Antonio Davis Conference Call Transcript - Jan 20, 2006
Q: Could you give us your quick assessment of how things went yesterday with regards to the suspension, your feelings on it, and whether or not you plan to appeal, which the union has already said they plan to.
Antonio Davis: Well first of all, I understand that I broke a rule, and I am understanding that I was ejected from the game. I didn’t feel that they were going to give me 5 games, but now that they have, my first reaction was kind of, “wow,” but I am planning to appeal it and file a grievance. At this particular time, there’s really nothing I can do but serve my suspension and hopefully that will be looked at pretty quickly and see where we go from here.
Q: The question I have is Mr. Axelrod’s lawyers put out a letter today that they said they mailed to you, saying that if either you or your wife would publicly apologize they would not file a lawsuit, that was all they’re asking for. I don’t know if that’s something you would consider, or what’s your position on that.
Antonio Davis: I’m not apologizing to anybody for anything. I don’t think that my wife did anything wrong. I don’t think that I did anything wrong. I think it’s unfortunate that adults can’t come to a public gathering like that, a sporting event, and as adults, enjoy the game. The whole situation was unfortunate, but I just think that to even say that you’re filing a lawsuit for something that’s…really no need to go into it. I just think it was kind of crazy. So no, I’m not apologizing for anything.
Q: Hi Antonio, he also mentioned perhaps, if not an apology, a donation to some sort of charity, which is something you already do. Is it something you would consider in this case again?
Antonio Davis: Why would I donate some money in his behalf, or in anybody’s behalf for something I didn’t do? If anything, he needs to take a look at himself. I think the fact that he continued to say the things he was saying after the fact that it was brought up that my son was sitting there, says a lot about him. The first thing is, I never said his name. I never that it was this guy that was intoxicated or anything like that. I just merely said that after it was all said and done I was told that one of the guys was intoxicated and was asked to leave the building.
Q: I was just wondering, now that you’ve had time to talk things over with your wife, and possibly you’ve seen the video of the encounter in the stands, what is your version and her version of exactly what happened?
Antonio Davis: To sum it up, she was sitting watching the game, the guy behind her, the guy that was behind A.J., behind my son, was continuously saying things about, you know, the team and saying things about me that were very inappropriate. She then asked him very politely to take into consideration that a kid was there, and it was my son, and I was just relaxing and trying to enjoy the game. He then went on to say some other things, and it kind of got out of hand at that point, another guy got involved, ended up grabbing my wife, and then that’s what I saw. I saw him grab my wife, and that’s when I reacted.
Q: About your mental state right now, I know you didn’t want to practice with the team today, will you lay low for a few days, or will you try to practice with the team? Involving Kendra’s role in this, do you think she could have handled it better, or do you think she handled everything the right way? Do you have any regrets, or would you do the same thing again?
Antonio Davis: First of all, I’m just kind of hanging out. I’m due back into work in the next day or so. I just don’t know. I can say I feel bad about the whole thing, but most of all, I just feel bad for my wife. She just wanted to come to the game and relax and enjoy it as she always has for a long time. We’ve had other situations, but it’s never come to a point where somebody hasn’t understood that there were kids there. There’s a way I think you should handle yourself when there are kids there. And if I had to do it all over again, I would do the same thing. I don’t think that you have time to think about it, you’re just reacting. I think that my wife was in danger. I didn’t like it at all. I didn’t see anybody there helping the situation, so I felt I had to go up there and make sure she’s fine. I think she handled herself the best way possible. Sometimes you can’t sit there and be rational to somebody that’s irrational. She was very polite in asking him to take into consideration that my son was sitting there; kids were there. But I think it was only appropriate for him to understand that and mind his business understanding that.
Q: Last night, Stu Jackson seemed to indicate that, again, the proper way to handle this is to point the situation out to a security guard and let them go deal with that, but I’m wondering in your travels around the league, even after the situation at The Palace of Auburn Hills, do the players actually feel confident that a lot of these uniformed personnel are capable of handling situations and do you trust them to deal with situations like this?
