Pacers

The three members of the Indiana Pacers who are among 10 people facing assault charges in Oakland County, Mich., for their part in a Nov. 19 brawl with fans at The Palace of Auburn Hills could find out today whether the length of their suspensions by NBA commissioner David Stern will be upheld. The players - three-time All-Star forward Jermaine O'Neal, forward Ron Artest and guard Stephen Jackson - are expected to meet with an arbitrator in New York. The league agreed to arbitration earlier this week after its bid for a temporary injunction was rejected in court.

The World A force of 5,000 U.S. Marines, British troops and Iraqi troops launched an offensive against insurgents who have been active in a cluster of small towns south of Baghdad. Yasser Arafat's nephew said medical records he received from French authorities gave no "definite diagnosis" of the cause of death of the Palestinian leader, who died in a Paris military hospital Nov. 11. Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian leader once seen as a moderate but now in an Israeli jail serving five life terms for his role in the deaths of five Israelis, abandoned his plan to become a candidate for president of the Palestinian Authority.

The majority of fans are not out of control In response to the column by John Eisenberg regarding fan behavior at sporting events ["With doors open to louts, denying them seats not easy," Wednesday], I must say I am tired of the fan base as a whole being looked at as if it were out of control. Mr. Eisenberg states that fans are able to hide behind the belief that "buying a ticket enables you to do or say whatever you want." Well, as an American citizen, it is the Constitution that gives me the right to say whatever I want - not buying a ticket to a game.

WASHINGTON - Artisia Green walked across the MCI Center concourse last night with her son Isaac, 3, who was tugging her toward the court. "It's his first basketball game," the Germantown woman said, "and I'm hoping nothing happens while we're here. I want his first experience to be a good one." These are the fans the NBA knows it could lose if the league can't erase images from Friday's Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers game of out-of-control players grappling with taunting, drink-throwing fans.

INDIANAPOLIS - Ray Kraft knows about rooting for the underdog. Half a century ago, basketball fans all over this hoop-crazed state cheered for Kraft and his high school teammates whose championship run became the inspiration for the movie Hoosiers. Nobody here is comparing the Indiana Pacers to the Milan Indians, but after what has transpired over the past few days, a team considered by many to be a legitimate contender for an NBA championship has suddenly found itself in a new role in this tight-knit community.

IT'S BEEN only nine days since the infamous Desperate Housewives spoof on Monday Night Football, and I'm already getting nostalgic. The NFL was so gun-shy this week, I heard that league officials asked Kansas City Chiefs coach Dick Vermeil not to call a naked bootleg before 11 p.m., so the kids wouldn't have to see it. And maybe it was only a coincidence - or a concession to the weather - but the Chiefs cheerleaders were dressed so modestly that it...

Voicing the sentiment of the community and team ownership, Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle complained yesterday about inequitable treatment for those involved in what many have called the worst brawl in U.S. sports history. Carlisle and other team officials were upset that the suspensions handed down Sunday by NBA commissioner David Stern to four Pacers players - in particular Ron Artest, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O'Neal - were more severe than expected and more penal than those given to members of the Detroit Pistons.

Moves Basketball NBA: Suspended Pacers F Ron Artest for rest of season for fighting with fans at Friday's Pistons game. Also suspended Pacers G Stephen Jackson for 30 games, Pacers F Jermaine O'Neal for 25, Pistons F Ben Wallace for 6, Pacers G Anthony Johnson for 5, Pacers G Reggie Miller for 1, Pistons G Chauncey Billups for 1, Pistons C Elden Campbell for 1 and Pistons F Derrick Coleman for 1. CLIPPERS: Activated G Kerry Kittles from injured list....

National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern took swift punitive action of historic proportions last night for the melee between players and fans at the end of Friday's game between the Detroit Pistons and Indiana Pacers in Auburn Hills, Mich., including handing out a season-ending suspension to Pacers forward Ron Artest. By missing 73 games, Artest will serve the longest non-drug-related suspension in NBA history. Eight others were also suspended for a total of 70 games, the bulk of it going to Pacers guard Stephen Jackson, who will sit out 30 games, and Indiana all-star forward Jermaine O'Neal, who will sit out 25. Jackson joined Artest in the stands at the Palace, where they battled with fans who threw cups of beer, ice and popcorn at the players.

NBA commissioner David Stern came down hard on Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest and eight other players involved in Friday night's ugly basketbrawl in suburban Detroit. Hard and fast. The melee that erupted at the end of the Pacers-Detroit Pistons game left nine people injured and the image of the NBA so badly bruised that only the most severe disciplinary action - swiftly imposed - would have sent the right message to anyone who might be tempted to take a beef into the stands again.