Mad Max Meltdown

Has anyone been following what's been going down in Houston the last couple of days?

For those who haven't heard this stomach-churner already, here is a not-brief-enough recap.

On Monday, during the third quarter of the Portland Trailblazer's 120-82 thrashing of the Houston Rockets, Rockets guard Vernon Maxwell charged up a dozen rows into the Portland Memorial Coliseum crowd and cold-cocked a 35-year-old fan, Atlanta home products salesman Steve George, in the jaw.

On Wednesday, the NBA suspended "Mad Max" without pay for at least 10 games and fined him $20,000, the highest in league history. If the suspension is upheld in a lengthy appeals process already underway, Maxwell stands to lose nearly $300,000.

Richard Maizels, George's attorney , said yesterday that there is a good possibility of a civil law suit. He also said that George will file a complaint with the district attorney.

I have watched this story unfold over the past five days with disbelief. It highlights many of the problems with professional sports today.

Maxwell is like many of today's professional athletes who enter the sports world with multi-million dollar salaries--and thus with little incentive to perform or behave--before even playing a single minute professionally.

Maxwell is like many of today's professional athletes, who have been playing mind games with recruiters, college coaches and reporters.

Maxwell is like many of today's professional athletes, who, since junior high, have heard people tell each of them that they are the greatest player ever.

Maxwell is, quite simply, another spoiled brat that today's sports-craving society built. As the media whirlwind that is the O.J. Simpson trial has made painfully clear, we manufacture our sports heros to be larger than life, and we don't expect them to falter.

While I believe that Maxwell's actions were reprehensible, I think that--incredibly--Maxwell still doesn't get it.

Rather than admit that, in the heat of the moment, he lost his notorious temper, Maxwell is justifying his actions. He is even complaining about his punishment, one of the harshest the NBA has ever handed down.

"When he began involving my daughter Amber in his obscene, abusive and racial remarks I decided I'd had enough and I rushed into the stands," Maxwell said through a statement read by his attorney, Dick DeGuerin.

"...I don't believe the NBA has all the information about the fan's conduct that provoked this incident and I believe the punishment would not have been as harsh had they known about it," Maxwell said.

As a professional athlete and performer, Maxwell's explanation rings hollow. Somehow, he wants us to believe that fan's words were harsh enough to deserve a right hand to the jaw. Is that possible?

Whether or not George's comments were racially motivated and whether or not the heckling by George would have made "Mother Teresa...hit him with her cane," as DeGuerin claims, Maxwell needs to remember that he is the professional and George is the fan. What the fan says, though it may also be reprehensible, is irrelevant. Maxwell's job is to play basketball.

Hecklers have long been a part of performer's lives. And Maxwell is a pretty good on-court trash-talker himself. Does he not expect the fans to do the same?