Luke Waltons Forehead presented by the Sports Dude.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005 at 4:07 PM

Last thought on the brawl garbage.

The final thing I wanted to say about the brawl, which I have yet to hear anyone talk about, occurred while the Pacers were exiting the floor. Everyone recalls the scene, beers flying, popcorn tossing, etc. Well, before all of that happened there was something that I noticed that night that sparked it and I am just curious if anyone else caught it. First, for the record, I am not condoning the actions of the fans, they had no right to toss stuff. Nor have I ever condoned the actions of John Green and the cup toss. However, there was something that the Pacers players did as they were exiting that I think sparked the throwing of garbage down on their heads. What was it? The good old middle finger, that is what.

When the players first made their way through the tunnel they were simply showered by boos, not booze. Then, as some of the players just made their way under the stands a couple of them, Jeff Foster for sure, through their fingers up to say good-bye to the Palace crowd in a special way - and let us just say it wasn't a reflection of them being #1 in the way you or I would like. A couple middle fingers went up and that is when all hell broke loose and the garbage started going down. Does it make it right? No, but I am tired of people pointing all this blame at the fans of Detroit as thugs, punks, etc. Simply put, the Pacers were on their way out, the fans were already rowdy and pissed, why throw us the middle finger? That action set everyone over there over the edge and without it I think the showering would have stopped at boos, again not booze ( man, I love stupid puns! ). Again, before you point fingers and place blame on Detroit as a city, as an organization and a team there Pacer lovers, you should really look at the tape and everything as a whole and realize your team, your players, your coaches, your staff was at fault a lot more than Detroits. Done.

Well, that is all for today, hopefully tomorrow will be happier. Until then, keep reading, keep commenting and keep breathing - I need a beer! But not to throw, to drink - I don't believe in wasting beer, even if it is the over priced $7 a cup warm tap garbage you get at a sporting event! Ahhhh, behold the power of beer - or is that cheese? The sports dude.