Welcome to the 21st century. Our online creation has established a world obsessed with fame—and anger.
Athletes and executives of professional sports leagues must fight against a trend of fan misconduct. Social media followers have created a culture of memes, heckling and death threats. Acceptance of those norms has started to creep into live events. Consider a few of the most recent headline stories associated with fan misconduct throughout major sports leagues.
December 2018: Dallas Mavericks superfan Don Knobler was eventually banned for the remainder of the 2018-19 NBA season after he allegedly chanted “F— your mother” to Los Angeles Clippers guard Patrick Beverley. Beverley was ejected from that contest because he chucked a basketball at Knobler. Reportedly, Knobler had prior heckling instances.
January 2019: Former Chicago Bears kicker Cody Parkey missed a field goal that eliminated any hopes of postseason contention. Parkey received dozens of death threats that were focused on not just him but his entire family. Fan misconduct intensified when Parkey was seen joining a group prayer.
March 2019: Utah Jazz fan Shane Keisler was permanently banned from future games after he allegedly made discriminating comments to Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook. After Keisler claimed “Get down on your knees like you’re used to,” Westbrook threatened both Keisler and his wife. Jazz players have confessed that this fan misconduct is not a random incident.
March 2019: Asian Cup host United Arab Emirates was penalized with a $150,000 fine and a requirement to play its first home-qualifying game for the 2023 Asian Cup in an empty stadium. These penalties were enforced after UAE fans tossed shoes and bottles at Qatar players during a 4-0 semifinal defeat. Additionally, host fans were responsible for disturbances during the Qatar National Anthem along with fights among themselves.
March 2019: UEFA will punish Ajax following a fan misconduct that occurred after objects were thrown at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Previous crowd disturbances have made this the fourth such UEFA punishment that the team faces this season.
Online communities have always encouraged bullying. Message boards, instant messengers, chat rooms, social media platforms—you name it. Their discriminating tendencies are becoming more commonplace at live events. Society must eliminate any perception that hate will become acceptable outside of the online realm.
One common perception is that younger generations have become soft. While there’s some truth to that, understand that previous generations weren’t subjected to the negativity of the online world. Social media platforms have created a dopamine-addicted culture that allows someone with a massive following to visualize hundreds of negative comments at any given time. Negativity bias suggests that, even when of equal intensity, things of a more negative nature have a greater effect on one’s psychological state and processes than neutral or positive things. Negativity bias causes people to judge online tones negatively. Judging online tone is much harder than people realize.
Ignorance isn’t going anywhere. Humanity can only control it. Athletes must adapt to the environment. As most people are too addicted to their social media accounts to follow Philadelphia 76ers guard J.J. Redick‘s lead and ditch them, leagues must educate their players on fan misconduct. Why do fans react the way they do? Why do they overreact? What’s with the bipolar attitudes that change from game to game, season to season?
Unruly fans want player retaliation. Some fans behave ignorantly just to attract viral fame (e.g. running on to the field). Some want to create a payday for themselves via another Malice at the Palace. Some are bitter because their circumstances don’t appear as rosy as the millionaire athlete. Some people think they’re hilarious because they used that meme for the 7,948,173rd time. Most people are intoxicated and live that “Blame it on the al-al-al-al-al-alcohol” song.
And, of course, some fans take sports way too seriously. Athletes are often treated as royalty. Players quickly learn that fans and critics don’t care about them; they idolize their talents. Nothing more.
Players and league representatives must cooperate on handling fan misconduct at live events. Some of the aforementioned examples featured situations where players commented about security needing to take more initiative. Leagues must educate their players on not responding directly to the perpetrator. Trolls aren’t worth their time. Pass it off to another party who can handle the matter. The NBA appears like it’s nearing a future crisis. The players must feel protected. Players can’t insult fans or hurl objects at them. Someone will go too far. Just ask Ron Artest, currently Metta World Peace.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted that players are unhappier and lonelier than during previous eras. Silver believed much of that was due to social media usage. Can a player feel like part of a family when their name is constantly included in online trade rumors? How can a team create unity when they’re focused on whether their entire nucleus will get traded for that one superstar player in an attempt to create the next triumvirate? During season, an unforgiving traveling schedule keeps players away from their families.
Keep players protected—-both physically and mentally—at live events. Help them cope with negativity on social media. Social media offers athletes an incredible way to remain in touch with the fans. Just look at how Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt raised more than $40 million for 2017 flood victims.
It is what one makes of it. Don’t let the trolls, bots, and bitter pundits keep you off a platform that provides a great service when used maturely. Don’t take negative comments and/or attacks seriously. Avoid addiction; everything in moderation.
Don’t respond to hate with hate. This isn’t grammar class; hate will always win that battle.
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Joshua Huffman was born and edumacated in Middle Tennessee. He has published content for Yahoo! Sports (via Contributor Network) and Titan Sized, among other venues. At SoBros, he’ll provide Daily Fantasy Sports suggestions and broad sports coverage. Follow him on Twitter (although I rarely use it).
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