Yakity Jack, Don't Talk Back

Stephen Jackson is suspended for tonight's game against the Bulls according to this story. Jack is talking and blaming the incident on his competitive emotions getting the best of him.

"I'm going to take it, because anything that happens to me I stand up and take it," he said. "If I'm wrong for anything, I'm wrong for challenging (Carlisle's) authority to take me out. Rick and (CEO Donnie Walsh) have always supported me 100 percent and I have great respect for them, but at the same time I don't think I should be the target when the team is playing bad."

Jack's right about the Pacers brass supporting him. At times last year they enabled the sort of behavior they now call detrimental. This suspension is clearly an attempt by RC to set a precedent going forward that he's not putting up with the BS any more. Just play the game and forget the drama.

Unless Jack blows it up with more words of wisdom this should blow over quickly. The timing of this incident actually worked well for the Pacers. It happened on a Saturday night after Indiana lost a big rivalry game to Kentucky and Purdue had a big home win over Missouri. Then by the time the average fan was hearing about the incident the Colts were down 7-0 and headed for one of the worst performances since the Rod Dowhower era. The Colts defense, or lack thereof, is dominating the sports discussion in Indy. Plus, Pacer fans have endured some major problems over the past three seasons, so this incident is quite mild. At worst it simply bolsters the get-rid-of-Jack-at-all-cost faction of fans and leaves the rest to just shake their head and look forward.