Donald Sterling incident not simply a sports issue

The news of Donald Sterling being racist is not a sports story – it a story about humanity. One man’s racism is at its foundation. It is moot that a basketball team was involved – I think we often forget that when situations such as this arise.

For instance, take the Pennsylvania State University sexual assault scandal. ESPN and other sports outlets extensively covered that when it ultimately has little (a.k.a. zero) ties to the on-field performance of the athletes (a.k.a. what television stations do cover). The media tried to make it a sports story, when it really was about a sick old man’s heinous crimes – he just happened to work at a major sporting institution.

In response to Sterling’s racist remarks, the Los Angeles Clippers players refused to wear the normal Clippers warm-ups and turned the shooting shirts inside-out to hide the team’s logo. The gesture was simple, yet effective. Many people called for the players boycotting the games. The Golden State Warriors claim they had an extensive protest in place had Sterling not brought the lifetime ban hammer down on the bigot. If you ask me, turning the shirts inside out is a perfect response to the situation.

Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said in an interview that he does understand why the victims of racial abuse are the ones forced to respond, and I agree. Why should anyone – an athlete, politician, carpenter, teacher, etc. – let one ignorant person ruin it for everyone? The answer is they should not. And they did not. I have to admit, my knee-jerk reaction was that the players shouldn’t play but after hearing Rivers’ words, I rethought that. The players are out on the court to play basketball and hopefully win a championship.

To reiterate this point, the Miami Heat flipped their shooting shirts inside-out in a moment of solidarity prior to a game against the Charlotte Bobcats. It was a move somewhat scoffed at by the public on the grounds that the self-absorbed Heat can’t resist the limelight.

Why does it have to be about showmanship? Why not acknowledge that it was an act of humility? I took the action as the team recognizing athletes in the same league, but more importantly, because they are decent humans – many of them black – that were disgusted and offended by the words.

Racism transcends sports. So when we have racism in sports, it first and foremost is an issue in society. We often get caught up in the chaos when a social issue takes place in a sporting venue, forgetting that these issues exist every day with little notice from the world. For better or worse – and my opinion is biased, remember – it seems to take sports to gain traction for such heavy social issues. I thought race issues were long gone, but clearly I was wrong.

What Sterling did was reprehensible – no one is denying that. I am just hoping that the next time something like this happens (and it will happen), we recognize the athletes by the color of their skin and not the color of their jerseys or the ball in their hands.

Racism very much alive amidst Jackie Robinson celebration

April 15 is an important day when it comes each year, not just for sports fans but for the nation: it marks the day Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson broke the Major League Baseball color barrier. This day is beautiful. Every player in the league wears No. 42, there are speeches, flyovers, songs and tributes all in honor of Robinson.

The celebration is not limited to the baseball diamond, however. President Barack Obama tweeted about the event and every news source across the nation runs a piece in remembrance of what Robinson did.

What he did was courageous and noble. He was essentially plucked out of a crowd to spearhead the color barrier in baseball – a huge hero within the Civil Rights movement.

Even with Robinson’s effort and the fact that America celebrates him every year, we have so far to go.

We always talk about the progress we have made toward equality but don’t seem to acknowledge the fact that racism is very much alive and thriving in some parts of our country. Don’t believe me? Just ask Senior Vice President of the Atlanta Braves and Hall of Famer Hank Aaron.

Earlier this month, “Hammerin’ Hank” was honored for the 40th anniversary of his 715th home run that broke Babe Ruth’s record at the time.

During the celebration, he was quoted saying the racist culture is far from gone in America. Ironically, he received some nasty “fan mail” in response to his comments that is despicable even by pre-Robinson standards of race relations.

“Hank Aaron is a scumbag piece of (expletive) (racial slur),” someone identified only as Edward in an email to the Braves front office said, according to USA Today.

Good ol’ Ed went on to use the n-word five more times before finishing his statement by saying, “My old man instilled in my mind from a young age that the only good (racial slur) is a dead (racial slur).” This was just one of hundreds of letters that USA Today released.

