Fighting

No way am I saying that I would want to get hit with a Boogaard hook, but I think it is important that the fans believe that at the end of the day, the fight will eventually be controlled. The glass in hockey is a big reason fighting is fine in the NHL and not in the NBA.

NBA players definitely take everything personally - they are pretty much hoping that somebody does something, which will allow them to take out their angst. This probably all goes back to the fact that they can't let that out on the court. The fouler provokes the foulee with a slap on the arm or other hard foul, but then the foulee can't retaliate for fear of getting a flagrant, technical, etc., and it all gets pent up inside. I'm no psychiatrist, but a lot of the NBA's players already come from difficult upbringings, some with mental and emotional issues that have to be kept inward.

Case in point - Dwight Howard drives to the basket last night past Varejao, but the Cavs have instituted a strict no-dunk policy with him, so Brazilian Sideshow Bob manhandles and bearhugs Superman like a long lost friend he hasn't seen in years. Howard somehow still is able to get the ball over and into the basket and then flexes in the general area of Varejao, and they call a technical.

They call a technical because the NBA is deathly afraid of the players pulling anything similar to the Artest scenario. It's no small coincidence that soon after that happened, the NBA instituted a dress code. Its just one more way that the NBA wants the public to not view its players as what the average American does - gangsters and thugs with 19 tats. I'm not saying all NBA players are, or even a majority, but that's the perception.

I think its such a difficult switch to flip when you go from the hip-hop culture and streetball mentality (where you are encouraged to try to make others look silly and incite them and talk about how you are #1) to the clean-cut NBA where you have to be courteous and civil to the very people you are hyping up to be your enemies.