http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/basketball/nba/12/07/bc.bkn.timberwolves.sprewell.ap/index.html

Sprewell responded to the female heckler with a sexually vulgar term, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reported in its Tuesday editions.

The comment was apparently picked up by a courtside microphone and was broadcast by Los Angeles television station KTLA and by the Timberwolves' broadcast on KSTC television in Minnesota.

nice...

LOL!

Posted by Nalod:

This time I might side with Spree.

At what point do these hecklers not get a talking back to? I don't know how hard she was riding him, and he is certainly no angel, but fans are stepping over the lines.

We see it from parents at the kids levels, all the way to the pro's.

I am disgusted with what I hear from parents. They really need to get a life.

There must be a line and if security cannot control these idiots, then players have a right to VERBALLY defend themselves. Maybe not to suggest they perform oral intercourse with them, but to be quiet, or request security intervene.

With the kind of hate that is spewed on them, no wonder they are not always friendly to the public.

I really want to know how out of line this women was.

Sprewell is a classless fool, what ever is said to him he deserves it.

Over the yrs he has wooed many knick fans, but what he has to do is shut up and play the game.
The profession he's in is a lot tamer to what it used to be. They had a cage around the court back in the day from stopping fans from getting at the players.

In Europe batteries and lighters are throw on the court at players.

Verbal abuse is common , just ask the football players coming out of the tunnel in oppossing teams stadiums.

So many ism's create the verbal abuse in sports arenas, when you get paid big bucks you need to go out and buy some thick skin!

I'm not paid 14 million to be on TV in front of a national audience while I'm on the highway. Sprewell isnt just playing a game, he's entertaining people by doing so and there is an appropriate code of conduct when doing so. If he wanted to piss her off he should have blown her kisses and made a play. She got the best of him and now he looks like an ass. (more than before)

who cares...as if Lawrence Taylor or Michael Jordan never uttered a profane word during a nationally televised game? please...

i thought Spree's conduct was immature & moronic when he came to MSG to showboat & taunt James Dolan, but i don't think he was worthy of any punishment over it...& i hold the same opinion on this case as well...as long as he's not going into the stands to physically confront anyone or throwing anything into the crowd, he can act as immature & moronic as he pleases as far as i'm concerned...do i respect his behavior? no, but i don't think it's that big a deal to warrant any sort of formal punishment.

A little profanity never hurt anyone. Players should be required to curse at fans!

[Edited by - Bonn1997 on 12/07/2004 14:07:12]

Why do I want to say that fan is somehow related to Dolan?

players have been cursing at fans & vice versa for alot longer than Spree's been in the league...i don't think you should use Spree to set some kind of example & not do a thing about Michael Jordan or Reggie Miller calling Spike Lee his "bitch" or worse...isn't he a "fan" too? i'm sure there are plenty of kids sitting around courtside too that could hear the banter going back & forth...to me, that part of the game is entertaining & it's what makes rivalries all the more interesting...

again, as long as it doesn't go overboard w/things being thrown or players & fans getting into physical altercations, & the comments don't cross the line as far as hitting players below the belt referring to family situations & racial slurs, i don't see really see any need to address this issue to the point of issuing any formal punishments to any particular player.

Spree acting like an idiot doesn't warrant him being punished unless he crosses that line imho...that doesn't mean i appreciate some of the things he does though.

that said, i have no kids so maybe i can't appreciate this from a parent's point of view.

lol