explained.

"I saw him touch her."

Davis was mildly restrained by several fans and there was no physical altercation. Security escorted Davis back onto the court.

Davis was then taken to the locker-room after referees ejected him from the game.

"I know I should not have acted the way I did, but I would have felt terrible if I didn't react. There was no time to call security. It happened too quickly," said Davis, who is the president of the NBA Players' Association.

Security guards told CNN the fan in question was simply telling Davis' wife to sit down – and it escalated into a verbal spat. The guards also reported there was no physical altercation between the two.

CNN is also reporting that a 22-year-old man Davis challenged has hired a public relations advisor, a lawyer and is planning a lawsuit against Kendra Davis.

New York coach Larry Brown told reporters after the game that Davis claimed someone threw a punch at his wife because she was cheering for the Knicks.

The incident stirred up memories of last season's infamous brawl between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons that ended with several players running into the stands to fight with spectators.

Criminal charges and numerous player suspensions followed in the wake if that incident. Ron Artest, of Indiana, was suspended for the season for his participation in the brawl. The Pistons' Ben Wallace got six games and the Pacers Stephen Jackson was slapped with a 25-game suspension.

Brown, who was the head coach of the Pistons at the time, said Davis's situation is completely different.

"Come on, that's his wife," Brown said.

"That thing that happened in the stands had nothing to do with the two teams. That's a man concerned about his family. I don't blame him and I don't think anybody blames him," Brown added.


Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved

The people at fault here are Antonio Davis' wife, the fan with whom she interacted and the Security staff.

BUT MOSTLY HIS WIFE!

There is no Constitutional guarantee against being offended. If the wife wasn't so selfish she would have realized that she was violating the fans right to enjoy the game. His telling her to shut up and sit down (even with the use of an expletive) was probably insulting to her but she was acting like a child.

And she CERTAINLY should have known Antonio would have responded the way he did given her actions. She wasn't thinking about anyone but herself.

Antonio should take the money subtracted from his paycheck (due to the 5 game suspension) from her allowance.

Act like a child, get treated like a child.

[andi*pandi]

no one ever stands up at ball games to cheer?

[Rolling Bones]

What's that other guy doing in that picture and is that a salami in his shorts? For shame!

[nredman]

the nba sucks - havent watched it in many years - boring - college basketball is alot better

[rickey939]

How many did Jordan score? Oh wait.

[shunt]

*adding the word "chippy" to the list of adjectives I aspire to use regularly.*

--Try OSX, it's chippy! ...not quite right

--That's a chippy new Apple MacBoo.....argh, it doesn't even type well

[Ghoser777]

I was at that game - tons of fun! Three ejections, three technical fouls, overtime, game winning shot by Gordon, and free Big Macs (when the Bulls score over 100 and win at home)!

[paul w]

edit: wait a minute, this is silly. who cares who started, or what happened.

I think it's funny he's suing her for $1 Million, though.

[euchomai]

I stand during games and sometimes people yell at me to sit down. It's just part of the game though, standing and cheering when excited is accepted.

I disagree with you about it being the wife's fault. Some jerk guy yelled at a lady, that seems to be the problem to me.

[brapper]

Kendra Davis is a huge bitch. Nothing but a headache the whole time Antonio played for the Raptors.

[Dork.]

Originally Posted by rickey939

How many did Jordan score? Oh wait.

I never did understand the big deal about that Jordan fellow. He couldn't even hit a minor-league curveball!

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi

no one ever stands up at ball games to cheer?

What normally happens...

Fan stands up to cheer or boo. Fan Sits down. If fan doesn't sit down other fans tell them to sit down. They, then, sit down.

What seems to have happened here is...

Wife stands up to cheer or boo and doesn't sit down in timely manner. Other fan tells her to sit down (perhaps rudely). She gets in other fan's face and begins giving him grief and causes a furor which (understandably) attracts the attention of her husband.

[KeriVit]

Why is he suing his wife?: Isn't that like suing himself?

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally Posted by paul w

edit: wait a minute, this is silly. who cares who started, or what happened.

I think it's funny he's suing her for $1 Million, though.

Me too!

EDIT: KeriVit, the FAN is suing her.

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally Posted by euchomai

I stand during games and sometimes people yell at me to sit down. It's just part of the game though, standing and cheering when excited is accepted.

I disagree with you about it being the wife's fault. Some jerk guy yelled at a lady, that seems to be the problem to me.

I don't have ALL the facts yet, but I tend toward her being a bit too obnoxious.

People yell and cheer and stand up and boo at games. Granted. But for her to get in the fan's face was too much.

[aberdeenwriter]

Ooops

[Dakar]

The suspension is a bit harsh (2 games seems reasonable).

Whats more amusing is if an player admitted to seeing his wife and trouble and wouldn't go into stans to defend her, he'd be branded a poor husband.

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally Posted by brapper

Kendra Davis is a huge bitch. Nothing but a headache the whole time Antonio played for the Raptors.

Your post prompted this search.

SHE DID IT BEFORE!!!???!!

http://raptors.mostvaluablenetwork.com/2004/11/21/

Sunday, November 21, 2004
All’s Not Fair in Love and War

Filed under:
General
— David Moro @ 10:56 am

This melee at The Palace was about one thing and one thing only–those who felt they were owed something.

Ben Wallace thought he was owed a free pass in a blowout. So, instead of taking the foul and simply glaring or mouthing off at Artest, grabbed him by the throat. He then proceeded to incite the fans against Ron until a fan did his bidding. He receives five games. Artest? He gets 30.

