IS THERE NO DISCIPLINE LEFT?

For the third time this morning, I watched the ugly incident in Auburn Hills, Michigan replayed where players and fans had their own version of "WWE Smackdown" toward the end of an NBA game between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons. It was a situation that should never had escalated the way it did, and was potentally dangerous for all involved.

There is plenty of blame to go around, and noone should be excused for what occured.

First, the Pistons' Ben Wallace overreacted to being fouled by Indiana's Ron Artest, pushing the hot-tempered Pacer and starting the chain of events that would become one of the ugliest moments in American sporting history.

Then, one of the drunken fans near the court at the Palace at Auburn Hills threw a cup of beverage onto Artest, who was laying on the scorer's table as the situation was apparantly beginning to come under control. Artest --- followed by teammate Stephen Jackson --- overreacted by going into the stands and assulting the fan who he believed threw the beverage on him and it downhill from there.

Clearly, there was not enough security to control the situation decisively.

There are certain lines of acceptable behaviour that are and should never be crossed under any circumstances.

One, while fans pay to cheer/boo/cajole the players, throwing anything is completely out of line. That should earn a person an immediate ejection and/or arrest.

Two, players should know better than to leave the playing area or bench for any reason and go into the stands, even if he feels provoked They are professionals who should act accordingly. If a player feels that a fan is acting improperly by throwing items, he should let a security person know so that person can be dealt with accordingly.

Three, team and venue officials should act to control alcohol sales. I'm certain that many of the fans that chose to involve themselves were drunk, or close to it, and that impared their better judgement. Major League Baseball took the step a couple of years ago to ban alcohol sales after the seventh inning, a measure that should be seriously considered by other sports leagues. In the NBA, I would suggest shutting off sales at the end of the third quarter. While it may not completely prevent future incidences, it would likely have some influence.

Sadly, this incident is just another bit of evidence that we seem to be losing out sense of personal discipline. A similar incident occured the other evening at the VIBE awards, with one person being stabbed in the process. Boorish behaviour seems to be the new norm. And that's a shame.