THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 19, 1995 TAG: 9502190165
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
When Vernon Maxwell was suspended and fined for running into the crowd during an NBA game and slugging a heckler, it was a case of both parties getting what they deserved.
Maxwell is less than a sympathetic character; his rap sheet, which includes two arrests for nightclub altercations, makes Mad Max's dash up the aisle in Portland difficult to defend.
Difficult to defend, but not hard to understand.
Harder to fathom is the alleged behavior of the fan, Steve George.
Of Maxwell, George has said, ``He was having a bad night and he lost it.''
That's funny. Together with other silver-tongued orators, George represents fans who hurl all sorts of invective, who taunt and spew forth venom, who smugly scream insults that would start a brawl if said on the street, and who pay for this opportunity to verbally assault athletes and annoy fans sitting around them . . . and he accuses someone else of losing it?
But, then, hecklers are never as clever as they think they are.
Or as brave.
It may help Maxwell's reputation (almost nothing could hurt it) to point out that Babe Ruth once went into the stands after a heckler.
The object of Ruth's rage one afternoon in 1922 scrambled to safety over several rows of seats, leaving the Babe swinging at air and seething on the roof of the dugout.
``Ah, you're all alike,'' he bellowed to the crowd. ``You're all yellow!''
The Babe had it right.
Heckling is a cowardly act. The taunter finds safety in numbers. And in the understanding that the target of his moronic outbursts won't (usually) fight back.
You'd think that, by now, sports franchises would take steps to shield athletes from racial and sexual vituperation. If not for the athlete's sake, for the comfort of other customers.
``We would like, on balance, our arenas to be a place with some sense of civility and community,'' NBA commissioner David Stern said in the wake of the Maxwell incident. ``And we're going to see what we think the limits of acceptable fan behavior should be.''
Identifying those limits is easier than enforcing them. It's hard to believe, though, that players are the only ones who want to muzzle the serial hecklers. If leagues can do little to curb demented behavior in the stands, perhaps more civilized fans should take it upon themselves to discourage excessive taunting of players or, for that matter, officials.
Last Saturday at Duke, I squeezed between a slim courtside press table and the knees of several members of the student section.
At one point in the game, an official walked in front of me to hand a player the ball. Immediately, obscenities rained over my head. Their target was the ref.
The taunts of these future captains of industry were relatively routine by today's deplorable standards, but an incessant drumbeat, even of a garden-variety vulgarity, is enough to bruise the brain.
As play continued, I shot a glance over my shoulder at one of the more vocal students.
``You gotta stay on them,'' I heard him explain. ``They need that. That's what we're here for.''
I'd like to think I inspired a little self-consciousness in the undergrad heckler. But I know better. For some people, taunting is a sport in itself.
A yellow sport. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
CARL WIKMAN\ Houston's Vernon Maxwell confronts Portland fan Steve
George moments before striking him in this video taken by another
fan.
by CNB