A pox on all their houses

Good on ya, NBA Commissioner David Stern, for giving major league wack job Ron Artest the bum's rush for the rest of the season, as well as booting Artest's Indiana Pacer teammates Stephen "Don't call me Phil" Jackson and Jermaine "Don't call me Shaq" O'Neal for 30 and 25 games, respectively, for their involvement in that ugly incident at Auburn Hills on Friday night. Stern handed two other Pacers and four Detroit Pistons smaller but well-deserved suspensions too.

Artest, by the way, was a major league wack job long before he leapt into the stands. This is the same clown who earlier this month asked for time off to go promote his rap CD, and got benched for two games for his trouble.

But let's not act as though only Artest and Co. were the only ones who did something stupid and worthy of punishment that dreadful evening. That knucklehead who pitched his cup of beer on Artest deserves to be smacked about the buttocks for initiating the melee. If he's a season ticket holder, the Pistons should refund the remainder of his payment for this season and make him persona non grata at the Palace. People like that aren't sports fans; they're gang-bangers in polo shirts.

Too bad spectators can't suspended. But then, if they could, the Coliseum would be empty (or at least emptier) at Oakland Raiders games.