Was Iverson Wrong?

[TonyG]

Last Sunday Allen Iverson struck back at his hecklers. Do you think he was wrong?

Here is what happened. Last Sunday The 76er's played a basketball game in Indiana against the Pacers. The entire time a few hecklers got on Iverson from just behind the player's bench. All accounts indicate that they went beyond the norm yelling extremely vile, obscene and sick insults about him, his friends, his mother and his children. Keep in mind that last week Iverson had received death threats in an email. Near the end of the game he confronted his hecklers by standing in front of them and calling them faggots. This was caught on national TV and the broadcasters immediately criticized him. Now he is being taken to task for his actions.

Yes, I think he was wrong, but I probably would have done the same thing. What about you?

 

[DriveSouth]

He was wrong

These guys need to learn that they are the "show". We pay to see the "show" and the members of the "show" are not to interact with the audience. It violates one of the fundamental rules of the "show".

 

[codeseeker]

No way. No one deserves to take that kind of crap.
If someone came into your office and started to comment
about you, you'd take offence and likely beat them to a
pulp.
Iverson didn't even do that. I'd be pretty ansy too if I
got death threats. Yes he is part of the show and yes
heckling is part of the game. But if you push someone
you deserved to be pushed back.

 

[DriveSouth]

No way. No one deserves to take that kind of crap.
If someone came into your office and started to comment
about you, you'd take offence and likely beat them to a
pulp.
Iverson didn't even do that. I'd be pretty ansy too if I
got death threats. Yes he is part of the show and yes
heckling is part of the game. But if you push someone
you deserved to be pushed back.

Not even a close comparison: Iverson is a paid entertainer/public figure(and paid pretty damn handsomely too). He knew what came with the territory when he signed up.

If a spectator pushes someone, they do not deserve to be pushed back, they deserve to lose the priviledge of attendance.

 

[Sparky Kronkite]

Maybe it's just me, but.....

I find his hair wrong.

 

[WriterDom]

The average nba player makes 1,000,000 a year for playing a fucking game. If they want to behave that way then pay em $8.39 an hour.

 

[codeseeker]

Alright so he's paid well like any other performer.
That doesn't change the fact that he deserves the same respect that any person should give another. He's paid to give a show he's not paid to take abuse. I don't see why public figures have to play by different rules than the rest of us. They should have just as much right to tell a person off as the general populace.
DriveSouth you do make a good point about revoking attendance privileges. That should definitely be done.
But there is a breaking line especially after receiving death threats.
The way I see it, if you're going to abuse someone don't be surprised when they lash back.

 

[Adoratrice]

Maybe it is not the fact that he lashed back at them but the choice of his words he is being criticized for.

I don't think there is anything wrong with him confronting them , I do however find "faggot" offensive and uncalled for.

 

[Bigdog]

Maybe it is not the fact that he lashed back at them but the choice of his words he is being criticized for.

I don't think there is anything wrong with him confronting them , I do however find "faggot" offensive and uncalled for.

I agree. If he had given them a hearty "FUCK YOU" it would have been forgotten before the arena was empty.

 

[Ezzy]

Why did he call them quantities of wood?

EZ http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/s/cwm2/sleep.gif

 

[Angel]

Re: Why did he call them quantities of wood?

EZ http://cwm.ragesofsanity.com/s/cwm2/sleep.gif

::


Anyway, my opinion. He loved basketball, he can make a shitload of money doing it. He does it. That does not make him any less human or emotional, and just like a minimum wage employee he has a breaking point.

Death Threats, comments about your kids, sure it comes with the territory. But that does not make it any easier to deal with. Anyone would have snapped eventually. Sure he could have handled it better, but who does in the heat of the moment? He was wrong, his choice of words was wrong, and I agree, a "Fuck You' probably would have been better. But maybe in his eyes insulting back was payback for the insults on his family.

Maybe he learned from the experience and next time will be better prepared for the situation.

But it was not a horrible, terrible thing that should be on his back forever.

 

[R Nitelight]

How does this help? It's an argument a player is never going to win. It's better to walk away. Smarter, and taking into account recent fan violence, safer.

Iverson gained nothing from this confrontation. He's got a bad rep, and this only tarnished it further.

 

[TonyG]

R Nitelight

I agree he put another blemish on his reputation and I agree it would have been safer to walk away. However, I have seen hecklers, at hockey games, actually get angry when their target ignored them.

A different response would have been better but I don't know if NO RESPONSE would have been correct. There is a limit to what anyone can take from a heckler and to not stand up for oneself, under extreme duress, to me would be wrong. I think that all sports figures, especially controversial ones, should learn how and when to respond to hecklers. Perhaps it would have been better had he responded during halftime when the camaras were not on him. Perhaps, at the least, a better choice of words.

