Incident with NBA player Chris Paul's family part of a bigger issue

This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

Playoffs are a time when our emotions are tested. The stakes are high and our devotion during the regular season comes to a critical point.

We commit money, time and energy to support teams and players. As a fan, it becomes part of the game to have a say. We go to social media, the water cooler, or the Slack chat and opine and critique as we become immediate experts without ever having competed at this elite level. It is all in good fun. Most of the time. 

But what about when it isn't fun anymore and becomes harmful?

On Sunday night during Game 4 between the Phoenix Suns and the Dallas Mavericks, two fans were ejected from the arena because of an incident involving Phoenix star Chris Paul.

It was initially reported that there was unwanted contact from the fans toward members of Paul's family.  The interaction had occurred on the concourse level, but was not captured on any surveillance camera or released to the public. But a video of Paul yelling at a fan went viral. According to reports, Paul's father had told him what happened. His family did not return to their seats after the incident. 

It was later reported that the fan had approached Paul's mother and wife and left them feeling "very unsafe." The fan's attempt to give them "unwanted hugs" in front of his sons resulted in a ban from the American Airlines Center until 2023.

After the game, which the Mavs won 111-101, Paul took to Twitter to share his frustration. 

There are people who are already shouting that the fan who was ejected looks fairly young and that it was only  "unwanted hugs." What could possibly go wrong with that?