It's funny that everyone says Captain Keith deserved the Hillstrand push down...
I tuned in just at the point of the confrontation and it looked like the Hillstrands (or the one brother) were the bully. Without the intro it looked completely one-side the other way.
I know I'm late to this...But Johnathan had what seemed like a legitimate beef with Keith.
It didn't get physical until Keith started yelling at him like he was Monty.
Keith's a bully, plain and simple. I can't imagine yelling at another grown man like that without it being a prelude to a fight. But Keith seemed genuinely surprised that Johnathan shoved him. How in the world can that be? Imagine doing that to a grown man irl and not having the guy take a swing at you.
And check Keith's body language post-shove: shoulders turned, chin tucked, eyes down. He knew he was wrong. And he was thanking the Lord that Phil commanded enough respect to keep Johnathan at bay. Notice that the big mouth "suckerpunch Hillstrand" stuff didn't begin in eanest until Phil was there. He wanted nothing of Johnathan. That one little shove put him in his place. On the Wizard, he gets to be the bully because of the finances of it and the way of things. But irl, when you get in a grown man's space that aggressively, there are going to be repurcussions. Besides, #######, it wasn't a sucker punch; it was a direct reaction to your action. And Johnathan did it while looking you in the eye.
Captains talking to guys in the bar = rationalization after the fact. The explanation of the string of pots on the video screen last year = rationalization. He's an inconsiderate lout and a bully; that's probably saying a lot by the standards of those guys. None of them are likely experts on what little fork to use at what stage of a white-napkin meal. Someone else said it in the thread: this has been building based off of what seem to be legitimate transgressions instigated soley by Keith. But I can see your point; having tuned in only at the confrontation, it could certainly appear that Johnathan was the instigator.
But I don't think that the sentiment of it was staged. Maybe the execution; Johnathan could have take it up with him off-camera. But, on the other hand, Johnathan doesn't seem like the "gone Hollywood" type. If there was any staging; it was to Keith's benefit, imo. Sans cameras, I think the Wizard starts the season late waiting for Keith to be released from the hospital.