Some more thoughts about the fight

• Whenever I'm at a game and I see one of several cops, I think to myself, "Man he's lucky, he's getting paid to be here." I also know they're there in case something happens. Something happened last night and I didn't see any cops. Maybe they were interrogating the donut vendors.
• I heard Jermaine O'Neil was punching fans too. There goes his MVP chances.
• I'm already tired of hearing about Pacers "defending" themselves. When someone throws something at you, don't defend yourself by going ten rows into a crowd, punching the first person you know you can beat up.
• I'm not defending beer throwers. For one, it's a waste of beer. Anyway, I think it was a pretty natural reaction to seeing athletes aggressively punch other fans.
• I remember Iverson going to jail for about a year for being involved in a high school brawl. Don't remember many details though.
• About Artest deserving to be punched: This was a thought I first developed while watching Rodman. There are never any significant consequences to Rodman's and Artest's actions. In hockey, if you do too many cheap shots, an enforcer will beat you up. Even in baseball, some pitchers will throw at batters who get out of line. There is NONE of this in the NBA.
• Artest didn't feel it was necessary to defend himself when Wallace attacked him. I guess it's much easier to defend yourself when the attacker is five foot seven.
• So much for the Artest/Peja trade. Most teams won't want Artest. I see him on the Knicks by next year at the latest.
  
• How does the NBA punish the Piston for what happened? A good fine will work. Maybe force Detroit to donate all their revenue from this game to some anti-violence charity. A more drastic idea would be to cancel the next Pacers/Pistons game, giving both teams a forfeited loss. It's drastic, but it would make other NBA teams work harder to improve stadium security and prevent their players from jumping into the stands.
• Some links: Detroit's perspective: "And a lot of it was inexcusable. But none of it would have happened if Artest had done what athletes are trained to do forever: Ignore the fans."

• Indiana's perspective: Warning: Bob Kravitz wrote the article. He's the Michael Jordan of journalism (Jordan playing baseball, that is). He writes, "What Artest did next, going into the stands to confront the fan, was human nature. Who wouldn't do precisely the same thing?" Answer: ME