No excuses...

"We must affirm that the NBA will strive to exemplify the best that can be offered by professional sports, and not allow our sport to be debased by what seem to be declining expectations for behavior of fans and athletes alike."
-David Stern - NBA Commisioner

My thought on the brawl between the Pacers and Pistons and the crowd is pretty much the standard "Ron Artest is a thug" type reaction. Nothing too special I know. It's good no one was seriously hurt. It turns out that Artest attacked the wrong guy in the stands anyway. What a moron. Everyone involved should face the business end of the law. Hopefully that will happen. Some people are saying Stern handed out too harsh of a penalty. What? If anything he was too light. Stop and think what would happen to you in your job if you attacked a customer like that? It's simple, you lose your job. Period. No excuses, nothing. You're out of work. This is what should happen to Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, and Stephen Jackson. They physically attacked their customers. By not banning ALL THREE for at least the whole season, sends the wrong message. I understand that the fans were out of control, whoever had a hand in any of it should face criminal charges as well as losing season tickets and being banned from the arena for life. Everyone is guilty in this, the only innocents are the kids in the arena that night who got to see their heroes for who they really are. Overcoddled, overpaid, unmoral, unaccountable fools who have no right to have any association with a league that at one time represented the ultimate in fair play and sportsmanship (anyone remember Magic, Larry and Michael?) and has degraded into a league full of no skill, hack jobs collecting a paycheck.