In Honor Of Karl-Anthony Towns And Joel Embiid....Remembering Malice At The Palace

We started talking about the Embiid/Towns fight on Breakfast this morning which led to a discussion on malice at the palace, so I wanted to throw it up on the blog. It’s one of those things that you watch back and can’t believe actually happened. Players fighting players, players fighting fans, fans fighting fans, coaches, refs- everybody got involved. Just complete bedlam that makes last night’s scuffle look like a cat fight. I’m not downplaying it, Im just saying things could’ve been much worse. So let’s take a trip down memory lane to November 19th, 2004 in Auburn Hills, Michigan. With 45.9 seconds left in a regular season game, Ben Wallace was fouled by Ron Artest and the rest is history…

Nine players were suspended for a total of 146 games resulting in $11 million in lost salary (a lot for the time). Five players and five fans were charged with assault and from then on out the NBA would increasingly monitor  player/fan interactions with increased security limited alcohol sales during games.

I feel like the NBA has moved past the “super bitch” phase it went through where any sort of physical contact was a foul, but watching these guys fight still brings back memories of when they really used to let each other go it.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great Thursday and if you’re in the Jacksonville area, I’ll be down there for the World’s Larges Cocktail Party with the Breakfast Boys. Come by and toss a few back.