Ron Cook: Fans are back at the games … and back to causing mayhem
NBA players, like their peers in MLB, the NHL and the NFL, begged to have fans at their games during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Maybe they should have been a little more careful about what they wished.
What a frightening week it was for abhorrent fan behavior at NBA playoff games:
— In Philadelphia, a fan dumped popcorn on the head of the Washington Wizards’ Russell Westbrook as he left the court.
— In New York, a fan spit on the Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young. There is nothing more disrespectful that one human being can do to another.
— In Salt Lake City, fans spewed racist remarks at the family of the Memphis Grizzlies’ Ja Morant. That’s really despicable, as well.
— In Boston, a fan threw a water bottle at the head of the Brooklyn Nets’ Kyrie Irving, who played for the Celtics before leaving the team on bad terms to join the Nets in the summer of 2019. That’s flat-out dangerous.
— In Washington D.C., a fan ran on the court during the Wizards-76ers game. I’m thinking alcohol was involved, but that’s just a guess.
A couple of heroes emerged from all of the nonsense.
One was the Washington security guard who tackled the fan at Capital One Arena on Monday night. T.J. Watt didn’t make a better open-field tackle last season. The guard should be applauded for not letting the man get near the players on either team, which probably saved him from serious injury. Can you imagine what a player or players could have done to that fool? Think James Harrison body-slamming a fan to the turf at Cleveland Stadium after the fan ran on the field on Christmas Eve 2005. If you go on the field or court, you deserve everything you get. Boo all you want. Jeer and heckle if you like, as long as it doesn’t cross racial, religious or sexual-preference lines. But you don’t belong where the players work. You never belong there.
The other heroes work in the front office of Boston’s TD Garden and the Boston police department. They weren’t satisfied just giving the man who threw the bottle at Irving a lifetime ban to the games, as happened after the other incidents. They charged him with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Good for them. A lifetime ban doesn’t seem like nearly enough and won’t stop the unruly fan behavior that Wizards coach Scott Brooks called “barbaric.”
“They have no fear,” Brooks said. “I don’t know the law. But I just know you shouldn’t be able to do that and get away with it and just be kicked out.”
Maybe prosecuting the perps to the full extent of the law will stop the loathsome behavior. Something has to stop it. A few criminals — and that’s exactly what they are — can’t be allowed to ruin the game experience for other good fans, who are thrilled to finally be back in the arenas and stadiums. They can’t be allowed to ruin the game experience for the players, who love performing in front of real fans and can do without the idiots. The last thing anyone needs is for the players to feel unsafe and take matters into their hands.
Remember the “Malice at the Palace?”
Can you really blame the players for being outraged by what is happening? They make a lot of money, many of them millions and millions. But they don’t deserve the garbage. They shouldn’t have to put up with it.
“I know that being in the house for a year-and-a-half with the pandemic got a lot of people on edge, got a lot of people stressed out,” Nets star Kevin Durant said. “But when you come to these games, you’ve got to realize, man, these men are human, you know? We’re not animals. We’re not in a circus.
“You coming to the game is not all about you as a fan. So have some respect for the game and have some respect for yourself. Your mother wouldn’t be proud of you throwing water bottles at basketball players or spitting on players or tossing popcorn.”
Wise words from Durant.
His bottom-line message to would-be disruptive fans was even better.
It was priceless, actually.
“Grow the [bleep] up and enjoy the game. It’s bigger than you.”