I’m not sure what, but I think there is something to be said about Aaron discussing racism while his employer’s mascot is pretty controversial. To that same effect, the Cleveland Indians have quietly dismantling the team’s racist elements after the heat it has taken in recent years.

Now, the team’s former mascot Chief Wahoo can only be found on the faces of dumb/ignorant/idiot fans with the gall to attend a game red-faced.

If you attend a football game at FedEx Field in Washington, however, that racism is not just there, it’s standing its ground. Dan Snyder, the owner of that team in the nation’s capital, is pretty well known as a racist – fitting in that the franchise was founded and based in racism. Speaking of gall, Snyder recently decided to start the “Original Americans Foundation” in a sad – and ironic – attempt convince the public he is not racist. People: when a team’s mascot is literally the ignorantly perceived color of someone’s skin, you have blatant racism. End of story.

Sure, we have made progress, but to exactly what extent is muddled. Anytime we think we’re doing okay, some idiot comes along to remind us that racism stands proud in 2014.

Jackie Robinson Day is celebrated every April 15 and it is a day that I, along with many other sports fans, look forward to. This year, that day was ruined. That is what idiots do – they ruin good things.

This is not about sports, though, this is about humans. Racism has no place anywhere, including sports. Simply put.

Let us just hope that we take a few steps forward before the next giant leap backward.

Max Ink duo find beginnings in art, culture

How long have you been tattooing? Jeff Todd: I’m going on 12 years.

How did you get into the field?

Jeff: I got a tattoo, believe it or not. It was late in life – I was like 28. I just got one and then within like a month I had sleeves and I got interested.

Were you interested in art before that? 

Jeff: Yeah, all growing up. But it was just one of those things – it just kind of bit me. He started even younger than me. (To Butch Comer): You got your first tattoo at 15.

What was your first tattoo? 

Jeff: It was a stupid tribal armband, which is no longer there. It’s covered up by a bunch of other stupid tribal tattoos [laughs]. I was trying to hide [the first one].

Butch: A dragon.

What was your first tattoo as an artist?

Jeff: You know, I don’t even remember. I was thinking about that the other day and I have no idea. (To Butch): Do you remember your first?

Butch: It was a monk. An Egyptian monk.

Jeff: I don’t remember my first one. It had to be something simple, I think it was a piece of tribal. That was big back when I started out.

Do you have a favorite style?

Jeff: The old school style.

Butch: Yeah, me too.

Jeff: That’s really what we like [the American Traditional style] and that’s what we’re trying to bring back.

I know a lot of artists now are trying this “hyper-realism” style.

Jeff: Yeah, stay with the basics and the traditional. It looks great. But, hey, to each their own.

Do you have advice to someone looking to get a tattoo?

Jeff: Check the artist. Check the shop. And then the vibe, you know? When you walk in, talk to the guys. You get a good vibe, you know?

Butch: Yeah, see if it feels right.

Jeff: Yeah, a big part of it is the feel because you have to entrust yourself with somebody.

Butch: No bad vibes.

Is there anything either of you won’t tattoo as far as where it is or what it is of? 

Jeff: Depends on the person. I have done face tattoos. I don’t like doing them, but I’ve done them. I stay away from the really hateful stuff. I’ve never done a swastika and never will. I don’t like the hateful stuff – bad vibe. [But for face tattoos,] it’s more with the person, really. It’s dumb. Everybody I have given a face tattoo I have tried talking out of it.

Tattoos are becoming more acceptable in society. What are your thoughts on this change and how society views tattoos? 

Jeff: I think they’re slowly coming around because everybody has them.

Butch: No one is ever going to be happy. You’re always going to have people against anything.

Jeff: I would say just because of the quantity of tattoos that are out there, it’s a little more accepted.

