Westbrook, Young, and now Irving. Fans are treating players like absolute garbage at arenas across the NBA. These assholes have been cooped up in their homes, kept away from stadiums across the sports landscape for so long that the second they return, they start acting like chimps in a zoo. Whether it is as innocuous as popcorn or as disgusting as spit, how have these idiots lost sight of the fact that their target is another human being that they have just paid hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to watch perform?

A fan is handcuffed and escorted out of TD Garden by police after allegedly throwing a water bottle at Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving as he left the court after Game 4 during an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Sunday, May 30, 2021, in Boston. The Nets won 141-126. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)
Courtesy: Elise Amendola/AP

It's nothing new. Fans have a long history of not thinking of athletes as human beings. The aggressions can be macro, a la the Portland fan in 1995 that shouted something vulgar about Vernon Maxwell's stillborn child, or they can be micro, like any time a fan claims to pay a guy's salary. They are symptoms of the same attitude - "I am more important than you".

There is no doubt that it is a shitty outlook to have, but "fan" is short for "fanatic" and that certainly implies that some very shitty people are going to be in the stands for every game. You don't expect to find them in the press box or in the locker room after the game though. Turns out, all it took was Naomi Osaka to expose just how many members of the media look down on the players they cover.

Last week, the tennis phenom said that she would not be attending post-match press conferences during the French Open. She cited her mental health as the reason for the decision.

"I've often felt that people have no regard for athletes [sic] mental health and this rings true whenever I see a press conference or partake in one," the world's second-ranked women's star wrote across her social media feeds.

There is an understanding at these tournaments that speaking to the media is part of the job. If you don't fulfill that duty, you face a fine. Naomi Osaka made it clear that she understood the policy and didn't care. She would pay the fine if that was the cost of not doing something she thinks is detrimental to her overall performance. Shouldn't that be the end of our concern?

Clearly it was not. First it was Roland Garros, then it was the governing bodies of all four of tennis's Grand Slam events. They said in no uncertain terms that Naomi Osaka faced expulsion from any tournament she entered if she refused to speak to the media.

I can't help but think these organizations wouldn't have upped the ante if media voices around the world weren't demanding some kind of retribution. The "hey, I'm just trying to do my job" crowd was out in full force. And they were buoyed by current and former players that all said the same thing. "Speaking to the media is part of the job!" And look, I get the point they were making and where they are coming from, but again, Naomi Osaka wasn't saying "no it's not." She was saying "I can't do this part of the job, and I will accept whatever punishment there is for it."

That was not good enough for the people that decided they were personally hurt by this or the ones that saw an opportunity to hand out a good tisk-tisk to a young millionaire.

<p>Naomi Osaka could be thrown out of the French Open</p>
Courtesy: AP

I sympathize with Naomi Osaka here. She withdrew from the French Open and announced that she needed some time away from the court. That didn't have to be the case. The powers that be in tennis tried to call her bluff and she wasn't bluffing.

Naomi Osaka clearly goes through mental and emotional struggles that are exacerbated by talking to the media. Rather than agree that there is a consequence to not working with the people that cover their sport and accepting that Osaka could live with those consequences, the power brokers at tennis's biggest events upped the ante and as a result, lost one of the sport's biggest draws.

The sports media is not a monolith. It is made up of different people with different experiences. People that entered the business in the last five-to-ten years may have the same title as someone that entered the business thirty years ago, but they approach the job totally differently. When it comes to Naomi Osaka talking about her mental health or Trae Young calling out fan behavior, it always seems to be the oldest in our profession that get the loudest about the need for these people to "man up" or "show some mental fortitude".

Look, I think it is time we say something out loud that is no secret in the world at large, but within our industry, too many are afraid to acknowledge. In a world where literally every game is available on either linear or streaming television and social media exists, reporters have less value to fans than they did a generation ago. It's nothing personal. We live in a world where athletes can get their message directly to fans. In fact, that's how Osaka made her announcement. To quote Pearl Jam, it's evolution, baby.

I don't mind people that think Naomi Osaka is in the wrong for skipping out on her press conferences. I don't mind people that think that decision warranted some kind of punishment. The punishment was laid out in front of Naomi Osaka and she accepted it. What right did anyone have to still be angry?

And don't tell me that players like Steffi Graf or Pete Sampras or Ivan Lendl wouldn't behave like this. You know what they all have in common? They aren't a part this year's French Open. So who cares?

And don't tell me it was all a convenient cover for Naomi not wanting to play on clay. You know it's true because her sister posted about it on Reddit, right? Well, maybe it was a misunderstanding on her sister's part to make it seem so simple or maybe the clay itself is part of the cause of Naomi Osaka's stress and anxiety. Either way, I would rather assume someone is telling the truth about struggling with mental health, encourage them to take care of themselves, and later be called naive than dismiss someone's pain for fear that I might be wrong.

The internet gave players agency. There is no barrier to telling their story directly to fans. That means players that grew up with the internet will have a fundamentally different relationship with and view of the media than their elders. There is nothing wrong with that. Every profession evolves with the times and new technologies. Why should we expect ours to be any different?

As a public, we lose sight of the fact that the people we lionize for what they can do on a tennis or basketball court are just that - people. It isn't out of bounds to have expectations of how they behave or carry themselves, but most of the time, people will choose to meet their own needs first. Using our own column space or air time to rail against a player's decision not to talk to us is no less self-absorbed that what they are doing.

Millionaires rarely engender sympathy. Most fans only view players through that single lens. "They make millions to play this game that I pay hundreds to watch. They OWE me!"

MLB strike in 1981 could guide baseball's coronavirus return - Sports Illustrated
Courtesy: Sports Illustrated

The media has a professional responsibility to be better than that. Where was the reporter asking Naomi Osaka what she is dealing with? Where was the long form piece on athletes battling depression and anxiety in the biggest moments of their careers? I didn't see many columns or stories that framed Osaka's decision as a human one or that approached it with even an ounce of empathy or desire to understand until after she announced she would withdraw from all upcoming tournaments. By that point, the concern is so disingenuous that it is disgusting.

Too many media members first jumped to trying to shame Naomi Osaka. Then, when they decided she had been properly embarrassed, they pretended to want to understand her struggle. How do the authors of those columns go back and read their own words without feeling absolutely embarrassed?