Former Sixers President Pat Croce On Fan Dumping Popcorn On Russell Westbrook: 'That's Not Who Us Philadelphia Fans Are'
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Sixers are calling it "unacceptable." A fan poured popcorn on Wizards guard Russell Westbrook during Wednesday night's playoff game.
Now some players want better protections.
Today, that out-of-line Sixers fan is paying the price for his actions.
Westbrook was making his way into the locker room during Game 2 at the Wells Fargo Center when a fan dumped popcorn on his head from the stands above.
"The amount of disrespect, the amount of fans just doing whatever the (expletive) they want to do it's just out of pocket man, it's out of pocket," Westbrook said.
An irate Westbrook spoke frankly about the incident after the loss to the Sixers, saying arenas need to do more to protect the players.
Meantime, the Sixers released a statement apologizing to Westbrook and the Washington Wizards, saying in part: "After an investigation into the incident that occurred at last night's game, we have determined that the person involved will have his season ticket membership revoked, effective immediately. In addition, he will be banned from all events at Wells Fargo Center indefinitely..."
"I had the great experience of returning after 20 years to ring the bell to open the second playoff game," former Sixers President pat Croce said.
The incident happened on the night that Croce returned to the court after many years. He didn't see the ordeal but says he does know it shouldn't define Philly sports fans.
"That's not who us Philadelphia fans are, not at all. We're passionate about our teams, we're passionate about our sports. But a low vibration frequency of one individual across a city, no, no, no, we're not gonna give that person the power to pull us down. No way," Croce said.
Sports psychologist Dr. Joel Fish talked about what could be behind fans behaving badly and what it could take to stop it from happening.
"I think our discourse, in general, has gotten louder, it's gotten more vicious in many ways. And so I think we're seeing that now in sport too, where the language being used and the taunts and the phrases are escalating. And I think the best way to change that behavior short-term is to have swift consequences," Fish said.