Butch: I think when these people get older, you know the young people that are 18, 19, 20, when they’re 40 and 50, then it will be cool. They won’t even think twice about a tattoo. But there’s still old people now that look at you, they don’t want to hire you, they’re scared of you if they see you walking down the street. But so many people have gotten tattoos now that I think it’s going to be a numbers game, you know? The tattoo people will outnumber non-tattooed people.

Carpe Diem tattoo artist talks taboo

How long have you been tattooing? Actually, 20 years this month.

How did you get into the field? Well, it’s kind of a funny story. The woman who taught me used to have a [tattoo] shop on South Avenue [in Rochester] years ago and I grew up in the South Wedge there. A kid I went to high school with, his family was friends with her family and we used to kind of go in there, you know, we were young, after school or whatever – hang out. So I knew her from then. And then she knew I was an artist too. I was always the kid that, like, painted all the punk rock and metal-head kid’s leather jackets for them. And then when I got my first tattoo, she did it for me … when there wasn’t so many tattooers and tattoo shops, she was like the place to go. And she actually offered me an apprenticeship, kind of out of the blue. So it sort of just kind of fell in my lap.

What was the first tattoo on your skin? 

The first tattoo I got was, like, this fish, a bass that I drew up. And that went on my shoulder blade.

What was your first tattoo as an artist? 

The first tattoo I did was on my friend from high school and it was just something really small. Usually when you first start, it’s just something really simple. So it was like this small tribal piece on his chest.

Any memorable tattoos (good, bad, funny, etc.)? 

After doing it for so long you know, there’s so many really. It’s just like a really cool, fun job. You get to do a lot of cool things. So as far as being one thing that sticks out, not really. It’s just sort of a collective thing. It’s just been a cool thing to be able to do.

What is your favorite style? 

There’s a few different things I do. I like American traditional. I like Japanese traditional. And I also like doing, like, black and gray – portrait stuff and what not. You know I guess a lot of the stuff I don’t like is a lot of this newer, super, hyper realistic color kind of stuff. I just don’t think it has the longevity of something that is more bold and outlined. It’s just a philosophy. I think tattoos should look a certain way and people are taking it to these extremes. Which is fine – not taking anything away from it – it’s just not for me.

Do you have advice to someone looking to get a tattoo? 

Really do your homework. You know today, pretty much all really good shops have gone to fully disposable everything. We used to use stainless steel tubes for our needle guides and even now, those have gotten to a point where they’re really high quality disposable. Even really bad shops will have an autoclave. So sterilization isn’t necessarily… I mean it is still something to be concerned about but not as much. But now there are just so many shops really, where the quality of work is what you need to look for. If someone is offering to undercut a shop, and do something for a lot cheaper, you’ve got to ask yourself ‘Why? Why can’t they charge the same amount and compete?’ And it’s hard for people who have never been tattooed before to really know what the possibilities are to know what a good tattoo is and what a bad tattoo is. You’ve just got to look at portfolios. Look at them really well. Ask around. If you see someone with a really nice piece, ask them where they got it done. When you walk into a shop, they shouldn’t have an attitude with you. They should really take the time to answer your questions. It’s kind of a gut feeling really.

Is there anything you won’t tattoo? 

I try to stay away from tattooing people’s faces and the tops of their hands. That’s kind of reserved for, you know, rock stars and tattooers. A tattoo on your hand is definitely going to impact the type of work you can get in the future. And you know, if you’re 18 years old and you’re getting your neck all tattooed up, it’s really going to affect what you can do later on. And of course, I’m not going to do hate tattoos and [swastikas] and that kind of stuff.

Tattoos are becoming more acceptable in society. What are your thoughts on this change and how society views tattoos? 

It’s good [that they’re becoming more acceptable] … Sometimes you long for the days when there weren’t million tattoo shops, you know? There wasn’t a shop on every block and it was a little more, kind of, fringes of society sort of thing. But the more it gets accepted, the more people are getting it done. I think it’s good. We do all sorts of people from all different walks of life.

Faceoff: Who will cut down the net in the March Madness finale?

Joe Leathersich: Florida Gators

Ignore all the hype about UConn, Wisconsin and Kentucky being in the Final Four. This tournament – as it was when it started – is Florida’s to lose.

Am I happy to say that? Not particularly, but you have to pick your battles. I will just ignore the fact that Billy Donovan looks like a used car salesman.

I wanted to pick the Huskies for this but couldn’t pull the trigger. I’m pretty happy for the American Athletic Conference for making the Final Four in its first year of existence, but UConn is missing one crucial piece for me: Kemba Walker.

I don’t mean that literally, obviously. Shabazz Napier is nice, but he’s not Walker. Remember that crossover against Pittsburgh to secure the Big East title in 2011? And the subsequent run in the tournament? I do. But I don’t envision all that happening again.

For this reason, the Gators will be crowned the champions. They have been at the top of the poll all year and I see no reason why that should stop now.

When you think about it, however, the real winner is the viewer. March Madness is the best time of year, bar none. I’m going to get chills when “One Shining Moment” comes on.

Nick Preller: Kentucky Wildcats

The team that everyone thought was the best squad before the season started will prove that all the experts were right by the end of the tournament.

Of course, I am talking about Kentucky: the preseason top seed and eventual 2014 March Madness champions.

While he isn’t the best-liked coach, John Calipari has shown that he can lead a team to a championship and get the most out of his talented “one and done” freshman.

The star of Kentucky is first-year Julius Randle. The man is a double-double machine, racking up 24 on the year so far. He is a force in the paint and will drive defenses crazy with his physical play.

The scariest part of this team is that they are just starting to play up to their potential. Gone is the team that lost back-to-back games to unranked teams; in is the team that everyone expected them to be. With wins over Michigan and Louisville already, this team is scared of no one and most certainly will be the ones cutting down the nets in Texas.

Mike Eisinger: Wisconsin Badgers

In a season filled with surprises ranging from Mercer becoming my second favorite team to teams actually remembering how to shoot the ball after last season’s air-ball-palooza, no team has been more surprising than the Badgers of Wisconsin. Sure, Wisconsin has always been pretty good during Bo Ryan’s tenure in Madison, but this year’s team is surprising in a different way: they’re not boring anymore.

In contrast to Wisconsin’s typically plodding, passing-oriented offense, these Badgers can play an up-tempo style as evidenced by the nine games that they reached the 80-point mark in this year. They haven’t gotten completely away from their roots, though, as they are more than capable of taking care of the ball and being effective in a low-scoring affair.

With a matchup against Florida in the first round, Wisconsin can take solace in the fact that they have already beaten the Gators once this year. It was early on, for sure, and although Florida has gotten better and emerged as the favorite to win the title, Wisconsin has seen improvement as well, especially from the hottest player in America right now: Frank Kaminsky, who lit up Arizona for 28 points and 11 rebounds in the Elite Eight.

If Wisconsin can unleash Kaminsky again and get some solid play from Ben Brust, Sam Dekker and Traevon Jackson, it just may have enough to pull an upset on Saturday April 5; letting them climb into the championship game and cut down the nets at Jerry’s World.

Doug Parks: UConn Huskies

Start loosening your belt because we’re about to get husky.

You heard it here first, UConn is taking home the hardware. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not going to be easy. Florida is tough as jerky and it’s hard to disagree with those saying the boys from New England have bitten off more than they can chew.

But here’s the thing: UConn has a man by the name of Shabazz “Smooth Jazz” Napier. As of right now, he is singlehandedly dismantling any team foolish enough to get in his way. This guy is a game changer – the rare Scottie Reynolds type that was born to play college ball. You can fully expect another top-tier performance as they edge the top-seeded Gators. (Also worth noting – UConn already handed Florida one of its two losses back in December).

As for Kentucky, the team took a huge hit with the loss of Cauley-Stein. Their luck is going to run out against a down and dirty defensive team like Wisconsin.

