NBA officials in Boston ejected a fan from Tuesday night’s Celtics-76ers game after the man was involved in a shouting match with 6ers guard Cameron Payne, video posted to YouTube by House of Highlights shows.
After inbounding the ball, Payne appears to make a talking gesture at the fan before fully turning his back to the ongoing play to face the fan and confront him.
Payne then engages in a shouting match with the animated fan who, sitting only one row behind courtside seats, can be seen yelling and gesturing aggressively with both hands.
Referees then get between the fan and Payne while, as the 76ers guard walks away the fan, he continues to yell, becoming increasingly animated.
Suit-clad members of arena staff then approach the fan and indicate to him that he has to leave.
I’ve seen three or four videos like this in the past month, and every time I see one I have two thoughts: that fan is a dickhead and that player is 10-ply soft.
I make no excuses for this obnoxious fan, who’s probably hammered, and thinks he’s entitled to berate a fellow human being because he bought an expensive floor seat. No sir. Everybody hates you. Shut up. (RELATED: NBA Star Damian Lillard Finds Out Milwaukee Sucks)
But on the other side of the coin, if I was a multi-millionaire getting paid beaucoup bucks to play a child’s game, I would simply not let some random dude chirping at me get in my head this much. Payne was actively ignoring his job, which he gets paid over $2 million dollars to do, so he could argue with a dude who probably can’t hit a jump shot to save his life.
Who cares dude? Why let it bother you this much? It points to a deep-seated insecurity and a massive deficit of masculinity to let a little chirping shake you this much.