Is this a joke?

Posted by Brendan Jackson on May 11, 2009 21733 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2009%2F05%2F11%2Fis-this-a-joke%2FIs+this+a+joke%3F2009-05-12+01%3A30%3A31Brendan+Jacksonhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D2173

According to ESPN.com, the father of the fan who stood in Big Baby’s way after he hit the game winning shot, is now demanding an apology for what he described as Davis acting like a “raging animal with no regard for fans’ personal safety.”

This, of course must be a joke. However, in this sue everyone for anything world we live in, it is not funny. It is clear from the replays that Glen Davis’ momentum carried him out of bounds and he turned up court and ran towards his celebrating team. Despite knocking off the boy’s hat in the process, the collision didn’t seem to have a profound effect on either the boy or his father, presumably standing next to him in the blue button-down. If you don’t believe me, judge for yourself:

There are many reasons to call “malarky” on this guy demanding the apology. First of all, if this kid was a Celtics fan, or a member of the Magic had bumped into him, he’d currently be telling all of his friends that “Dwight Howard hit me so hard my hat fell off. It was awesome! Who wants to touch me?”

Secondly, if we assume the man next to him in the blue button-down, seen shouting at Glen Davis while he was taking the shot, is the boy’s father, it’s clear from every replay that he didn’t even see it happen and didn’t seem overly concerned at the time considering he turned his back to both the court and his son. If he’s more concerned with expressing his displeasure at the way things happened than protecting his son from a “raging animal” than he should be the one apologizing to his son.

Thirdly and probably most importantly, is the tiny writing placed on the back of every ticket. I can’t comment on the exact language written on the back of the guy’s tickets, but I do know that the Orlando Magic use ticketmaster and written on the back of all ticketmaster tickets is the following:

“HOLDER VOLUNTARILY ASSUMES ALL RISKS AND DANGER INCIDENTAL TO THE EVENT FOR WHICH THE TICKET IS ISSUED, WHETHER OCCURRING PRIOR TO, DURING, OR AFTER THE EVENT, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO…BEING INJURED BY…PLAYERS.”

I recently had the priviledge of sitting courtside at a Miami Heat game and while the Heat use a different ticketing service, similar language is written on the backs of their tickets:

“HOLDER VOLUNTARILY AGREES THAT THE …PARTICIPANTS…ARE EXPRESSLY RELEASED BY HOLDER FROM ANY CLAIMS ARISING FROM SUCH CAUSES.”

What’s more is Boston.com is reporting that the father of the boy also said this:

In a telephone interview with the Sentinel, Provetti said, “How do you like to be a 12-year-old and see a raging lunatic coming at you?”

He noted that Davis should never have been so close to the fans in the front row.

“The NBA makes it clear [that players are not to] cross the sideline. If I cross that line, the NBA will take away my tickets. It’s a double standard.”

Lunatic? A very strong word, especially from someone over-reacting as much as this guy. What he fails to address is the problem with courtside seats to begin with. How many times have we seen players fall into the stands trying to save a loose ball? If the guy doesn’t want to get hit, don’t have courtside seats. I think courtside seats are a terrible thing anyway. The fans are right on top of the court and are allowed to shout whatever they want to players and even reach out towards them as long as they don’t make contact, however, if a player says or does anything to a fan, they are ejected and suspended for 73 games. Double standard? Yeah, a much bigger one.

Needless to say, this guy has no right to demand anything form anyone. This just seems like sour grapes to me and I feel like his energy would be better served rooting for his team instead of trying to distract Glen Davis. Besides, if you ever wanted to question Big Baby’s character, watch this: