There is no justification for any athlete to go into the stands after fans, I don't care what the provocation is.
That said, the majority of the fans I observed on TV Friday night were not victims, they were perpetrators of mob violence.
Sure, Artest had no business rolling off that scorer's table to pound heads in the Palace stands; it was his actions that turned a bad situation into a riot.
However, he wouldn't have done so if some lunkhead hadn't thrown a cup of beer on top of him as he lay on his back.
Meanwhile, the fans that ran on the floor to rumble with the Pacers - including the fat guy who got decked by O'Neal - have zero right to complain about their treatment.
They were as out of place as the Pacers who went into the stands.
As someone who attends more ball games - at levels of sports ranging from high school to the NFL - than is healthy, two things constantly trouble me.
One, is the level of bad behavior that passes as acceptable among fans.
Nobody is saying a ball game has to be a cotillion - cheer your team; boo the other team; heck, boo your own coach and team, if you want.
But there should be lines.
The number of people who feel free to scream the most degrading, insulting thing at game officials, at opponents, even at their own team, never ceases to amaze.
This isn't heckling; it's pathological practice of hatred and it's getting worse.
Then there is the other major factor of life in the seats at modern American sporting events: Anger.
Fury is everywhere.
If sports is supposed to be fun, be our diversion from the concerns of the real world, why is everyone so angry?
Sure, ticket prices are outlandish and ever-rising; player salaries are obscene; many of the players, blessed with a gilded life, often seem like pampered ingrates; big-time college sports is a sham built on hypocrisy.
Still, why does that make it OKto treat participants in sporting events as if they are sub-human?
If you don't like the players, why go see them?