So, to recap, we can all look forward to a UConn/Wisconsin final. Here it becomes a bit of a tossup but I give the edge to UConn for the singular reason that Wisconsin only has one player capable of taking over a game – Frank Kaminsky – and this guy has gone hot and cold more times throughout the season than a Katy Perry song.

Geneseo Class of 2014: Sports editor revises career path

If you had told me in high school that by the end of my college career I’d be pursuing a career in writing/journalism, I would have told you how asinine that statement was. In high school, my best subject was math – nothing else came close. Homework for me was more like “passing-time work” or “lunch work,” and I was pulling out A’s and A+’s. I would do math and physics homework for other students, and in exchange they would do my English and history work. Writing sucked. I hated it.

When I entered college, I knew what I wanted to major in, but not what I wanted to pursue as a job. I started as a math and economics double major. I wanted to study economics because I felt it would be good to apply my math knowledge rather than just doing math for math’s sake. But again, there was no end goal yet. Life after college was a problem for my future-self to deal with.

Early in my college career, however, problems arose that present-me absolutely had to deal with: I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a chronic gastrointestinal disease that rendered my college experience less than ideal. For the sake of word count and your comfort, just know this disease causes writhing abdominal pain paired with pretty graphic bowel movements. I was in and out of the hospital constantly, on loads of different meds with loads of side effects. My windowsill looked like what I imagined that of a sickly old man’s would resemble; orange bottles were everywhere.

It flat-out sucked. When I was able to have a social life, it still wasn’t very social. It took everything in me to perform simple tasks like grocery shopping or going to a friend’s house. Once I finally mustered the confidence to go out, I still wasn’t social.

I wouldn’t talk to my friends. I wouldn’t engage in conversation. I would just sit there, keeping to myself wondering when I would be in pain again and if whatever food was being served was approved for the diet I had been assigned. Should I take the risk of eating it? If something goes wrong, where are the bathrooms? How will people react if I end up in pain, not knowing the disease and the severity of its complications? Yeah, these were a few stressful years in my life.

But I am better. Getting there came at the expense of three college semesters among other things, but I am better nonetheless.

And now – the point of all of this. People always tell you to find what you love and let it kill you, find a job that allows to never work a day in your life – all that cliché stuff. Getting sick made me realize what I want in life: to talk about sports for a living.

The one constant from my math-loving days until now has been sports. I love playing, talking about, watching, listening to, etc., sports. I took those cliché sayings to heart and decided I want to, hopefully, make a career out of it.

When I started writing for The Lamron, I wasn’t even sure if I was good at writing. It was the only forum I knew of that allowed me to creatively discuss all things sports. And now I am going to intern with the Buffalo Bills for the 2014-15 regular season, which provides some confirmation that I am at least decent at writing about sports.

Sorry for being mushy, but this is my reflection on my college career. Before being sick, I was all about the numbers and likely would have ended up in a job that felt like a job, miserable and disengaging. Post-illness, I realized that I should take things I already do on an everyday basis and see if I can get paid for that.

My college experience was atypical and in no way free of bad memories, but I think that going through what I did, the rest of my life is set up to be full of positive ones.

Out of Bounds: On NFL draft speculating

I hate the NFL draft. I hate the hype around it. I hate the analysis of it. I hate the people who get paid to analyze it (but only Mel Kiper because Todd McShay is the man, despite his career choice). It’s just a waste of everyone’s time. This isn’t to say that I don’t love football, however, because I do. I talk about the sport frequently because I am nervous for what the future might hold. I devote all my Sundays in autumn to the sport. I spend hours trying to make sure my fantasy team is the best it can be each week.

Then again, as much as I love the sport, I can’t stand the draft. Here are some of the reasons that contribute to my hatred of this event:

1. Firstly, it must be mentioned that I am a Buffalo Bills fan, which I refer to frequently here. As a fan of the team, I don’t care who the Bills might draft. I care about who they do draft. I don’t care to check mock drafts and see what some dude in his basement has posted to his blog about his predictions. I don’t care that the Bills took E.J. Manuel in the first round when “projections” had him going in a higher round because all the hype around it is just speculation. I care more about how the picks perform on the field than what number pick they were.

