Readers Read the Riot Act to All Involved

Congratulations, Detroit Piston fans: On top of your team having the 2004 NBA championship, you have won the 2004 championship award for the most classless fans in sports.

Geoff Skurnik

Rancho Santa Margarita

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I’ve always thought those moats that they have at zoos were to protect the visitors from the wild animals. After seeing the brawl at the Indiana Pacer-Detroit Piston game, I’m not so sure. It just might be the other way around.

Robert H. Williams

Monterey Park

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Sports stars want to be rap stars so they act like rap stars. Ron Artest and his posse were just getting ready for the next Vibe Awards.

Jeff Calzada

Montebello

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If Ron Artest does nothing when that cup is thrown, the incident is over. Period.

No one would have remembered the name of the guy who got arrested for throwing a beer on Ron Artest.

You can be sure that people are going to remember Artest, Jermaine O’Neal and Stephen Jackson for their response.

Patrick Wagenbrenner

Newport Beach

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Two images from the brawl in Detroit will stay with me for a long time. One is a young boy, around 8, huddling in the hug of his older brother, around 12. The other is a young girl, around 10, being protected by her father.

If the NBA is to survive and prosper, it has to be family entertainment. The amount of money demanded for seats was already driving families out of the arena. This incident won’t help, which is why I think the image that requires the most action is one of full cups of beer being dumped on the Indiana players on their way out of the arena.

I believe, for the sake of the children as future fans, that alcohol sales should be banned in all NBA arenas. If someone can’t last three hours without a beer, it may be possible that person should be filling a seat in a local AA meeting and not at an NBA game.

Dave Atkins

West Hollywood

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The NBA needs to borrow the walls used in the NHL that they use to surround the rink. With slight modifications, the walls can be installed around the basketball court to separate the fans from the players. For certain, the NHL doesn’t have much need for the walls this season.

Stan Gewant

Woodland Hills

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Ben Wallace should be charged with assault and inciting a riot, but he’s one of the darlings of the NBA. Ron Artest -- who walked away from Wallace’s violent action -- will be further vilified despite defending himself against unruly fans bent on attacking him and other Pacer players. Go figure.

Mark Stephens

Santa Cruz

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J.A. Adande says that “Artest reacted much the same way you or I probably would if we were attacked.” Really? Anyone would be angry, but in civil society, we resort to violence only to defend ourselves, not to retaliate. A civil person would control his anger and let the security people do their jobs.

One problem with vigilante justice is, it often gets the wrong person. Artest did not know which fan threw the beer at him. Nor was he in further danger.

The fan behavior was wrong, and what Artest, Jackson and O’Neal did was not simply bad for business. It was wrong. It was immoral.

David Datz

Altadena

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What’s wrong with some big, rich basketball players brawling with some drunken, rowdy fans? Isn’t that the American way? Didn’t this country just invade, without provocation, a much smaller, weaker country and just about send it back to the dark ages? The conduct so many find “appalling” and “disgusting” is exactly the type of conduct this country practices around the globe. As long as our governmental leaders act like international bullies, we’re bound to have our own hooligans and thugs acting accordingly at home.

Pete Navarro

Los Angeles

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If sports arenas were in the same category as local taverns, team owners would be arrested daily for sending patrons home who were too drunk to drive. Today, families are outnumbered at events by thugs whose goal is to get drunk and yell obscenities at the visiting team. What are the sports commissioners and team owners thinking? Do they really think the success of their franchises is dependent on the availability of booze?

Give sports back to families and save it from these idiots.

John Johnson

Encino

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I just can’t understand how somebody can be reckless enough to throw a cup full of beer at a professional athlete. Beers cost, like, $9 at sporting events.

Rob Osborne

Manhattan Beach

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Could it be that IQ level goes down as the height goes up? Please, if I hear one more ESPN NBA analyst defend another player for acting like a hoodlum, then the NBA can go where it belongs, to the same people who watch professional wrestling.

Cheryl Lascelles

Lake Arrowhead

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David Stern has spent 20 years promoting tattooed thuggery and now he acts surprised that the NBA players act like ... tattooed thugs.

Ted Schwab

Los Angeles