LeBron James Taunting and Tantrums: When Does the Hate Go Too Far?

Fans will often decry any criticism of their favorite players as "hating" on them. When does "hating" actually become hating, though? As fans, where does it actually become personal? And where do you draw the line between just being a fan of your team and being an uncivil person?

Yesterday in the Miami Heat's game against the Detroit Pistons, a fan of the Pistons invoked the name of James' mother in his jeering. While his teammate James Jones was shooting free throws he approached the fan and told him, "I don't care what you say to me. I don't give a [expletive] what you say but don't be disrespectful."

Ironically the fan was offended by James using the expletive. What should be an obvious hypocrisy seems to be lost on the fan. It does underscore a certain factor that is often lost in the kind of mob mentality that can go on with fans at games. The players on the court actually are human beings. Their being stars does not relinquish their humanity. 

It should be noted that James' children were also at the game and within earshot of the fan, hearing everything the fan was saying about their grandmother. 

Precisely what was said by the fan wasn't being reported, but it brings up the question, how much jeering too much jeering? Did this go too far, or is this a case of "rabbit ears" by LeBron James? Is it permissible to bring family into the jeering or is that going to far?

It's easy to get caught up in a moment, or in an image. It's easy to take a media-fed persona and make that the entirety of a person. It's easy to point at a person's portrayed shortcomings and make that the totality of a person and therefore use that as justification for personal antagonism. 

Booing a player because he plays for another team is acceptable behavior in my opinion, but yelling insults regarding his mother in front of his children is going too far. Fan etiquette should bear in mind that while opposing players are the "enemy," they are not "evil" for being so. 

Even with the way he handled The Decision, James committed no great moral or criminal wrong. Perhaps the show was more than a wee bit "peacockish," but that doesn't make him an evil person. It doesn't validate hurling insults at his mother in front of his children.

It doesn't mean he doesn't mean he doesn't have the same capacity to love his mother or his children. It doesn't deny him the right to bring them to his games. Neither does it make it any less offensive to hear them insulted. 

This isn't just about LeBron James and the isolated incident. It's about how we as fans personalize our sports. It's easy to sit at our laptops or in the stands, throwing out whatever judgments we want, always analyzing others' lives as though our own would survive the same analysis.

The general public often suffers from something you might call "Jay Mariotti Syndrome."  We sit and judge others, telling what they should do and how they should do it, often acting on half of the facts, all while ignoring our own shortcomings. It's almost as if we can hide our faults by pointing to others.  

Our worst moments might not always be the same, but if our worst moments were discussed for weeks at a time we might not have the same feelings about some people we do now. The biblical passage regarding taking the plank out of our own eye before removing the splinter from our neighbor's seems apt, regardless of your feelings on the Bible. 

One can only hope that fans don't take this is  as an opportunity to "try and get under his skin" in future games. Being a fan isn't an excuse for forgoing human decency. Throwing out vulgarities regarding a stranger's (and to him you are a stranger) mother doesn't become appropriate merely because they are wearing an opposing uniform or held a charity event you don't approve of. 

Fans should feel free to boo to their heart's content. In doing so, though, they should remember to keep basic human decency intact. Boo unto others as you would have them boo unto you.