Fans: Are They Good?

We're back to normal... kind of. Sports are allowing near full capacity. That could be seen as a positive. The danger of the NBA is that it's very easy to be near players. Six incidents in the first round so far are a sign that fans are not always the best in terms of behavior. Its list is as follows. A fan threw popcorn at Russell Westbrook. Trae Young was spit at. Ja Morant's family was racially taunted. Immanuel Quickley had a beer thrown at him. Kyrie Irving had a water bottle thrown towards him after a game. And a fan ran on the court during the latest 76ers and Wizards game.

I'm anticipating a riot in an arena if things don't calm down. It's one thing to not go to stuff for well over a year for obvious reasons. But the behavior is very unacceptable. Bans for life are one option. Charges are another for the water bottle guy and the one who ran onto the court. Theoretically, one could hurt or kill a player. I point to a stabbing in 1993 of tennis star Monica Seles. Certain players are targets either because of the team a fan hates or specific agendas which shouldn't be ruled out entirely.

The Irving incident happened in Boston and continues to be a sad reminder of how vile the city's fans are. Look at ugly baseball incidents in recent memory with Adam Jones in 2017 and Red Sox player Kevin Youkilis opening up last year about the team's fans being racist towards their own players when he was playing for them. Reaction shows had some hosts saying they would have charged into the stands if they were in Westbrook's shoes. We've come a long way since 2004 with Malice in the Palace. It would be very embarrassing to see that type of crap again. It'd be nice for Westbrook to defend himself, but a hefty suspension and huge fine is something he would not want or any player for that matter.

I don't know what you can do with fans. There's only so much security and police can do and bans may not be the only thing that will solve it. Cutting alcohol is not an end all solution, but it would cut the stupidity by quite a bit. Maybe no food sold after the fourth quarter is halfway through? Whatever decision will not be an easy one to do. But the behavior better be curbed quickly. If it doesn't, you're going to see someone's career change if a fan does something nefarious.