For those not up on what happened between Bull's center Joakim Noah and a fan during last nights 11-pt loss to the Miami Heat in game 3, I'll summarize:
-Noah picks up 2nd foul and heads to the bench.
- Noah sits down and gets heckled by a fan.
- Noah responds by with something along the lines of "F--- you, fa----"
Now, this issue here for me is not what Joakim said, or anything to do with player/fan interactions, I can touch on those later. What really bothers me about this is that Noah was only fined $50k for these words.
Earlier this season Kobe Bryant had an issue with a referee and while sitting on the bench yelled at him while he was on the bench, calling him a "Fa----". Kobe was fined $100k for this comment.
When it comes to relationships in the sports world, few, if any, are more important than a team's relationship with fans. Fans bring in money, and EVERYTHING in sports is about money. So shouldn't the league be more concerned with bad PR when it comes to the players' interactions with fans?
Now I get that Kobe is a much more high-profile player and MUCH more important to marketing than is Noah, but what they said was essentially the same, and Kobe's fine doubled, DOUBLED, Noah's. How exactly does that make sense?? Double?
The NBA has fined star players more in the past, but setting a precedent like this is ridiculous. If I was Kobe, I'd be giving the league a call after hearing the news today.
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