Thanksgiving has come and gone, and with it went all the forced gratefulness that spewed out of my mouth like the vomit from cousin Johnny’s grill after he had over-eaten.

So in the spirit of the holidays, at least the spirit of a dysfunctional family’s holidays, there are many things not to be thankful for in the world of sports.What to be most unthankful for? Why that’d be the NBA, of course.

While watching the “Me against the city of Detroit” brawl starring Ron Artest two weeks ago, my mouth was so gapingly wide open you could fit three knuckle sandwiches from Artest and his cronies, Stephen Jackson and Jermaine O’ Neal.

The fact that Stephen Jackson only got 30 games for wailing on fans without provocation is utterly embarrassing. And no, running into the stands to back up your teammate in pummeling a guy that is half your size who might’ve thrown a little cup of ice at your team is not provocation.

That melee between the fans of Detroit and the Pacers players was so disconcerting that it was hard just to watch the reactions of the innocent fans that remained in the stands. The image of a little boy crying at a basketball game is pretty tough to stomach.

The debauchery of the NBA has gotten so bad over the years that it’s starting to make the games impossible to watch; it seems like every time a player gets called for a foul in the NBA, you’d better be prepared to hide the women and children because the aftermath may rival the Chernobyl melt down.

The NBA has become a league of thugs where the slogan is no longer, “I Love this Game,” but rather “Just Pay Me then Play Me.”

What Latrell Sprewell said last month about how he needs the Timberwolves to extend him a new contract so he can put food on the table for his kids makes me want to go Ron Artest on him.

The guy makes $14.6 million a year and he’s complaining about not being able to afford food to feed his children? The only explanation for such a reckless and appalling statement is that maybe the braids on his head are too tight, I don’t know.

The fights and insensitive comments that unfurl throughout the NBA season are in addition to the drug charges and constant legal trouble some of these players get into.

Does this sort of thing happen in all professional sports leagues? Yes. NFL players are just as bad with possession offenses and domestic mishaps, but it seems like the quality of play in the NFL overshadows the legal muck that surrounds the players; the game is bigger than all of that, and the antics of the players away from the field are mere bumps in the road.

But without the quality of play we were accustomed to seeing in the past, it is hard for the NBA to overcome what happens away from the basketball, much the way football and baseball do.

There is one thing to be thankful for in the NBA, however, now that Artest has been suspended for the season, at least he has time to go promote his new hip-hop album.

Actually, that may not be such a good thing.