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My letter to the NBA Players Associayion:

Dear Sirs,

I hope you will do your jobs and oppose the draconian punishment being meted out to Pacer players and the franchise by David Stern. Considering the level of provocation the Pacers, and particularly Artest, suffered from the Pistons and their fans, a full season suspension of Ron Artest is outrageous. 25 games for Jermaine O'Neal? A gross outrage considering the lack of security and the vulnerability the Pacer players were experiencing. Fans coming on to the court wanting to fight with players and they cannot defend themselves and their teammates?

This is a terrible price for a franchise to pay and one that is clearly not fair. It is the Pistons themselves that benefit the most from the penalties the league has imposed against the Pacer's three top scorers. Why don't owners just pay thugs to start fights with the players to ruin their opponents season?

This is an outrage!

Charles McFarling
892lley Vista Court
Avon, IN 46123
cmcfarling@mcfarling.com

While its true that fans were throwing things onto the court, the clips I saw showed Ron Artest going into the stands before anyone came onto the court. It sickens me to see these overpaid athletes act out like spoiled kids. If they have their multi-million dollar salaries at stake when they brawl, maybe they'll think a little more before they set such a bad example for our kids. I don't care what Charles Barkley says, when they accept those contracts and play on TV, they become role models.
This should also be enforced in college. The stupid fight that I've been seeing on the news for the last two days in a college football game(don't remember the teams)is another example. If they suspended those idiots for a year it could end some careers. If that happened a couple of times the fighting might cease to be an acceptable part of sports. We are saddled only with unacceptable behavior that we tolerate.