Nice little brawl they had in Detroit over the weekend, eh? In case you've been living under a rock the last few days, Ron Artest and other members of the Indiana Pacers took a little field trip into the stands to beat on some fans who threw a cup of ice at Artest and the Pacers. Artest committed a borderline hard foul on the Pistons Ben Wallace. Wallace overreacted; shoved Artest and then things went downhill from there, culminating with the fisticuffs in the stands and a fan coming out on the floor and getting decked.

As a result, NBA Commissioner David Stern suspended Artest for the rest of the season; his teammates Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’Neal got 30 and 25 games, respectively.

Is this deserved? Absolutely. Players just should not go into the stands. Period. Regardless of the provocation, there is no reason for players to leave the playing surface. If they do, they get what is coming to them.

However, the Detroit fans are not blameless in this. People who throw things in the stands should be arrested and charged with the appropriate crime. The NBA (and all professional leagues, for that matter) should be working on plans to get tough with fans who go over the line. Buying a ticket is not a license to scream some of the vulgarities I’ve heard at professional sporting events, and it certainly gives no one the right to throw objects at players or other fans.

On another topic, I took the kids to see The Spongebob Squarepants Movie over the weekend. The kids really liked it, and it was tolerable for me. I’m not a big Spongebob fan, but I’ll occasionally watch it with the kids when it’s on. The show can be pretty funny in 15 minute portions, but an hour and a half is about an hour and 15 minutes too long for me.

I’m off to the premiere of the 2004 World Series DVD at the Wang Center tonight. There are supposed to be some Sox players, and I’m hoping that the World Series trophy will be there as well. I’ll post a full report later in the week.