Stop defending Ron Artest et al

I'm so SICK of former sports guys and sportswriters defending the actions of Ron Artest and especially those of the others.

Here's part of an email I sent to Steve Kerr after he defended Artest.

Ron Artest is not a police officer. I wish you and everyone else would
stop defending his actions. The fan WAS MOST definitely at fault and
should have arrested by SECURITY. By your twisted logic, having a plastic
cup thrown on you on the street should result in full on beat down by the person
on the recieving end of the cup. Sorry, Steve, that's not how the real
world works. Maybe in the world of spoiled athletes it does, but out in
the real world, Police handle things like this. Artest could have killed
that guy he attacked. As a fan, I've been hit by things thrown by other
fans, so I have a free pass to try to kill whoever threw it? Methinks not,
and maybe those of you who have had to endure the taunts of fans for you
multi-millionare dollar contracts need to get some perspective.

John Saunders of ESPN, on Friday night, that any fan who stepped on the court "got what they deserved". Really? By that logic, Artest and Jackson who crossed that same line in the other direction got what he deserved. Hey John, where would "getting what you deserved" have ended. If Jermaine O'Neal had blindedsided that one guy in the temple instead of the jaw, would have have "gotten what he deserved" as he lie on the ground? The guy that Artest punched on the floor didn't swing at him, Artest made the first move.

Vigilante justice doesn't have a place in professional sports and getting hit with a plastic cup (ON THE CHEST, not the fact like every defender of Artest seems to be lieing about) doesn't give anyone on the street or in a basketball arena the opportunity or free pass to start trying to kill people.

In my mind, Artest shouldn't even get the worst fine. It should be Jackson and O'Neal, who didn't get hit with a cup until they decided that the Pacers were going to take on 10,000 fans.

And stop worrying about their punishment. The union will fight the fines, and the fines will amount to a couple of days pay, like a traffic ticket to a normal person. And these players will go on with their day jobs and suffer no real consequences. While the fans, maybe they get arrested and have to pay fines as well, my guess is those fines will be a hell of a lot more in percentage Income Dollars than those by the players.