Big John Sudbury is in his front-and-center seat at the Delta Center, needling Seattle's Eddie Johnson, who is in the midst of a horrendous shooting slump. "Hey, Eddie, where's that great shot?" Sudbury bellows. "What happened to your shot?" Johnson smiles quietly to himself but doesn't turn around. If this is Salt Lake City, then the voice has to belong to Big John.
The Jazz's own heckler laureate is back again for another season in Utah, where he has become known throughout the NBA by players and press alike. He has been featured on national television and in various publications around the league. But for Sudbury - and other vocal fans around the league - there was a gentle word of warning from the NBA this week: Don't go too far.The NBA recently instituted a rule to control overzealous hecklers - the first such ruling by any major sports league. The rule states that an "abusive" fan can have his season ticket revoked after being warned once and ejected twice during a season.
Sudbury apparently isn't in danger of watching the rest of his games on big screen TV. Scott Layden, the Jazz's director of player personnel, is on the NBA's committee for rules and competition, and says Sudbury isn't a violator of the league's rule.
"It applies to fans that are out of control and unruly toward coaches and players," says Layden. "The intentions weren't to isolate certain people, but to stop behavior that is disruptive and unruly. It's really a common sense rule."
Another variation of the rule is that no promotion or entertainment may include abusing the likeness of an opposing player. For example, in one arena a replica of Detroit's Bill Laimbeer had its head cut off with a chainsaw. Closer to home, last year the Jazz's Karl Malone became angry when a San Antonio restaurant made a pinata with his number on the back and planned to have it smashed open as part of a promotion. But Malone tore the pinata apart before the game began.
The impetus for the new "fan abuse" ruling was probably reknowned Maryland lawyer Robin Ficker. Ficker routinely stands during Washington Bullets' timeouts and shouts insults at the opposing team, sometimes disrupting their preparations. "Just call it the Ficker Rule," he told USA Today.
However, Ficker isn't the worst problem; he doesn't even swear. Some arenas tolerate courtside fans who call out racial epithets and obscenities.
NBA players roundly applaude the new ruling. "Absolutely," says the Mailman. "It has gone out of control. Fans are doing everything but shooting you. It's not like we aren't trying the best we can."
Center Mark Eaton adds, "I have to agree. Fans should come and enjoy athletics for what they are and quit trying to be part of the show."
Sometimes fans, as well as the players, become a show. Last year Philadelphia's Charles Barkley tried to spit at a heckler and ended up hitting an 8-year-old girl instead. The story was headline news and Barkley was suspended for a game and fined $10,000. In 1987 Kevin McHale of Boston drew a fine for going into the stands after a fan.
Last year Jazz fan Lee Brower was ejected from a game, but not for trouble with players. He was thrown out by official Bruce Alexander after reportedly saying, "You're going to have to stick your chest out farther than that to let people know you're proud of this game." When Alexander threatened to throw Brower out, Brower said, "You can't throw me out for just saying that."
Wrong.
Sudbury says Reggie Theus, then with Sacramento, "once offered to kick my butt."
"He said, 'Hey, Fastso, I don't hear you popping off now after they beat the Jazz,"' says Sudbury. "I said, `Reggie, we'll see you in the playoffs. Oh, I guess we won't see you after all. You won't be in the playoffs - again.' He got mad."
But Sudbury agrees that if a fan uses abusive or racial language or stops the game, "they should kick him out."
"My stuff," he adds, "is all good natured."
Over the years, Sudbury's heckling has actually made friendships with a number of NBA players, who can sometimes be seen chuckling at the scorer's table as they check in. "Brad Davis said `You're louder than that guy in Washington,but you never insult people," Sudbury says. "He said, `You may question someone's shots or his hairstyle, but you never say things about his wife or mother or one's sexual choices. You're fun."' Thursday night before the Seattle game, Sonics' guard Eddie Johnson tossed the ball to Sudbury during warmups, saying, "Hey, Big John, how you doing?" Johnson and others have come to look for Sudbury when they arrive at the arena. Sudbury also became friends with Magic Johnson and goes to dinner with various NBA referees.
Amid all the publicity about fan abuse, Brower - who says vulgarity and obscenity by fans shouldn't be tolerated - points out the flip side: player abuse. He says he has had NBA players and coaches direct obscene comments at him when children were present and make crude remarks about his wife. "My feeling is that the way it is now, a fan can't say anything but a player can say whatever he wants to and nothing is done about it. If you say something back, they can throw you out."
He adds, "I think we need to control things from the inside out rather than from the outside in."
Whether heckling is truly becoming worse, though, is debatable. Boorish behavior has been around for a long time. "It isn't any worse," says Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan. "Have you ever been in the stands to fight a fan? I have. A fan threw a Coke can in the huddle one night when I was playing for Chicago. (Norm) Van Lier and I went into the stands and I got his phone number and address and we had a little talk with him."
In Sudbury's case, the ruling will have less effect than his new seat in the Delta Center. In the old Salt Palace he was on the front row at center court. Now he's still center court, but on the second row - behind four rows of media and stat crews. "It's a great seat to watch from," says Sudbury mournfully, "but they've taken me out of the game. I used to be 10 feet from the court. I was the biggest, fattest, baldest guy in the arena and now I'm 30 feet from the game."