By now, I’m sure you’ve seen or at least heard of the debacle that occurred in Knoxville Saturday night, when fans threw everything from golf balls to a bottle of mustard onto the field after a questionable spot caused a turnover on downs, effectively ending the game with Ole Miss winning 31-26. The game was delayed for about 20 minutes while the Volunteer band and cheerleaders were evacuated from the field. Ole Miss had to leave its sideline and huddle in the middle of the field. It was madness in every sense of the word, and a bad look for Tennessee fans.

Unfortunately, it’s not an isolated incident.

Back when the NBA playoffs began this spring, Nets point guard Kyrie Irving was hit by a water bottle in Boston. The fan was arrested, and banned from the arena. Unfortunately, I don’t know how you go about banning thousands of people when it comes to this latest incident. The point remains the same though, this isn’t a rare occurrence.

I get it. When COVID first hit, and sports were cancelled, I didn’t know what to do with myself. When they finally came back, I was beyond bummed that I couldn’t go to any games. But things are starting to get back to normal now, especially in the football world. Fans are back at 100% capacity all over the country. I’ve been to a lot of games since then, and I’ve seen it in person. Some people feel their ticket entitles them to any behavior they see fit, and that’s a problem.

We may not see it when they are in uniform and making spectacular plays that the average person could only dream of, but athletes are people just like you and I. They may have a job that we wish we could have but at the end of the day, they’re just doing their jobs. I wouldn’t appreciate it if somebody came to my office and started throwing beer bottles at me while I’m writing this column. But I wouldn’t even consider that to be an option. It’s something that athletes have to prepare themselves for on every shift.

It’s not just the professionals, either. All over the country, fans at high school sporting events are welcomed at different gates, get food at separate concession stands and use different restrooms. We all share the same planet, but those wearing opposing colors live in different worlds. A good friend of mine was born in Bulgaria. I’ll never forget when he told me that at soccer games, opposing fans sit in their own section that is fenced off, sort of like a cage. Not to prevent them from any wrongdoing, but to protect them from fans of the home side.

Your ticket entitles you to sit in the seat you paid for, and watch the best competitors in the world go to work. It certainly doesn’t entitle you the right to throw objects or use racial slurs. To the fans in Tennessee, shame on you. To the fans who do this with regularity but aren’t shown on national television, my stance remains the same.

I’m not trying to sit here on my high horse and tell you to tone down your affinity to your favorite team, but what I am saying is to remember that just like you, these athletes have families. They have lives. They are just doing their job, and they have every right to do so. It’s okay to be a super fan, but it’s also not too difficult to be respectful at the same time.