Fans have variety of targets

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Fans have variety of targets


By Nick Cafardo, Globe Staff, 5/10/2003

 FleetCenter crowd frustrated by the Nets' destruction of the Celtics in last
night's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals resorted at times to
''wife beater'' chants directed at New Jersey point guard Jason Kidd, but the
evening's lasting image of fan dissatisfaction was one man's finger-pointing
tirade against Antoine Walker in the waning moments, which resulted in Walker
charging into the stands and being restrained by security.



The sight of irate Celtics fan Stewart Berg being escorted from the building
was an ironic turnaround by the crowd, which had begun the night targeting
Nets coach Byron Scott, who on Wednesday made anti-Boston remarks on a New
York radio station, and Kidd, who is routinely the subject of derogatory
chants in Boston in the wake of his arrest on a charge of hitting his wife in
January 2001 while playing for Phoenix.

Kidd, for his part, seemed to shut out the crowd noise as he conducted the
Nets like a finely tuned orchestra. He had 9 points, 9 rebounds, and 11
assists.

''He's a veteran that leads and he's a true professional,'' said Nets forward
Kenyon Martin. ''He's done a great job not getting involved in the things that
have been said about him. I tip my hat to him because if someone said that
about my wife, I don't think I could deal with that. He just goes about his
business and works hard every day.''

Nets players said the electricity of the crowd early in the evening, before
the game and when the result still was in doubt, had no effect on them. ''It
wouldn't have mattered if it was back and forth, back and forth, and the crowd
was in all the way,'' said Richard Jefferson. ''Hey, we have [one of] the best
home records in the NBA and we can't even sell out a game. Our home attendance
is one of the lowest in the NBA, so that goes to show that crowds had no
bearing on whether we win or lose.''

Early on, it was Scott who was the prime pincushion. Among the Celtics fans
who were irked by Scott -- who suggested that Boston is hostile ground for
blacks -- was Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who yesterday on WWZN radio called
Scott's comments ''ridiculous'' and called for Scott to apologize to the city
of Boston.

Scott's controversial comments began with him recounting how when he played in
Boston with the Lakers in the NBA Finals in the 1980s, the city was not
friendly to black players. Then he said, ''I don't think we're way past that .
. . A lot of black players feel that way.''

Scott added that he told his wife not to accompany the Nets on the road during
this series, telling her, ''Babe, you can't go up there. Not to Boston.''

Scott's ire for Boston fans was rekindled during last year's Eastern
Conference final, when Kidd was berated with ''wife beater'' chants -- while
his wife, Joumana, and their son, TJ, were in the FleetCenter stands.

Before last night's game, three Derry, N.H., fans, all holding up photocopies
of a Kidd ''wife beater'' mug shot they had been handed on the street,
expressed outrage over Scott's comments. Adam Depiero expressed the sentiment
of friends Jesse McKay and Mike Abood when he said, ''What [Scott] said is
simply not true. He shouldn't have said that. We just support our team 100
percent, whether it's basketball, football, or baseball.''

T.J. Gondek of South Boston said he wasn't surprised by Scott's comments. ''He
was a Laker for 10 years,'' he said. ''Everybody in Boston hated the Lakers in
the '80s, and I'm sure he heard a lot of things that were directed toward all
of the Lakers back then, not just him. But he was here, what, four or five
times? How well does he know Boston? How can he make those comments?''

That was the sentiment of many in the sellout crowd.

The fans tried to set the tone for the evening 16 minutes before tipoff with
resounding booing as the Nets took the court for warmups. The booing didn't
last long, as the Celtics also were making their way out of the locker room.
The crowd noise turned on a dime, from vociferous booing to high-decibel
cheering.

But soon the crowd's attention was back on the Nets. Though Scott heard the
loudest boos during introductions, Kidd did not go without feeling the fans'
wrath. Virtually every time he handled the ball in the first half, he was met
with loud booing. One of the loudest cheers of the first quarter came when
Kidd was called for a charge as he drove to the basket after a steal.

But the action on the court mostly did not go the Celtics' way. And that
prompted some frustrated outbursts from the crowd, such as one fan's roar of
''Wife beater! You coward!''

While Governor Mitt Romney sat behind one of the baskets, Menino had a
previous commitment. Earlier, he was so noticeably miffed at Scott's comments
that he offered to take the Nets coach on a bus trip around Boston to show him
what a wonderful city this is.

Thanks,

Steve
sb@maine.rr.com

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