With some of these NBA fans, cages might be the way to go

I need to catch up on some blogging due my knee going out of whack. And another article byGregory Kane of the Baltimore Sun is a good place to start.

While I understood the precision destruction our hoops squad heaped on the MSA, I didn't quite get the term "cagers" as it applied to basketball players. What was up with that?

I got my answer years later, during a visit to the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. At one exhibit, I learned that in the early days of basketball, back in the primitive America of the early 20th century, players hooped it up in cages for their own protection against objects -- bottles, bricks, rocks, a cup of beer -- being hurled at them by crazed fans.

In light of the Battle of Detroit that's still making the news, it looks like we might have abandoned the use of those cages too early.

In an act of shocking barbarism -- but not nearly so shocking and barbaric that newscasts couldn't stop airing the brawl ad nauseam -- a "fan" of the National Basketball Association champion Detroit Pistons hurled a cup of beer at Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest, who responded by dashing into the stands and jacking a couple of jaws.

This led some fans to join the fracas. A couple of other Pacers players jacked a couple more jaws while backing up Artest. NBA Commissioner David Stern disciplined the players by handing out lengthy suspensions, including 73 games for Artest.

And the fans whose conduct was every bit as boorish and despicable as the players? Let's just say it's too bad there's no "Fan Commissioner" who can suspend them.