WHY FANS AND PLAYERSARE PLAYING SO ROUGH

摘要

As brawls go, it was hardly the worst that sport has to offer. Europeans accustomed to soccer's bloodbaths must have been chuckling: You call that a riot? In five minutes of mayhem that was repeated thousands of times on TV, Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest was seen leading a fast break into the stands at the Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich. Artest was charging down a local lout, John Green, who hit him with a full beverage cup after Artest got into an on-court scuffle with the Detroit Pistons' Ben Wallace. Several teammates joined Artest, punching anyone they could reach. The referees ended the game with 45.9 sec. left, and the Pacers were forced to exit through a shower of popcorn, beer and venom from Detroit fans. Nine fans were hurt, none seriously. But the rumble in Detroit quickly turned into another spectacularly American experience-bad sports behavior inorphing into trash television. Booyah! Artest, apologetic but clueless, was soon appealing on the Today show promoting the rap album he had just produced, looking as though he had scheduled everything on his Palm Pilot: Friday, beat the poms-poms out of a fan; Monday, work on that p.r. campaign! Green, who has had three DUI arrests, may not be able to dribble in a straight line, but he found himself on Larry King Live arguing the cause of those who feel that buying an overpriced ticket for a sporting event is a license to spew nastiness at people guilty of possessing far more athletic talent than they do.