(Which, if their email addresses are dstern@nba.com and sjackson@nba.com they might actually read, because the messages weren't sent back to me undeliverable.)
Dear Commissioner and Commissioner's Lackey:
Your suspension of Stoudemire and Diaw for game five is the most appalling and unnatural intrusion into playoff competition by any league office in the history of professional sports.
There are plenty of ways to parse words regarding the interpretation of "altercation" and "immediate bench area," but the fact is you have illogically chosen to suspend two players for merely standing up from the bench chairs and taking a few steps (hardly a wrong by any reasonable person's definition).
The incident in Monday night's game was wholy and entirely the result of one player: Spurs journeyman thug Robert Horry.
No Suns players from the bench even so much as attempted to participate in any physical altercation or escalate the situation to any degree.
If your defense of these suspensions is nothing more than "We have to follow the rules and they left the bench," than you, sirs, are devoid of any intellectual honesty.
The NBA's image problems are nothing but the harvest of what the league has sown itself, but even worse, it's ill-conceived "solution" has proven to be more damaging to the spirit of competition, the hard-working teams and the devoted fans than any fight has been yet.
It's no surprise that you have already cancelled plans to attend game five in Phoenix. Nothing could possibly reveal more the fact that you have no confidence in your decision, a fact which should have prevented you from making it in the first place.
Nobody knows what will happen the next two or three games of this series, but league office has certainly assured the outcome on the court will be anything but the result of pure competition.
You sirs have shamed the series and the game and should immediately reverse the suspensions of Stoudemire and Diaw. Barring that, I and a great many fans (of all teams), will have lost any confidence remaining in your abilities to administer the responsibilities of the league office and fully expect your resignation.
Sincerely,
Catfish Vegas,
lifelong Arizonan and Suns fan.
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