When Wallace’s teammates were asked who they thought the best defensive player in the league was–with Ben in their presence–they stated they still felt that “…Artest was better.” “When he’s not rapping!”, Mr. Wallace was said to retort. I guess he felt he was owed more respect from his cohorts than he got.

Apparently, the League feels it owes the fans the right to degrade and physically harm players. It is also owed the right to discriminate based on prior history of each player. If this is any other team than Detroit–the players who were involved from that team would have had merited more equal punishments.

The fans who were watching thought they were owed the right to throw beer and taunt the players mercilessly because they were edgy in a lop-sided game.

Ron Artest , Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson feeling their personal space was shattered, and thus went after the fan(s) he thought violated his person. They felt they were owed retribution.

The idea among the players they needed to back each other up. “We owe it to our friends and teammates,” they must have thought.

You could even make an argument that the security felt they were owed the right to watch the game, and thus did not work hard enough to help ease the tensions in the arena until they escalated to a feverish explosion.

When will be people learn? In these cases, no one was owed anything, except respect.

When you play a game, the players who beat you have a right to play hard to the end, Ben. Conversely, the other players ARE owed the right to not have a riotous crowd attack them.

When you decide to assault players you’re asking for something volatile to happen, fans. You are not owed a win. Or a close game. You are not owed to right to behave childishly. You are not owed the right to insult player’s families or assault them, as happened to Kendra Davis, Antonio Davis’ wife. He was forced to remain on the court and try to keep composure while his loved one had her hair showered with beer.

What happened? He called security. Right move? I’ll let the moral majority rule on that one. You know, the one’s who felt they are always owed the “right” side of every issue.

And finally (and perhaps most importantly) to Ron, Stephen and Jermaine. When you are about to do something stupid ’cause you’re angry–try to pull back and think about the result of your action, and it’s implications for you. You are not owed to right to lose your mind.

We can only hope the best of the battles this year stay on the court, not off it. Because basketball is owed more than this.

[aberdeenwriter]

http://slamonline.com/links/archive/november2002/

Two days ago, Lenny Wilkens mangled the finish of a Raptors game, coaching his team out of a win. Afterwards, a reporter quoted Antonio Davis's wife, Kendra, as saying that Antonio would demand a trade. Well, as it turned out, Kendra says she was only kidding, and Antonio Davis confronted the reporter yesterday and said to keep his wife's name out of his column, since she doesn't play for the team.

This story gets summed up by reader Adam, who writes...

Sup lang, Well it looks as though Doug Christie and his wife got some competition now. Antonio Davis and his master Kendra are giving them a run for their money. AD went after a reporter today who wrote an article quoting Kendra saying Antonio was planning on demanding a trade. This is not the first time Kendra has played the innocent victim, if you recall -- last year in Detroit, Kendra was crying about harassment from some Detroit fans, sending AD into the crowd trying to protect his wife. Protect her from what, who knows?? Then this drama queen calls into an all-sports radio show, claiming she was misquoted, that Antonio is treated unfairly by the toronto media (unfair, the man makes 12 million a year, any other city with some more basketball knowledge would be demanding a refund and praying to God the man actually does get traded -- as long as he takes lenny and mo pete with him). She goes on to blabber that the writer should go work for the tabloids, but would any of this happened if she didn't open her mouth while surrounded by reporters?

She has no one to blame but herself. This women has been trying to get some air time forever, hosting halftime segments that actually make people want to leave their seats and buy something just so they can escape her for a couple of minutes. Somebody needs to inform Kendra that this isn't going to jump start her acting career. She's got to realize that the most she ever is going to be is Mrs. Antonio Davis and she should just keep quiet and be thankful that Glen Grunwald is the Santa Claus of GMs. Besides, Toronto already has a high profile female "cheerleader," and I don't see Mama Vince giving up that role anytime soon.

Thanks for the letter Adam, even if it was a little harsh. Does this remind anyone of a situation last year when a certain MVP candidate's wife was posing for pictures on the front of the newspapers, and then her husband asked us to leave her out of the news? I dunno...maybe Kendra's still mad that Antonio got mentioned in the Gold Club trial when they meant a different Davis.

[wdlove]

Originally Posted by KeriVit

Why is he suing his wife?: Isn't that like suing himself?

Maybe she has wealth of her own.

With the picture perspective makes all the difference.

[aberdeenwriter]

To everyone tempted to respond to KeriVit's post...

THE FAN IS SUING KENDRA AND ANTONIO DAVIS.

The suit is for $1,000,000 and all they have to do to make it go away is to apologize and make a donation to charity. Apparently the guy filing suit is the son of a very successful business executive who is big in the Democratic party and has ties to Hillary Clinton, among others.

Antonio Davis said in a press conference today that they have no intention of apologizing.

Too bad. I predict he and his wife will pay big time.

[Ghoser777]

I met Mark Aguirre at the Depaul-Marquette game on Tuesday. The way he autographed his basketball card was really intimidating... can I sue?

[paul w]

Originally Posted by aberdeenwriter

...big in the Democratic party and has ties to Hillary Clinton...

Very important information in a very serious thread.

[11011001]

Is it wrong that I thought this was about baseball until I saw the picture?

[aberdeenwriter]

Originally Posted by 11011001

Is it wrong that I thought this was about baseball until I saw the picture?

Wrong? No. Incorrect? Yes.