Malice aforethought

 Some days the inner contrarian just won't stay in his box. He can be a real jerk that way.

For two days, see, I've been reading about the Brawl In The Hall, or the Fandango In The Fieldhouse, or whatever you want to call that dust-up between the Indiana Fever and the Connecticut Sun the other night. And I'm reading all the homer takes about Sophie Cunningham "standing up" for Caitlin Clark, who once again was at the center of the maelstrom.

Sophie jersey sales have gone through the roof, I'm reading. Folks apparently were loving that she instigated a hair-pulling fight with Jacy Sheldon of the Sun toward the end of the Fever's 88-71 victory.

And here's where the contrarian comes out to play.

He's saying, "Why?"

"Why", as in, "Why all the love for Sophie Cunningham pulling a cheap shot straight out of the Bill Laimbeer collection?"

Because that's what I see when I watch Cunningham take down Sheldon on a hard drive to the bucket. I see Laimbeer, legendary agent provocateur and general asshat, taking down Kevin McHale or someone. I see Laimbeer pulling similar bullshite on numerous occasions, which is why he deservedly was the most hated man in the NBA outside  Detroit.

Now, Cunningham is not that in the WNBA. Hardly so. But just as Detroit celebrated Laimbeer's villainy because, dammit, at least he's our villain, Cunningham today is a hero in Indiana if not so much in ... well, Connecticut, for starters.

Heroism, like villainy, is in the eye of the beholder. Always has been.

Cunningham's entry into that realm began because, surprise, surprise, Our Caitlin got knocked around again. Sheldon poked her in the eye while guarding her, which Caitlin naturally took offense to. Words were exchanged. Mini-shoves. And then here came Marina Mabrey of the Sun, barreling into the scrum and chest-bumping an off-balance Clark to the floor.

Sheldon drew a flagrant 1 foul for the eye poke. Clark, Mabrey and Tina Charles drew technical fouls. That Mabrey wasn't immediately ejected drew howls of outrage here in Indiana, and puzzlement at the very least everywhere else.

Even in hockey, after all, the third man in a fight generally draws a stiff sentence. Not so in the WNBA -- whose acronym apparently stands for "We Never Bring Accuracy."

(A quick aside, since we're being all contrarian: A look at the replay indicates Clark legitimately was knocked down in this instance. But she sure seems to get sent sprawling a lot from contact that doesn't look like it should send her sprawling. In other words, she kind of sells it sometimes. In further, more blunt words, sometimes she flops.)

Now, then. Where were we?

Right. Cunningham, the takedown, the whole "standing up for Caitlin" narrative.

There's only one thing wrong with that, the way the contrarian sees it.

That whole Sheldon eye-poke/Mabrey knockdown business happened in the third quarter. Cunningham's alleged defense of Clark didn't happen until 46 seconds remained in a 17-point game that was long over.

If that was action/reaction, it sure took its sweet time about it.

"I do not understand," Sun coach Rachid Meziane told Brian Haenchen of the Indy Star. "When you are winning a game by 17 points and you are doing this ... For me, it's just disrespectful to do that foul when you're winning the game by 17 points. Completely stupid."

Know what?

The inner contrarian says he's right.