NBA Fans Need to Behave Themselves Before They Ruin Everything
As one pandemic might be on its last legs, another has begun to infect the NBA playoffs. This one has to do with unruly fan behavior that has resulted in bans from arenas and criminal charges pressed. We’ve already seen incidents in Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Utah. Now, we can add Washington to the list after Monday’s Game 4 between the Wizards and 76ers saw this take place:
Whether it had to do with this incident only or all of the incidents that have happened lately, Capital One Arena security could been seen holding what appeared to be an emergency meeting after the game:
People have been antsy to get out and get back to doing the things they love after not being able to do so for over a year. NBA teams recently made most of their normal capacity available, so the opportunity is there. You’d think with this sense of normalcy returning, people would be eager to treat the players and their court with respect and dignity. Nope, not happening.
If this keeps up, it’s only a matter of time before the NBA decides to take action. After the Malice at the Palace, we saw security increased and the cutoff time for alcohol sales moved up. In the wake of this new incidents, teams theoretically could hire even more game-day security and stop serving alcohol before the second half. However, it costs money to hire people for their services, and concession workers and vendors definitely wouldn’t appreciate significantly less time to make tips. The NBA would have to look at even more drastic measures to curb the likelihood of fan violence.
Specifically, the NBA would have to consider removing courtside seats, seats near locker-room tunnels and make the coronavirus-mandated empty spaces currently behind team benches permanent. In short, the only surefire way to drastically cut down on this is to remove any and all opportunities for fans to be close to the players. While it surely would make the player-fan relationship more strained, if not nonexistent, how else can players expect to concentrate on their jobs if they’re taking this kind of crap from their fans? It’s not fair to the guys who already have to deal with the pressures of being professional athletes.
If you don’t want this to come to pass, act like a civilized human being if you’re at a game. You’d think common human decency would dictate that you don’t act like you were raised in a barn, especially since you’re considered a guest of the team hosting the game. Instead, too many people who haven’t been out in public a lot lately appear to have forgotten how to behave. It’s resulted in a black eye for the NBA that it really didn’t need at a time when it’s trying to show that it’s open for business.
People who buy tickets are free to cheer and boo as much as they want. However, they’re reminded before games that they’re not allowed to throw anything or come onto the court. But for whatever reason, those pleas are falling on deaf ears. It’s becoming a problem that the NBA won’t be able to ignore for much longer.
Do the people who do these things even care about whether they’ll ever be allowed back at the arena? Imagine being in your early 20s and permanently losing your privilege to watch your favorite team in person because you couldn’t or wouldn’t control yourself. That would make any real fan go crazy. And the real fans will suffer for the sins of a select few who felt it was their right to treat players like cattle.
Don’t be the person who spoils the best fan opportunities for the rest of us. Act like you would in front of someone you really respect. It’s clear you don’t respect anyone on the court if you have the nerve to do what we’ve seen these idiots doing lately. In that case, save your money and stay home so that we can continue to enjoy the opportunity to sit near our favorite players.
