Micro-study in conflict

Anyone who knows me knows I am no sports fan. At all.
But only a hermit could have missed the story about that fight in Detroit. Two dimensions of the event interest me. First, where and how does conflict arise (and in the aftermath how rapidly the polarity is formed regarding "who started it" and "who is to blame" and "what happens next")?
And second, does publicity have anything to do with conflict resolution and its aftermath (consider Doc Searls' observation regarding the response time of the blogosphere vs. MSM; also high-profile trials of famous people, war reporting, print media vs broadcast, media bias, etc.)?

The Doc Searls Weblog : Saturday, November 20, 2004: "The Fight in Detroit last night changed the NBA game forever. For all the punching and chair throwing (it's lucky nobody got killed, much less injured), the image that will stay in my head is of a boy crying in the arms of a man (presumably his dad, but I dunno). The kid had come to see a game and found himself in the middle of a frightening crime scene.
I've been to a lot of basketball games in my life, including quite a few pro games (I had shares of season tickets to the Golden State Warriors for a number of years); and I've never seen anything like this. If we're lucky, the first will be the last.
Some links from the blogosphere, courtesy of Technorati, which seems much faster these days (disclaimer). At this point, a few hours after the event, there's much better thinking-out-loud in the 'sphere than in The Media (or so it seems to me, anyway)."

This link will access at least ten other links that I don't care to copy and paste.
All are interesting, including video images.