 

[Angel]

Or perhaps they should all undergo training to deal with it. And I'm being serious.

 

[TonyG]

I think that's a very good idea. It couldn't make things any worse.

 

[Angel]

Of course if they use that they will have to pay me!

 

[Phoenix]

Look I KNOW I am gonna get flamed but I say Iverson did no wrong. Let me put it to you like this no matter how much money you make or who you are, no has the right to degrade you and treat you like less of a human being. Iverson is a man and deserves to be treated like one just you just like me. If someone even mention my family in a negative light then trust me calling them "faggots" would be the least of their problems. Hell if it was me they would still be pulling my Reeboks from up thier asses. So you know what maybe that does make me a tad emotional maybe that would make Iverson a tad emotional but dammit it is the human thing to do.

Let's reverse the rolls shall how bout we go over to the McDonalds these assholes work at and start make lude comments about thier wives and threated their children.HMMM. That would be fair wouldn't it. Fact of the matter is let the man do his damn job. You got issues with him let it be with him not his momma, not his sister and most definately not with his children.

 

[Andra_Jenny]

That's right. It is the show. Heckling is part of and security has the job of removing anybody that goes over the line. These are well-compensated athletes who are living a dream of playing a game for a living. No they cannot turn on the fans nor should they be allowed to strike coaches and this guy and Spreewell should be back at Mickey D's flipping burgers has an exanple to all those you athletes that worship the ground the walk on. But that just mu opinion.

 

[Grrrn38]

That's right. It is the show. Heckling is part of and security has the job of removing anybody that goes over the line.

Actually, a big part of the problem is that owners don't recognize any line (other than physical altercations) and so security has no authority to remove these folks in most arena.

Tony, I've also been thinking a lot about this issue lately, probably having read the same articles you did 'cause I live in the same area. I went from being pretty much a "well, they make zillions of bucks, live with it" person to an "enough's enough" believer after reading Bill Lyon's commentary in the Inquirer. Last year, a guy was convicted of threatening to kill Iverson's 5-year-old child. What kind of person does that? He's had his back yard broken into and the back of his home sprayed with racist graffitti. He's not the only one, and the Sixers aren't the only team.

I don't think this is the kind of thing that "goes with the territory". That same commentary brought up the incident a couple of years ago where Charles Barkley meant to spit on a heckler (charming) and spit on a little girl by accident. Though much was appropriately made of the incident, Lyon wondered why no one was equally appalled at what kids are being exposed to by other "fans". (One of Iverson's admirers regularly harangues him about his mother being a German Shepherd and searching the neighborhood trying to find the dog who fathered him. THAT must be pleasant for the family out for a wholesome evening.

[Edited by Grrrn38 on 02-04-2001 at 12:20 AM]

 

[TonyG]

I thought the fine ($5000) from the league was good. It showed that the league formally will not agree with player's confronting fans. The fact that the fine was low, I thought stated that the league actually was on Iverson's side in this matter without formally stating such.

Iverson has apologized for the incident.

 

[Andra_Jenny]

The NBA should probably go to hockey-style glass around the court so the millionaires do not get their precious feelings hurt by bad words. Hell, the crowd is too close anyway. Like an old, old high school gym where the out of bounds marker and the wall share a common line. How many times does a player go up into the stands during the course of play and how many camera people do they slam into. If I had that much money invested in a guy or a group of guys, I want to give 'em some room to work.

 

[WriterDom]

``They called me jailbird ... waving their middle finger at me."

Gee Iverson, you are probably the first pro athlete to ever get heckled. And now they know they can get under your skin. But what's a 5000 dollar fine to you?

 

[R Nitelight]

I Love This Game....

Did anyone see where Jimmy Buffett was thrown out of the arena in Miami last night during the Heat-Knicks game for heckling the officials?

 

[DriveSouth]

I did

I saw that last night on the late SportCenter...

I stand by my comments before...

I attend many sporting events each year in addition to many "cultural" events, plays, musicals, concerts ...

If I were to start harassing the actors on stage I'd be promptly removed and I dare say the the offended actor would hardly miss a line in the performance, the show would go on.

The same should be said for sports, kick out the offending fan, atheletes stay put, stay in character, do what you are paid to do and go on about you game ... like it or not, YOU ARE A ROLE MODEL.

 

[TonyG]

Originally posted by DriveSouth
The same should be said for sports, kick out the offending fan...

The City of Phila started a concept about two years ago where there is an actual judge in a room at the Eagles football stadium. Fans who are unruly during a game are 'arrested' by the police, taken to the judge where they are fined, quite heavily, or put into stadium jail until they pay the fine. Should the fan own a season ticket; it is not allowed to be used for the rest of the season. It has worked pretty well and the incidents of player abuse by the fans has gone WAY DOWN.

Unfortunately, not all cities think the same way about 'heckling'.