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Former Laker Dwight Howard was walking to his locker room at Staples Center on Sunday after the Atlanta Hawks lost 109-94 to Los Angeles when he heard a fan call him a “bitch.” He responded by requesting the heckler come out of the stands and say it to his face, presumably so Howard could throttle him in less than eight seconds.
TMZ acquired video of the incident, where you can see an arena security person restraining Howard, although he doesn’t appear too heated. Let’s be real here — if Howard wanted, he could have flung aside the security guy and marched through the sea of fans to get to the guy safely shouting verbal barbs from 30 feet away.
People will probably blame Howard for trying to escalate the incident, but not me. Remember the time that guy in Philadelphia was taunting a Tie Domi in the penalty box, only to fall into the penalty box with Domi? I’m all for that. It should happen at random. Imagine if the security guy said, “Yes, Dwight, I heard that too. I’ll radio to my fellow security men and have them bring this fan down to hear to say it to your face.” There’d be way fewer tough guys shouting things at games.
Plus, what if the guy beat up Howard? I’d watch 500 percent more sports if I thought there was a 1 percent chance the league would arrange a fan-player fight after games. On a related note, there’s a reason I don’t run any sports leagues.
(TMZ)
