You know the variations on the old joke -- I went to a fight and a basketball game broke out. What happened in Detroit this past weekend? How does a fight on a basketball court turn into a riot where players are fighting fans? There's more than enough blame to go around. Ron Artest didn't need to commit a hard foul in the last minute of a blowout. Ben Wallace didn't need to blow up at Artest and incite the crowd to back him. The crowd was clearly out of line throwing objects and raining down epithets on the Pacers players. And Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal absolutely had no reason to go into the crowd and start beating on fans. In the aftermath of the NBA suspensions, it seems to me that the Pacers got about what they deserved, but Detroit got off lightly. Detroit, in particular, receives almost a free pass -- the loss of Wallace for six games certainly isn't a crippling blow for the team and Detroit fans, aside from the few season ticket holders who may lose their seats, get to enjoy watching the Pacers flounder. Why not hit the Pistons and their fans where it hurts by requiring the Pistons to play a few games without a crowd?
Finally, the most important question -- where does all this anger come from at a sporting event? Why is it that a basketball game in America can incite more passion than the war in Iraq, or a presidential election, or a genocide in Sudan, or the burgeoning number of homeless in the richest country in the world? When did our priorities get so skewed? And how are we going to pull ourselves back from the brink of such stupidity?
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