A fight broke out and both basketball teams cleared the benches. Fans threw beer, players threw punches and the scene exploded into one of the worst brawls in NBA history.
The replay of the Friday-night frenzy between the Pacers and Pistons, beginning with Ben Wallace?s two-handed shove and ending with Ron Artest?s leap across several rows of chairs into the stands has been splattered across the media all weekend.
The fight is over and the arena is cleared, but the madness still hasn?t stopped. The scene has been replayed daily, with experts discussing what this means for the NBA and the future of professional sports.
The athletes were unjustified in their attacks and in a statement Sunday, NBA commissioner David Stern said their actions ?wildly exceeded the professionalism and self-control? expected from NBA players.
After broken rules and broken noses, a handful of players now face suspensions. The longest will be Artest?s 73 games, an NBA record, with the rest of the fight club looking at a total of 143 missed games.
Although justified in suspending players and continuing the investigation, perhaps the NBA should also consider as equally at fault, fans who throw drinks, toss insults and launch chairs, crossing the boundaries of spectator enjoyment to WWF-like aggression and mass chaos.
There will never be enough police officers or security personnel to protect fans if some become uncontrollable, breaking the rules of spectator sports and swarming the court, endangering themselves and others. It doesn?t matter what a player does or what the situation is, no fan should ever jump on the court and begin trading injuries with an athlete.
The Pacer-Piston game wasn?t the only high-intensity sporting event this weekend, but the BYU-Utah game had a much different outcome.
The Cougars and Utes met in Salt Lake City for the highly anticipated game-of-the-year with packed stands and prepped fans.
Although blue-faced BYU fans may have booed and tossed a few choice words into the Saturday-night fray, none of the pre- or post-game celebrations came close to the mayhem that erupted Friday in the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Despite intense feelings about the outcome of the game, both BYU and Utah fans realized their jobs as fans meant maintaining a certain level of dignity and respect ? holding onto all beverages and staying in their seats.
Maybe that was too much to ask in Michigan.