"You look at Kobe-Shaq, the bench brawl in the Yankees-Red Sox, a hockey fight, those are human dramas," Len Deluca, ESPN's senior vice president of programming, said. "What happened on Nov. 19 was out of hand. This story doesn't need hype. There is no reason to sensationalize it. There is a need to treat this responsibly and really play it straight."
The players and the broadcast teams acknowledged some obvious anxiety, but the basketball-proud Indiana fans seemed eager to vent more than a month's worth of frustration.
Foster has designed and sold souvenirs along with her colleague, Rhonda Long-Sharp, to promote this game and their dissatisfaction with the suspensions levied by Commissioner David Stern.
"The city is jacked up," Foster said. "But I really don't think there will be any funny business."
Pistons guard Chauncey Billups told AP on Thursday: "I don't know what to expect from the fans. It will be a hard-fought game, I'm sure, but their fans are always a little rowdy when we come to town, and I'm sure it will be even more so this time after the incident."
Pacers guard Anthony Johnson, who was suspended five games for hitting a fan in the brawl, said: "They will let Detroit know what kind of class people we have here. It will be a loud building, a playoff environment. There will definitely be extra tension in the arena, but it will be directed toward the Pistons and their players."
Neither team seems capable of absorbing any more blows. They have each staggered through the past month, enduring constant questions about the fight at every stop on every road trip. Detroit Coach Larry Brown said in a television interview this week that his team had not fully recuperated, that his son was still afraid to go to games and that he had serious doubts about wanting to coach anymore.
Brown campaigned against having the game on national television and said the thought of people tuning in to see what will happen "makes me sick." Others believe the rematch is an integral part of the healing process, and that the Pacers and Pistons must demonstrate that they can coexist on Christmas Day in order to move on.
Some of the principals are still absent -- Indiana's Stephen Jackson has to serve another 15 games of his suspension and Artest will not be back this season -- but several will be clashing elbow to elbow. There is a strong chance that, at some point, O'Neal will go hard to the hoop and Wallace will be in his way and an entire arena, an entire league, will cover its mouth and hold its breath.
What comes next could determine whether the Pacers and the Pistons can finally exhale.
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