Antonio Davis: To me, that’s a two-part question. First of all, I don’t think there was enough time for me to point to anybody and have them go up there. I think if they were just standing there and having a conversation, then maybe yeah, I would ask security to go up there and make sure she’s fine, but if I see somebody swinging at my wife or grabbing my wife, there’s no time to point to anybody. I would have felt terrible if he would have reacted more aggressively and pushed her or hit her. Then it wouldn’t even have been a matter of going to see if she’s okay. It would have been a matter of going to protect her. I think that, in that instance, you can’t just sit there and wait for someone to go and do something. You have to go do it yourself. I think that the security that travels with the teams… I trust that he would have gone up there and made sure she was fine, and even remove everybody from the situation if he had to. I don’t know how other guys feel, but in certain arenas, I won’t even let my wife go because I think it’s ridiculous. That’s the way that I’ve decided to handle it. In this case, I just don’t understand why it got to the point it got to, but I really didn’t care about that; the only thing I cared about was making sure she was safe.
Q: In light of all this, and I know there’s been a lot written about Kendra, that she’s often pretty vocal at games, and maybe has gotten into things before, are you concerned at all about her putting herself in harm’s way, do you think the family is still going to be attending games in the wake of this?
Antonio Davis: You know what, I think the biggest thing is that as a parent - let’s just take into consideration as a parent, you take your child to a sporting event. If there’s someone there that’s saying something inappropriate, you have the right to ask them to ask them to tone it down, and if they decide that’s not what they want to do, then you have a right to call somebody and tell them about it. At that point when she was very nice to ask the guy to take into consideration that my son is here, and he disregarded that, and then tried to make it seem like she’s the bad person in all that, I think is just crazy. It really has nothing to do with my wife, she’s there protecting my son. She’s standing up for what’s right. I don’t see in any way how anybody can say that she did anything wrong unless you were sitting up there and heard the whole thing. You really don’t know. In talking to her, I don’t feel that she’s done anything wrong, and in the past I don’t think she’s done anything wrong.
Q: You were very calm when you went up there. Would you say you were in control of your emotions, and what might have prompted you to get physical if you had to get physical?
Antonio Davis: Well I think if I would have gone up there and he was still continuously trying to grab at my wife or anything like that…yeah, I was very much in control. As you can see, I wasn’t going up there to try to make matters worse. I went up there concerned because of what I saw. After that, after going up there and seeing what was going on, and hearing what he was saying after I left, I totally understood why there was a confrontation. I don’t think that there’s any other way to handle it. I just feel like if you can’t go to the game and go there for the purpose of enjoying yourself…
Q: Have you or your wife looked at the situation in terms of doing anything legally to the gentleman who grabbed her or any other person there?
Antonio Davis: Listening to her…her wrists were sore last night. I felt like it, but the bottom line is I just want all of this to go away. It was an unfortunate situation. I got penalized for it. Nobody’s feeling it as much as I am. And I also feel bad for my wife. I hate that she was caught in that situation. I feel bad for my son. I hate that that guy was up there talking about his dad like that. No, I don’t think bringing the legal system into this particular situation is one that’s the right thing to do.
Q: What did you observe, personally, when you went up there and were with your family and if you thought you being up there did any good to help the situation out.
Antonio Davis: I think it did. The fact that I came up there and brought attention to the situation seemed to kind of mellow it out. When I first looked up there, I didn’t see a security guard. I saw a guy grabbing my wife and he was swinging. So the first thing I thought was let me go up there and make sure that she was fine. It was just that. It was a reaction. I didn’t think about it and didn’t recognize that I was going to get punished, or any of that. It was a just a total reaction.
Q: About the legal matters again, if his attorneys ask for these two things and you won’t do either, are you prepared to go ahead with the lawsuit if he brings it against you?
Antonio Davis: Obviously, if he brings a lawsuit against me I have to defend myself. I just don’t understand what he’s going to say. All the tapes show that my wife was very calm and saying, “hey, relax, relax, relax and calm down.” And I never mentioned his name, I just said, “one of the gentleman,” so I don’t know what the lawsuit is all about.
