Oh my god, things were so close so It’s bad here.

At Saturday’s Indoor Football League game, Massachusetts Pirates and Arizona Rattlers A near-brawl erupted between players and fans, resulting in utter chaos, with several star players suspended. announced Monday.

The game, held at the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix, was a big playoff game for the IFL. But by the end of the fourth quarter, everyone forgot about the game for a moment and focused almost entirely on Malice at the Palace: Pigskin Edition.

Pirates defensive back with just 32 seconds left Leon O’Neill Jr. He jumped over the fence into the stands and was confronted by several fans who were screaming and pointing at him. After a brief exchange, O’Neill turned to return to the field, but things got worse when a brawl erupted after fans surrounded the Massachusetts star.

clock:

A wild scene at the end of a Rattlers game. Five Massachusetts players were ejected with 32 seconds remaining. Players in the stands…if the fans say something, they have to be held accountable, but they can’t fill the crowd. It looks like the child in the front row is crying?! pic.twitter.com/yqtjRKIjjn

— Cameron Cox (@CamCox12) July 3, 2023

If I were the Commissioner of the Indoor Football League, I would be very happy that it turned out this way.

It’s wild how close this whole situation came to a pigskin equal to palace malice. A single swing by either O’Neal Jr. or a fan would have erupted into utter madness.

Flashback to 2004’s Malice at the Palace.

Watching the clip of Palace Malice again reminds me of how crazy it was, and it almost happened again.

Except for the drink being thrown at Ron Artest (now known as Metta Sandiford Artest) at the time, this is exactly how the Pirates vs. Rattlers game played out before Artest’s punch. was.

But if O’Neal Jr. or his fans were throwing that punch, this is exactly the havoc we would have been going through — even though O’Neal Jr. and the fans didn’t even punch. , you’ve already seen the battle break out. scrap. (Related: Straight comedy! Damian Lillard and Heat trade reportedly on hold because Ben Simmons *moistens throat* nobody wants)

As I said earlier, if I were the Commissioner, I would be glad that things ended that way.

Talk about dodging bullets and a big stain on the indoor football league.