The New, Interactive NBA

I should start by saying that I haven't actually seen the footage of this incident. I probably will at some point, but so far all I have to go on are the several accounts and reactions I've read (mostly on espn.com and cnn.com). For those of you who haven't heard about this, or don't know what all went on, here's what happened:
1. With 45.9 seconds left in last night's Indiana Pacers-Detroit Pistons game in Detroit (technically Auburn Hills, but whatever), Ben Wallace (a Piston), drove to the basket for a dunk. Now, with less than a minute to go, the Pacers held a 15 point lead at 97-82, meaning the game was essentially over. General basekball etiquette (and strategy) dictates that, since it doesn't mean anything, you let Wallace score, get the ball back and continue running out the clock to your inevitable win (on the road against a major rival, no less). However, what happened was that, as Wallace went up for the dunk, Ron Artest fouled him hard from behind.
2. Wallace, angry about being fouled on a play that didn't matter, gets up and pushes Artest. The benches clear, but at this point no real punches are being thrown (which is pretty standard for this sort of "fight"). As things are being calmed down, Artest goes to the scorer's table and lies down.
3. With order still being restored on the floor, someone from the stands throws a cup full of beer at Artest, hitting him as he lays on the table.
4. Artest gets up and goes into the stands after the fan who threw the beer at him. Stephen Jackson (Artest's teammate) goes after him, and punches start being thrown between Jackson, Artest, and the fans, others of whom start to throw things at the Pacers in the stands and on the floor.
5. After Artest and Jackson are taken out of the stands, a fan comes onto the floor and approaches Artest, who punches him. The fan gets up, comes after Artest again, and is this time decked by Pacer Jermaine O'Neal.
6. The game is called, and the fans throw cups, bottles, liquid, and basically whatever else they can at the Pacers as they leave the floor.

For me, here's the bottom line: Artest demonstrated extreme stupidity in going into the stands. But for me, the most responsible person is whoever threw the first cup of beer at Artest. What the hell do they think gives them the right to do something like that? Were they drunk, or did they merely get hit the head with a bag of stupid bricks when they were little? Unfortuneately, this sort of thing has been happening with greater frequency lately. The incident this summer when a Rangers' reliever threw a chair into the stands after some idiot fan yelled insults at him for god knows how long is a prime example. For some reason, many sports fans have come to believe it to be their right as ticket holders to do whatever they want in regards to any athlete within earshot or throwing range. Artest should not have gone into the stands (in fact he shouldn't have fouled Wallace in the first place), but it's hard not to understand the mindset of the guy who just got hit with big cup of beer. "I'm gonna find that son of a bitch and fucking kick his ass!" would be my guess of what he was thinking. The problem was he forgot to add "BUT I make millions of dollars to play a damn game, and with those millions I can probably hire enough lawyers to sue this guy into a cardboard box." Let me just make this 100% clear: you can't go into the stands and start hitting people, even if they did throw beer at you. Artest is both wrong and a dumbass. That said, I think you'd be hard put to find someone who wouldn't have at least wanted to do the same thing. The real blame lies with that first fan who crossed the line and all the people who proceeded to make it worse should be banned from all sports stadiums along with him. It's a shame that so many games are coming down to a few obnoxious assholes spoiling it all for the rest of us who just want to sit, watch, and have a good time.

Although there were many fine contenders, the stupid award for the evening definately goes to the guy who came on to the court to continue the fight with Artest and proceed to get decked first by Artest, then by O'Neal. Wow. Anyone who knows anything about sports knows that if you go on to the field of play, you are going to get beat.

The NBA has already handed out indefinate suspensions (which means you're suspended, but we haven't figured out for how long yet and you can't play in the meantime) for Artest, Jackson, O'Neal and Wallace. I'm sure they'll be out for a while, but I'm more interested to hear if the offending fans can be identified, and how they'll be dealt with.