It was 15 years ago today that a man with the simple name of John Green tossed the Diet Coke that turned a shoving match between the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons into an everybody-in-the-pool brawl that...well, it really upset a lot of sportswriters, who shook their fingers and clutched their pearls through many column inches afterward.
When what came to be called the Malice at the Palace was finally over, oh my, the think pieces that flowed. What did this upsetting event signify? What did it mean? What were the lessons we had to learn from it, other than, "It is bad to fight with people at a sporting event?"
Mitch Albom scratched his chin and intoned from on high:
And just as a black eye discolors the boxer’s face, the deed now spreads across the landscape, and we’ll be paying for it, sadly, for years to come.
Dunno about that -- we weren't particularly sad. But we just like to rewatch the video from time to time, just to marvel, because that's the sort of sickos we are. Join us, will you:
