[Adam]

You're right; there's a lot of jawing in football, and it usually leads to nothing. I wonder if part of the reason is that there's a legal way to take your frustrations out on someone.

I think people focus on the basketball stuff for a couple of reasons. First of all, because it's so rare. A fight in hockey isn't news because it's a daily thing, and they have procedures in place to both allow for it and to contain it. A scuffle in football isn't news because no one usually gets hurt (pads). When someone does get hurt (the horse collar on Larry Johnson or the lineman getting stomped with cleats), its an anomoly and it gets a lot of attention.
I think another reason is that when a fight happens in basketball, there is a higher likelihood that the players involved are going to be star players. I knew the names of the players involved in the Raiders/Seahawks scuffle for about two days after that fight. Right now, I couldn't pick the two names out of a list of three people.
Anyone who follows basketball knows who Anthony is; they knew who Artest, Wallace, and company were before the throw down in the Palace. It's different when it's people you know. One guy pointed out that Anthony pulling this would be like Peyton Manning or Ladanian Tomlinson throwing a sucker punch and running off.