i totally agree with AX and casey on their views in this matter, i was shocked to see artest suspended for the rest of the season, i am sick of the word "professional", sick and tired of people saying professional athletes shouldn't cross the line and all that, we all know artest has big problem controlling his anger, heck he tried his best to control himself, after getting smacked by wallace for a meagre foul and thrown towel, can we even imagine what was going thru his mind sitting on that bench and trying not to let it all out after getting humiliated by wallace, its hard enough for any player to keep composure in that situation, even harder for a short tempered guy like artest, but getting hit by a beer cup was enough to break it all for him, i mean c'mon, its a human reaction, u can't be thinking NBA and professionalism, there is such a thing as human emotions, it was just an instant reaction in artest's part and he even went there and asked the guy if he was the one, i mean he didn't flat out laid down the guy, i am more dissapointed in Stern's reasoning for harsh punishment of Artest, by saying he could have handed out a less severe punishment had it been any other player than artest (referring to his past), he said "Artes, no matter how hard u try to be a good guy, for us u will always be that bad guy, so we are not giving u a chance to be good and do sth good, we don't trust u for the kind of past u had" Isn't that what Stern is saying, Artest cannot be given anymore chances, Heck why doesn't he end his career only, not allow him to play at all, the Defensive player of the year, Artest is a dad of 4 and i am sure he is not the same guy he was few yrs back, but this suspension is a total setback for him and his confidence in NBA, look at rasheed wallace, he has a similar, if not a worse history than artest, he was honestly trying to break up the fight, its just unfortunate that his past played such a role in case of artest, shame on u Stern for making mockery of the situation and abusing ur powers of being a commisioner, the main instigators for this whole incident was ben wallace for reacting angrily, sth totally uncalled for, then those stupid detroit fans, they all are cocky for their championship last yr, that's all, agree with AX, Stern should be showered with Budlight during Christmas , but how can he not side with fans, those who watch games and bring money to NBA............i think Artest should have been suspended for like 30 games or so and i actually stephen jackson should have been the one facing more games or maybe whole season suspension, coz he wasn't provoked and he was not trying to clean up the mess by punching that guy in the face, he was just living his thug life out in the stands, i liked it personally those tho guys getting slammed by artest, that coach and Oneal in the court, they had no business to come in court and act like they can do anyhting.......... whatever, best of luck to paces, they are my favs in the east now........chill o ut