Motown Brawl Leaves Us All Battered

I don't know who to blame. Probably everybody.

I don't know who to agree with. Maybe nobody.

I don't know who was right or who was wrong, whose reaction was justified and whose was groundless.

I do know who lost in the wake of Friday's melee in Detroit. We did. Sports fans, Americans, adults, kids, men, women, athletes, fans -- all of us lost something.

We lost some measure of innocence that allowed us to believe professional athletes really care about the fans. We lost sight of the meaning of respect, watching it fall like the showers of beer and popcorn that rained down on Indiana players as they exited the floor. We lost some dignity, we lost some faith. We lost perspective. We lost some part of the point of view that lets us see sports as an escape from the real world, a place where we can go to get away from our problems and the problems of a society.

The athletes directly involved lost huge doses of respect. Ron Artest was already viewed as a bad apple. Now he looks insane. The rest of the players involved in the fray will no longer be admired or revered -- heroes once, now goats. And by extension, all athletes will feel the ripples. Even the good ones -- the ones who really care about the fans -- they'll feel it, too.

As for the sports fans, we lost a part of ourselves. We may never be seen by others in the same light and we may never see ourselves in the same light.

Nevermind the fact that only a few fans actually took part in the insanity Friday night. In much the same way that athletes with no connection to the brawl will be seen differently, so too will fans with no connection.

We'll be seen as hecklers and instigators, disrespectful and mean-spirited. We'll be seen as drunks who have no fear of crossing the line. We'll be seen as people ready for a fight, ready to attack when we see something we don't like.

Of course, some fans have been like this for a long time. But they were just the bad apples. Now, figuratively if not literally, the bad apples have risen to the top of the crate. They're the models now. They're what people see as the typical sports fan.

The real sports fans will be in the background, doing what we've always done -- supporting our team no matter what, respecting our opponents, respecting other fans, and looking up to the athletes we cheer so hard for.

Hopefully, the non-sports fans among us will be able to see through the layers of idiocy to get a glimpse of us. Only then can the image change.

But even then, the image may persist because on some level, you can't change an image if you believe it yourself. If the real sports fans start to slide toward the bad apples' way of doing things, even if they slide just a tiny bit by booing more or ratcheting up the heckling, we'll start to see ourselves differently.

So what can be done? I wish there were concrete answers.

Teams can take some measures to prevent similar incidents, but that won't erase the memory of this one. It's already emblazoned in our minds.

Athletes can try to reach out to fans, but I wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to.

Leagues can do all they can to change the culture, but that won't come easily.

And so it falls to us, the fans. The real fans.

I'd say ignore the bad apples, but that won't solve anything. I'd say support our teams and athletes no matter what, but that won't cut down on the suspicion athletes are sure to harbor from this point forward.

The only thing I can really say is keep doing what we've always done. And maybe in the end, good will win out.

I hope, for everybody's sake, that it does. I hope that we can move on and get past this incident. I hope we can stop arguing about who's to blame and realize the future is what matters. I hope we can do something to stem the tide and patch up the rift between players and fans that is sure to keep growing.

And I hope, more than anything, that those kids in the stands Friday in Detroit -- the ones we saw on SportsCenter with tears in their eyes, fear in their hearts, and painful memories crystallizing in their minds -- I hope they won't turn their backs on sports based on this one terrible incident.

We've already lost enough. We can't afford to lose them, too.