NBA handing out warning cards to fans who violate Code of Conduct?
It appears as if the NBA is trying a new way to cut down on fan heckling. On Wednesday night, a Reddit user posted an interesting photo of a card he or she claims his or her friend got while attending an NBA game. From what we can gather in the blurry background, we’re guessing it was during Wednesday night’s game between the Detroit Pistons and Milwaukee Bucks. The card read as follows:
You are being issued a warning that the comments, gestures and/or behaviors that you have directed at players, coaches, game officials and/or other spectators constitute excessive verbal abuse and are in violation of the NBA Fan Code of Conduct. This is the first and only warning that you will receive. If, after receiving this warning, you verball abuse any player, coach, game official or spectator, you will be immediately rejected from the arena without refund.
Apparently having an usher give you a verbal warning is no longer enough? Welcome to 2013.
In all seriousness, this isn’t that bad of an idea. Fans complain all the time about getting the boot without warning and claim they didn’t do anything. If you’re handed one of these cards, there’s really no arguing that you’ve done something to piss someone off and should probably zip it.