2. Further, I don’t care that the Bills took Stephon Gilmore before now Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson in 2012 or any conversation like that. It is known that Buffalo doesn’t make the wisest choices (see: Aaron Maybin, J.P. Losman), but the front office is deeming these players worthy, and I am forced to go with it. The people scouting these athletes are much more qualified than you and me, and we should trust them make the right decision; although, in my case, I probably shouldn’t – which sparks a new debate.

3. Unless you are devoting your efforts to watching film of every potential draft pick, I don’t really care what you have to say. In any other case, you are probably just basing your opinions on the guys at ESPN. Even if you are devoting your time, there is no way you can legitimately think or know in your heart that player A is the perfect fit for Team B.

4. Kiper and McShay are weathermen. They get paid to gossip. They can be completely wrong come draft day, and ESPN will still give them a paycheck at the end of the week. I do believe that they devote a lot of time and energy trying to zero in on their picks, but the truth is that they just don’t matter. Also, look at how much their “big boards” change from January to April. There are constantly guys who are shoe-ins for a top-10 pick at the end of the NCAA season that aren’t even discussed at the draft and vice versa. I’d also be hard pressed to believe that any NFL scout is watching ESPN to see what Kiper and McShay have to say about the draft. Those two exist for the masses, not the professionals, and it’s a shame if you fall for their ruse.

I will watch the draft and look forward to who is picked but not to who might be picked. There are too many discrepancies for me to tolerate, which is why I avoid ESPN until draft day.

Sex stigmas and the story of Duke’s porn star

Another day, another Duke University sex scandal in headlines. On Feb. 14, the Duke Chronicle ran a story about “Lauren” – her true name and stage name have not been made available – a freshman at Duke who stars in pornographic films to pay for her tuition. Naturally, she has received unwanted notoriety since the news broke, which is as disappointing as it is expected. The reason this story has gained such a large following has everything to do with stigmas. Duke is a highly competitive academic institution known for producing top-tier intellectuals, athletes and all-around humans. Porn is perceived as an industry left for desperate “sluts” or girls with “daddy issues.” These two worlds aren’t supposed to mix. How can it be that a woman with a brain good enough for Duke could be in an industry for people without high school diplomas?

It’s not simply curious people attempting to answer that question; rather, most of the attention comes from bullies: people with the intent to harm. In a tell-all for xoJane, Lauren stated how she has been called a “slut who needs to learn the consequences of her actions” and “a huge fucking whore,” which she brushes off. But the one comment she cites as the most disrespectful is someone having the audacity to say that she is simply “a little girl who does not understand her actions.”

Lauren adamantly emphasizes the fact that she is in control of her life; she fully understands her situation and her experience as a sex worker has been nothing but positive, even empowering. She recognizes the fact that abuse does occur in the industry and something needs to be done. That something, though, is not outing performers or slut shaming.

Porn is a multi-billion-dollar industry. I don’t have hard numbers, but I think I am safe in saying that the 18-to-23-year-old male demographic contributes to a significant chunk to that figure. Demeaning the performers one watches is hypocritical to say the least. We propagate the industry with female standards that largely do not exist among the general population, and when something such as Lauren’s case arises, she is shunned for partaking in something considered to be lowly and primal.

Lauren tackles this exact issue rather eloquently, saying, “The virgin-whore dichotomy is an insidious standard that we have unfairly placed upon women … If a woman does not have sex after a date, she will be labeled as a prude. If she does have sex, she will be referred to later as a ho or a slut.” Spot on, if you ask me.

Anti-pornography feminists have made their voices heard on the issue as well. Lauren acknowledges their right to an opinion but asks each of them to “consider how you marginalize a group of women by condemning their actions.” By criticizing her for working in porn, something she has chosen entirely under her own power, is to say there is a particular picture of feminism and Lauren is impairing that image.

