Pac Man caught on camera punching stripper and biting bouncer

i didn't read bill's column... but if he ever walked the strip he saw cops lining the strip. there were cops everywhere. i don't remember seeing any police inside casinos or hotels.

 

No way. You know Nagin will be pining for that NBA $$$$ to be rolling in next year. Sad thing is, most of will never be seen or used for a legitimate cause and reason.

BTW, going back to Pac Man, I hope Fisher and the Titans end Pac Man's short tumultous tenure. He's been warned several times to stop putting himself into bad spots.

 

When did New Orleans ever not have a high crime rate?

Tourist trappings aside, that's never been a particularly safe city.

 

Nothing happened in Detroit or Miami during the Super Bowl because the fan base is different. It's not necessarily the NBA - but its fans. Attended both and never once felt remotely sketched out.

Vegas will never got a pro franchise. Too small, too dirty, too gully.

 

Well, I do believe the major problem/mistake/whatever you want to call it is that everyone went to the All-Star game looking to cover it purely from the entertainment aspect, and not much else.

Like I said, I agree with your column, Jason. While there is definitely some truth to the notion that the NBA attracts hip hop fans that don't know how to behave, I'm not entirely convinced it's the complete truth. Mardi Gras is billed as being wild and ridiculous. There are tons of arrests and yes, murders. But rarely is there any kind of national outcry over what happens at Mardi Gras and I've read stories about people being murdered right there in the street and the drunken revelers just partying right over them.

And to play devil's advocate, why should the NBA take the heat for a NFL PLAYER doing something stupid?

I do disagree that New Orleans will be a war zone. Everyone is in a protect New Orleans phase and I truly believe no matter what goes on down there, people will be hesistant about attacking the city because of what it's been through. I also don't think New Orleans has the same pull as Vegas (anymore).

And to answer your question, yes, to some degree the city of Atlanta is at fault for what happens when big events come there. Freaknik is an entirely different issue because of where and how it began. It started as an unsanctioned event that grew into lore. Only in its later years did the city begin to acknowledge and take advantage of its presence. And once they did, it became a safer event.

 

It seems sort of disingenuous at this point to feign shock or surprise that there was trouble in Las Vegas at a major sporting event.

And wasn't the mayor - a former defense attorney for the Mob and thus likely acquainted with the worst in human nature - roundly criticized here just a week ago for having dared to hint that things might get out of hand?

http://www.sportsjournalists.com/forum/threads/37664/

 

the nba is going to take the heat because david stern has spent the past 3 years trying to distance his league from thugs... and his all-star weekend is being overrun by thugs. nba players love to project the rap/hip hop/thug image and that's why it's all-star weekend attracts a different crowd from the super bowl or mlb all-star games, other one-day events that turn into weekend-long parties.

to some degree, a comparison to mardi gras is wrong. i'd like to read the stories about people being murdered and people continuing to dance around the bodies. when bullets fly, people usually scatter. that's the way it was in my hood. maybe it's different in the dirty south.

nba all-star weekend should be compared to other american sporting events. the nba all-star weekend is the only one overrun by thugs who routinely pull guns and shoot indiscriminately into crowds or limos around closing time. there's just no reason to deny an obvious problem.

i've been to vegas many, many times. i've been for several mike tyson fights. this (all star weekend) was the only time i felt uncomfortable. this is the only time i altered what i was planning to do to avoid possible trouble. i've always felt very, very safe in vegas.

 

Jason -

A quick question, more along the lines of craft than content. I read both your pieces. Did you give any thought to invoking the Tupac shooting, or the juxtaposition of the NBA All-Star Game (Wilbon's "Black Thanksgiving") with Black History Month, when you were writing? Or can your point be made without reference to those things? As always, honestly curious. Thanks.

 

Really. Could it be the Thugs, Whores, Rappers, Playas and everybody in between just wasn't feeling you!

They DEFINATELY got a reason to have a BEEF!

Don't blame it on the Ghettofab crowd because you couldn't enjoy yourself amongst Black people. They cut you off...

Blame YOURSELF!

P.s. In comparison: Scoop and Wilborn got VIP and STAR-LIKE treatment. (I wonder why)

 

Well, if that's the case, maybe he should just write from his couch. Cops seem like a hard thing to miss. But ...

This is from the third graf: "So many wild stories floated around about shootings, robberies and everything else that we never knew what to believe; still, every tale seemed reasonable because there were no cops to be seen. On Saturday night, one of my friends even joked that the city might have to declare martial law, only none of us laughed because we didn't realize he was joking."

Here's the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070220