This guy is NOT a United Airlines pilot, first of all. He is a pilot with Skywest, Atlantic Southeast or possibly even Mesa Airlines. This guy represents THAT airline, not United.
The Captain got bitch slapped and is frankly very lucky the F/O took down the assailant otherwise it may have been much worse. The Captain acted very unprofessionally baiting the drunk into a physical confrontation. Ideally the Captain would have notified security, politely explained that he cannot allow intoxicated persons onto aircraft, then let CSR/Security handle him after that.
strictly speaking about United mainline; not United Express or affiliated (code share/STAR alliance) carriers carrying a United flight number in the computer.
Unted (unfortunately) has a long history of withdrawing or downguaging markets where competition exists. They seem to concentrate on monopoly markets or markets which lack logical connection alternatives. It's too bad because I believe United has, at times, held a superior product to most competitors.