A Fine Mess : Actions Are Far From Fan-tastic

By any yardstick, it was an ugly story. Depressing. Bad for the game. Not too good for society as a whole.

Nick Van Exel, who is not otherwise to be confused with Dennis Rodman, has just assaulted a basketball referee. Why is not clear.

Now, Nick Van Exel doesn’t dye his hair purple, date Madonna, pose nude for magazines, tattoo himself till he looks like a traveling disco light. He’s not given to the outrageous quote, doesn’t stretch himself out prone on the floor when he’s removed from the game and take his shoes off. Not Nick’s style.

Where he gets mixed up in the public’s mind with Dennis Rodman is in a brutal, uncalled-for attack on an official who barely came up to his armpit.

Reprehensible, right? Uncalled for. Disgusting, even.

But directing your attention to a photo of the incident in Wednesday morning’s sports page here, you will notice a curious thing.

The photo shows the referee sprawling from a forearm shiver across the timer’s table and toward the crowd, unable to stop himself.

Now, notice the fans in the background. Two are young women. Their faces are masks of horror, concern. They cannot believe their eyes. They are repelled by this violence.

Now notice the man on their left. You get the feeling he’s about to break out in a laugh. Or a cheer.

The message is clear: The fans don’t care.

They are disciples of the “Just win, baby!� school of sports dynamism. It’s endemic. This paper prints a scandalous university activity in which a faculty member gives not only passing grades but A’s to athletes who don’t come to class or take tests. The mail the next day is full of furious fans’ reaction. Are they grateful a disgraceful practice is being uncovered? Hardly. They want the paper chastised for insisting a football or basketball player go to class. I mean, he runs the 40 in 4.3, doesn’t he? He leads the league in offensive rebounds, doesn’t he? What more do you want? He should have to go to class too?!

When a Kentucky basketball scandal was exposed by a Louisville paper some years ago, fans shot out the newspaper’s racks with rifles from moving cars.

Van Exel’s behavior was punished by the league with a seven-game suspension and a $25,000 fine. This was one day--and $5,000--more than Dennis Rodman got a couple of weeks ago for smashing his head into a referee’s.

The real monetary cost was somewhat higher, with the discipline costing Van Exel a total of $188,000.

But are fines and suspensions punishment enough? The intent of punishment is to discourage repetition of such incidents. It has been less than two weeks since Rodman was “punished.� It didn’t appear to deter imitative behavior.

On-court thuggery will not be enjoined till the fan shows he wants it to be. All the fines in the world will not have the effect of empty seats.

Two incidents of assault in a little more than three weeks would seem to indicate a breakdown of a system without which the game cannot survive. But as long as the guy in the seats sees it as just a bit of good old American flouting of unpopular authority, it will not by stopped by any league wrist-slaps.

So long as the fan condones it with a tolerant smile, it can only grow. That’s the guy they’ve got to get indignant, not the league commissioner.

Do referees make bad calls on Nick Van Exel? Of course. Does Nick Van Exel get away with a lot of shorts-pulling, ball-palming, arm-holding, double-dribbling the refs do not spot? Of course. The mature professional knows the one balances out the other. The mature professional knows the game cannot survive without these other mature professionals who play 48 minutes a game, run up and down the court more than the average guard does and deserve a pat on the back, not a punch in the nose or a push in the seats. And they don’t get $26,000 a game. The league keeps a marginal player who might get in only two or three minutes a game. But the league doesn’t keep a marginal official. He gets no bench time, part-time play. He goes the distance. Or it’s back to his day job.

�. . . It is imperative that we address the incredible number of incidents that are undermining the professionalism of this league,� Laker Vice President Jerry West said. “Personally, I am embarrassed and apologize to our fans.�

Why? The fan thinks it’s funny. Bet me Van Exel will return to a standing ovation. Referee Ron Garretson will get booed.

The fan gets what he deserves. And if you get one letter sympathizing with the ref, frame it. It’ll be a collector’s item.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Bad, Bad Boys

NBA’S LONGEST SUSPENSIONS

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G Player, Team Reason Yr 26 Kermit Washington, Lakers Punching Rudy Tomjanovich 1977 10 Vernon Maxwell, Rockets Going into stands, hitting fan 1995 7 Nick Van Exel, Lakers Shoving referee Ron Garretson 1996 6 Dennis Rodman, Bulls Head-butting referee Ted Bernhardt 1996 5 Greg Anthony, Knicks Fighting 1993

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NBA’S BIGGEST FINES

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Fine Player, Team Reason Yr $25,000* Nick Van Exel, Lakers Shoving referee 1996 $20,000 Dennis Rodman, Bulls Head-butting referee 1996 $20,000 Vernon Maxwell, Rockets Hitting fan 1995 $20,000 Charles Barkley, 76ers Fighting 1993 $20,000 Greg Anthony, Knicks Fighting 1993 $20,000 Bill Laimbeer, Pistons Fighting 1990

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* Will also lose $163,000 in pay during suspension