Fight!!!

I will always remember the period of time Nov 14-21, 2004 as the week everybody lost they damned mind.

Last Sunday, before an NFL game had even started two players got into a fight for seemingly no reason.

The week started with a huge brawl at the Vibe Awards (reason number 10456 why rappers should not have awards shows) in which Young Buck from G-Unit decided that a good career move after winning a Vibe award would be to join a melee and stab somebody. I can just see him getting yelled at by his handlers later on: "What do you mean you didn't think there would be cameras there?" The donnybrook started after somebody walked up to Dr. Dre and punched him in the face. Doesn't get any wierder than that, right?

Right?

Fast forward to Friday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills for the Pacers-Pistons game. It was ESPN's marquee matchup game for the night and on the pregame show they broke down the matchup between Ron Artest and Ben Wallace, two premier defenders. By the end of the night, Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson of Indiana are way off their medication, fighting in the stands with fans and in some cases punching random spectators in the face. Then as one fan who foolishly ran on the court is getting up, Jermaine O'Neal from the Pacers comes up and levels him with a running punch. Then the Pacers and ESPN make a huge deal about Pistons fans being idiots. OK, let me explain something, when players from a visiting team start PHYSICALLY BATTLING spectators, all bets on fan behavior are off. Could you imagine if Ron Artest did this in a European soccer match? That night would turn into Ron Artest limb giveaway night: "First 100 people to get into the fray get a piece of Artest's arm or leg!" We're not likely to see a fight of that magnitude in sports again, at least not for a long time.

Right?

Saturday there is a huge fight at the end of the South Carolina-Clemson game involving just about every player on the field. OK, I think we just need to take a step back and take a deep breath.

Not a chance. President Bush had stepped into a tussle between one of his Secret Service agents and a Chilean security guard(s). Come on! Do we really want the president throwing down when he's supposed to have the best security on earth? We need to learn to deal with each other and at least try to let cooler heads prevail.

And then there was this:

In northern Wisconsin on Sunday, a group of hunters got in a dispute with a man that they said was using their tree stand illegally and told him to leave. Then, in possibly the most irrational response in history that hunter, ordered to leave, SHOT EIGHT PEOPLE. He killed five people and put three in the hospital, one of them critical. Senseless. I don't think there could be a punishment fitting enough. I know people like Carrie that are against the death penalty, but in this case how can something as tragic and inexcusable be dealt with any other way?

Excuse me, I need to go lock myself in a room to get away from humanity.

I'm finished,
Nate