How to defend your manhood? By creating a brawl is what...

So anyone who saw that brawl during the Detroit Pistons - Indiana Pacers game Friday night on national cable television, has an opinion one way or the other. Depending on whom your sympathies lie with, it was either a brawl that was incited by some really crappy fans who asked for it, or it was a case of an out-of-control superstar athlete, who stepped out of bounds of normalcy.

To recap, Ron Artest gets fouled hard by Ben Wallace sometime in the second half. Toward the end of the game, Artest returns the favor, but what happens? Ben Wallace's manhood has been challenged, and he shoves Artest in his face and tries to get in his face. At that time, admirably so, Artest goes back to the scorers table and lies down, only to get hit in his face by a beer cup. And then, to quote Tilly from 'Guess Who's coming to dinner', "All hell gone broke loose".

In a free-for-all brawl that ensued, involving Artest, Jermaine O'Neal, Stephen Jackson and couple others, engaged in a street-fight like fisticuff, that resulted in the game being called with just under a minute to go in the game.

What this reflects on, is the sorry state of the society today. A society where courtesy, politeness, and many other virtues that are supposed to be held in high esteem, are being kicked out the window. Instead of shaking off taunts and insults from fans, taking the issue into ones owns hand results in an ugly escalation, and that is exactly what happened on Friday. What a great example they set for the millions of impressionable kids that watch the game. A wonderful example indeed. Kids, if someone insults you or taunts you, do not take the high road and shake off the taunt or insult. Instead, go after the taunter, and validate the taunting, and get into a melee.

Ego, one-upmanship, holier than thou...don't know what in the name of hell is the reason, but one thing is for sure. If you are going to taunt someone, be prepared to defend yourself to the point of death. That Friday, it was in a basketball court. What do you know, the next time this happens, it might be in the middle of a swanky restaurant with knives and other cutlery around.
Nah, I am getting carried away by all this.

The thing here is that, these kind of incidents and events are not in the majority, rather they are few and thankfully far in between. But unfortunately, typical with the modern-day mass media, they get air-time belying their status. Anyway, it is still disturbing that the so-called professional athletes, who should know better, are the ones that end up setting the crappiest example.

Even more irritating is the attitude of the people governing these sports. NBA commish Stern issued lengthy suspensions, and then spouted his spiel about being concerned for the fans. Yeah right. Concern for the fans. With the straight face with which he said these lies, he is the perfect man to sell ice to the eskimos. If he were so concerned for fan safety and such, and for fans in general, maybe he and his band of greedy millionaire owners and players can start by reigning in the player salaries and arena/ticket prices. Maybe they can decide to reign in the cash cows that feed their pockets - beer sales. But no, they would not do that, and instead hope that such incidents do not repeat themselves.

Ultimately though, shame on the individuals involved in the entire ridiculous sequence. The athletes, the fans, all of them. May you realize the idiocy of your actions and learn your lesson.