kNucklehead Basketball Association

By now everyone has seen the video of the "basketbrawl" from Detroit Friday night. What a bunch of morons.

The players, fans, security, etc. all badly botched this whole deal. You can find blame in all of them, but certainly there was only one person in that arena who had the ability to start or stop the riot. Pacer player Ron Artest was laying on the scorer's table - where he clearly didn't belong - following an on court skirmish with the Pistons when some idiot fan threw a plastic beer cup on Artest. At that moment he had two choices. He could have controlled himself while witnesses pointed out the idiot fan and security arrested him, or he could jump into the stands and start a riot. Artest made the wrong choice and will now have the rest of the season off to think about it. It will cost him over $5 million in lost salary, but with his wealth, that's really not that much of a penalty.

Artest is certainly not the only culprit, and I don't think the penalties handed out were severe enough. If I was commissioner, I would add a little something. How about 10 home games for each team in an empty arena. That's right - no fans, no parking, ticket and concession fees, and no TV/radio fees. Full refunds for all ticketholders. That might get their attention.

Both teams deserve that kind of penalty. The Pacers because of the actions of their players, and the Pistons because of the actions of their fans and the lack of security.

The NBA has become a collection of poster boys for bad behavior. Whether it's Kobe and his extramarital dalliances, Dennis Rodman and his idiotic behavior, or any of a hundred or so other players who participate in similar conduct. When you give millions of dollars to undereducated but athletically talented young people, you're asking for social problems. Certainly the influence of violent hip-hop and rap music in the black community from which most of these players come is not making their transition into adulthood any easier.

One of the reasons I enjoy NASCAR so much is the drivers represent not only their teams, but multi-million dollar companies who worry a bunch about their image. If a NASCAR driver were to commit such idiocy as Artest did, he would quickly find himself out of NASCAR forever, and there wouldn't be any union trying to get him reinstated. Consequently, the drivers and team members in NASCAR manage to control themselves in situations that would probably result in a riot in other sports. Sure there are temper flareups and even occasional fights, but no NASCAR member would ever consider doing something that would bring the kind of embarassment on the sport in the way NBA players regularly do.

I wouldn't attend an NBA game if you gave me free tickets, a $1,000 and drove me to the game.