Sex in our society is mind-numbingly taboo. Everyone does it, and yet it can never be discussed. To confer or partake in it openly is reserved for a lesser class of human. At the most basic level, Lauren is supplementing the rising college tuition costs – a conversation for another day – by doing something she enjoys and feels empowered doing. While you or I have not chosen to pay off our debt as a sex worker, Lauren has and it is entirely OK. So leave her alone.

The Writearound: Should fans be held accountable?

Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart was punished for his actions involving a spectator, but little attention has been directed toward the fan. What is acceptable behavior for fans at sporting events? Joe Leathersich: So we all know about what happened with Smart recently against Texas Tech. He was suspended for assaulting the fan, which is an appropriate punishment. In my opinion, however, the narrative has been too much about Smart and not nearly enough about the 50-plus-year-old fan harassing a 19-year-old kid.

Mike Eisinger: I would agree with that. The fact that he felt he had the right to personally call out and insult Smart, one of the better and more well-known players in college basketball, is just not right. I watched the [Syracuse University vs. University of Pittsburgh] game the other night, and after Tyler Ennis made his game-winning shot, Pittsburgh fans who, before the game, had been taking pictures with Jim Boeheim, were yelling and flipping off the celebrating Orange players just a few feet from them. Thankfully, no one responded.

Doug Parks: Brings up a point that has been raised on and off over the past couple years. How do you all feel about fan proximity to the court? When the fans are close enough to players where they could physically reach out and touch the players – for example, Cameron indoor stadium – you invite these kind of situations. On the flip side, moving fans away from the hardwood would affect the home-court advantage teams have.

Kevin Frankel: Fans have historically shown a contempt for athletes that doesn’t exist in other arenas of entertainment. When an athlete underperforms, fans have no qualms about berating athletes, even going so far as to make personal attacks on them. Such conduct would be utterly inexcusable at a play or a live music performance, for example. Taken in concert with the physical proximity fans have to athletes, this is a recipe for disaster. The onus should be on the fans to behave civilly, not on the athletes to not react when provoked.

JL: I agree with that last sentence. We love it when these athletes are passionate about their sport, but as soon as they carry that behavior to a place where it is not as commonly accepted – even directly off the court, for example in basketball – we scrutinize them and wonder why they behaved the way they did. It immediately becomes about the athlete’s character and who they are off the field.

ME: So, we all agree that there is something wrong with the way some fans act toward players. How about this: What is the ideal fan behavior? I don’t think we all want to see sports turn into some sickeningly nice thing where there’s never a critical word or harmless taunt thrown. What is acceptable here?

KF: As long as the crowd’s feedback stays away from the vitriol that Jeff Orr directed at Smart. Orr claims he called him a “piece of crap,” while there have been rumblings that Orr actually called Smart a racial slur. Neither of these is acceptable. As for the alleged racial slur, it speaks volumes that Smart was punished more stringently for reacting to racism than Orr was for being racist.

JL: I am not necessarily upset when fans do make personal attacks on an athlete; I don’t ever get personal when I cheer and recognize it is wrong when others do it, obviously. I’m more concerned with the fact that fans think they can say anything and assume that, since they’re at a sporting event, they are absolved of any verbal wrongdoing. So, to me, the conversation can be as simple as, “Say what you want but know you are not protected by the boundaries of the playing field.”

The way I put it in perspective is to imagine myself seeing that athlete on the street. Am I going to say something from the comfort of my 300-level seat? Maybe. Am I going to say that same thing while in line at the grocery store? Not a shot. It’s similar, in a sense, to commenting on the Internet. Everyone has comfort from the keyboard but not in person. And there have been lawsuits against some things said on the Internet, just like fans being kicked out for being unruly at a game.

ME: I’d like to see fans that cross the line truly punished by the institutions that they cheer for. There are ushers and security guards at every game. I realize that they have other duties, but they can definitely see a good amount of bad behavior and take steps to eliminate it. We as fans need to realize that we are accountable for our actions, and just because we’re watching something that we love does not give us free passes to act like jerks.