Written by John Hnat

---

Let

Let’s start the countdown now.  The countdown to the first time that Delonte West, who returned to the Cavs last week after leaving camp because of a bout with depression, hears the jeers.  More than the jeers, actually – the cruel, cutting comments about his condition. 

As Erik Cassano’s excellent column on the subject reminds us, depression specifically (and mental illness more generally) is not a character flaw or a moral weakness.  It’s not a condition that anybody can “control”.  (More than once, I’ve heard the comment that a depressed person should just cheer up.  That is like telling a poor man that he would be rich if he would just get some money.  It confuses the ends with the means.)

Nor is it a condition that is easily diagnosed or treated.  Delonte may have months, if not years, of trying to find the right treatment or medication for his condition.  It’s not as though he can simply pop Prozac pills as though they were Tic-Tacs and have everything be all better.  The road ahead of him will not be an easy one.  He’ll continue to struggle with his illness, as he has for his entire life.  He’ll probably have good days and bad days.  The strength of character that he displayed in coming forth with his illness is the same strength that he will need to deal with these demons.

None of that will matter to some fans (using the term very loosely) in the coming years.  They won’t care about his illness.  They won’t give a second thought (or even a first one) to the effort that it can take for a depressed person to simply get out of bed.  No, they will take West’s illness and try to use it as a weapon against him.  We can already imagine the taunts and the chants; I have visions of a hostile opposing crowd droning “PRO-ZAC!  PRO-ZAC!” as Delonte steps to the line for free throws.  God forbid he should have a 2-for-14 night from the field at the Q, prompting some drunken idiot to yell that now everybody in the building is depressed.

Sports can bring out the best in humanity:  teamwork, selflessness, determination, overcoming adversity, and celebration.  On the whole, sports are a Good Thing.  Unfortunately, they are not 100 percent good.  Sports can also bring out the worst in us.  Read the sports page on any given day, and you can see any number of stories that demonstrate greed, anger, insecurity, and almost any other negative emotion you care to name.

As fans, we are not immune.  The precedents are certainly there to expect that West will hear many insensitive remarks.  In 1982, the Minnesota Twins had an exciting young centerfielder, a rookie by the name of Jim Eisenreich.  Unknown to everybody at the time, even to himself, Eisenreich had Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological condition that can cause physical tics and unpredictable behaviors.  It was Tourette’s that caused Eisenreich to start shaking involuntarily during a game, to the point where he had to run off the field. 

Here’s where the idiotic fan behavior comes in.  Days later,  Eisenreich and the Twins were playing in Boston.  In the second inning, with Eisenreich playing centerfield, the Fenway Park bleachers started chanting “Shake!  Shake!  Shake!” Eisenreich ended up leaving the game, and his career almost ended with it.  It would not be until several years later that Eisenreich became a regular major leaguer; fortunately, he was able to play for many more years.

Amazingly, the display by Boston fans that day is not the most insensitive outpouring by a team’s fans in recent memory.  That dishonor goes to the fans of Arizona State University who attended the January 20, 1984 basketball game between ASU and rival Arizona.  Two days prior, Malcolm Kerr (the father of Arizona star Steve Kerr – yes, that would be the Steve Kerr who later played several seasons for the Cavs, and who is currently the general manager of the Phoenix Suns), then the President of the American University in Beirut, was murdered by terrorists.  During the game, ASU fans chanted “P-L-O!  P-L-O!”, referring to the Palestinian Liberation Organization, the group allegedly behind the murder. 

Many fans have the mindset that buying a ticket to a sporting event gives them free rein.  They think nothing of yelling loud catcalls time and again; or of swearing so often that their words would make a sailor blush; or of accosting other fans, especially ones who are rooting for the other team; or even of getting into fights.  “I bought the ticket, so I can do whatever I want!” seems to be the thought pattern.

I am here to tell you:  no you can’t.

When you buy a ticket to a game, you have bought the privilege (not the right) to attend that game.  Nothing more.  You don’t have a free pass to teach vulgar words to every kid within earshot.  You don’t have the right to yell so loudly and so often that it keeps others from enjoying the game.  You don’t have a Get Out Of Jail Free card for pounding beer after beer and then getting in a fight with the guy two rows down who is wearing a Steelers jersey (as much as we may like to think that he has it coming).

Even more than whether you have the right to act that way, what you have to ask yourself is:  do you want to act that way?  Is your life so empty of real meaning that you need to take out your frustrations on complete strangers?  When you yell some quaint phrase with an unusual number of Fs in it, and the dad in front of you with the two kids turns to look at you (or worse, just sits in silence and accepts it as the fate of attending a live game), ask yourself:  are you being the type of person who you want to be?  Is that really the best version of yourself that you have to offer?

Before you get all hot and bothered and accuse me of wanting to turn a football game into the opera, let’s be clear:  I am not saying to sit on your hands or to confine yourself to polite golf applause.  If you go to a game, have a great time.  Cheer, support your team, boo the opponents, get out of your seat, and scream yourself hoarse.  If all you wanted was to see the game, you could stay home and watch it on TV.  Fans are supposed to get involved with the game.  Just do it in a way that doesn’t turn your good time into somebody else’s bad one.  If you are acting in a way that would make you embarrassed if your mother/spouse/boss/priest/etc. were watching, it’s a good sign that you probably should rethink your actions.

Delonte’s illness can be the catalyst for teaching several lessons.  The more obvious one is that depression is indeed an illness, and that it can afflict even the highest-functioning people in society.  Hopefully, sports fans will also recognize that there is a place for compassion, and that a player’s personal problems – especially if he’s wearing the “wrong” uniform – are no excuse for forgetting basic decency.