Tonight (in Detroit) broke my heart...
I have been a fan of the NBA since 1964. That is a long time. And tonight I saw something that broke my heart. I have a sick feeling in my stomach that I can't quite explain.
There has been a lot of footage shown already and I'm sure we'll all be heartily sick of seeing it before too long. But IMHO there is one undeniable truth. Some basketball "fans" have become less civilized than the Romans who watched and cheered while the lions devoured Christians.
I don't care what the provocation is supposed to be. There is a line you do not cross, yet someone in Detroit crossed it when they tossed a beer on Ron Artest who, for once, wasn't doing anything wrong.
Sure, Artest shouldn't have gone into the crowd afterwards, but the blame cannot be placed on him alone. He is human, as are all our players. He has been the subject of a lot of controversy and I think he finally had enough. No one should be subjected to being drenched by beer, soda, spit, foreign objects, etc. from the crowd.
The "fans" who actually came onto the court and appeared to square off against Artest should be permanently banned from all NBA arenas.
Players will undoubtedly be suspended, fined, etc. for what happened tonight. I certainly hope the Detroit police department reviews those films enough times to identify and arrest the fans who were the main instigators of this mess.
It was a good win in Sacramento for the Kings. Unfortunately, it was and will be completely overshadowed by the travesty that occurred in Detroit.
The game of basketball lost something tonight. Only time will tell just what it was...