Singing Loudly

Tony Kornheiser, on Pardon the Interruption, has some great comments today on the situation in Detroit. He points out that Stern doesn't have to be fair and just on the punishment of the players. He works for the owners, not the players, and has to send a message that this will not be tolerated.

As far as the fans, he believes they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, that they should lose their season tickets, and shouldn't ever be allowed in the arena again. The bigger question, in Tony's mind, is what leads these fans to get to these levels of frenzy. The answer to him is the sort of "sport talk radio mentality" that you are on the field and you have to be a part of the game. They also point out alcohol consumption leads to a lot of this and should be cut off at the third quarter at latest or half-time.

As far as the disconnect between the NBA and the American public they point out that attendance is up on all sporting events. That TV ratings are up overall. While some of the players might be hated there are a lot of players who are liked. However, when did the fans turn on the NBA players?

Finally, what is going to happen to the Pacers? O'Neil, Jackson, and Artest are gone for quite some time. Can they still salvage the season? Kornheiser doesn't really say whether or not he thinks that they can win it all, but he thinks that in the East they will still have a chance to make it to the playoffs.

Pretty interesting comments from PTI.