Celtics fans' taunts hurt Jason Kidd's wife

When the New Jersey Nets' Jason Kidd returns to Boston on Friday, he can expect more boorish behavior from a few Celtics fans.

They may yell "wife beater" at him, as they did on his last visit, or they may come up with equally cruel ways to throw him off his game with the Nets holding a 3-2 edge in the Eastern Conference finals after Wednesday night's 103-92 victory at home.

As obnoxious as it might be, fans have been saying things like that, and worse, to ballplayers forever. Most fans trying to rattle opposing players are content with boos and the occasional wisecrack. Others think it's their right - in the name of free speech and the price of a ticket - to cross the line between civility and crudeness.

The problem in Boston is not that some loutish fans are riding Kidd excessively about his arrest last year for punching his wife in the face. It's part of the public pillorying that inevitably goes with what he did. He's heard the gibes before and he can take it.

The problem is that the fans' taunts are hurting the victim of his domestic violence - his wife, Joumana - and their 3-year-old son, T.J.

Joumana said she and T.J., sitting courtside in Boston during Game 3, were harassed by drunken fans and some who stood near them with bodies painted to say "wife beater." For Game 4, Joumana and T.J. were given a more courteous row by the Celtics but they still heard some fans' chants of "wife beater."

If those fans really cared about her getting punched, they might want to spare a thought for what their own actions were doing to her and her son.

Jason and Joumana have gone through counseling and have reconciled. The misdemeanor charge against Kidd was dropped. Whether or not theirs is a peaceful marriage now and always will be, they present themselves as a supportive couple and loving parents. They embrace, rather than shun, the spotlight. Joumana goes to all the Nets' home games and some on the road. T.J. is often wrapped around his father's legs or in his arms during interviews.

Maybe they've become the perfect family. Maybe they have problems behind the scenes like a lot of other families. Either way, Joumana and T.J. surely don't need the idiotic chants and signs of Boston Celtics fans to remind them of what they went through.

"There's a fine line between the athlete and the crowd," Kidd said a couple of days ago as he lashed out at Boston fans. "It bothers me. I can't protect my family. I'm worried about them while I'm playing a ballgame. ... They have a right to be there, just like anybody else who buys a ticket."

Kidd could ask Joumana and T.J. to stay away from Boston, but both want to be there. They shouldn't have to hide.

Kidd cursed at the fans heckling him and taunted them back after the Nets won Game 4 on Monday. Predictably, though regrettably, the Nets tried to turn the harassment and Kidd's anger into a shallow competitive ploy. It would motivate Kidd even more, coach Byron Scott and several Nets said, and make him and the team more dangerous.

"If Jason's mad, we're all mad," Lucious Harris said.

Kidd didn't need any more motivation than he already had. He played his game Wednesday night in New Jersey and came up with his usual solid numbers: 18 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists. His jumper with 9:30 remaining kicked off a 20-1 run.

When he's back on the Celtics' floor for Game 6, one victory from the NBA finals, Kidd won't need the jeers of fans to psyche him up.

"The hardest thing is to end a series," Kidd said. "We know it's going to be a hostile environment."

It diminishes the malevolent nature of the fans' "wife beater" chants, and the effects they might have on Joumana and T.J., to reduce them to simply another aspect of a rivalry between two basketball teams.

"There are some great fans in Boston and, obviously, there are people who are idiots, that say things that are very cruel," Nets coach Byron Scott said. "This is sports. You're supposed to have some fun and it's all about sportsmanship. That showed me a lack of class that some of the fans there have."

Kidd's concern for his family should not be dismissed, nor should his arrest be minimized. But Celtics fans do themselves no credit by razzing him about it in front of his wife and son.

Kidd, for one, hopes they remember that Friday night.

"You have to win with class and lose with class," he said, "and hopefully somebody will learn that."

Steve Wilstein is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at swilstein (at) ap.org