Palace Brawl Was ‘Ugly Scene,’ Says Pistons President

Players, Fans Exchange Punches In Stands

For those of you not privy to the rumble in Detroit the other night, we have here the video of the event:

Officials stopped the game with 45.9 seconds remaining after pushing and shoving between the teams spilled into the stands once fans got involved by throwing things at the players near the scorer’s table.

Former Pistons’ ‘bad boy’ and TV commentator Bill Laimbeer told Local 4 it was the worst fight he’d ever seen.

‘On the court, you can have all the fights in the world. . . but when you get into the stands, that’s the cardinal taboo of any professional sport,’ said Laimbeer. ‘You cannot go into the stands and attack fans no matter what they say or what happens.’

If you do not have the ability to check the video, it’s pretty bad. Players charging the stands, chasing after fans, fans retaliating and going out on the court, police, etc.

What a mess. Unfortunately, now that the taboo has been broken, I wonder how often we can expect these such events? Hopefully this will be the last time, but you do have to mention one item of interest – there is very little that the police could do to hold back the fans. And there weren’t that many fans. That could not have been comfortable for the non-combatants on the floor.