Nobody can condone any player ever touching a fan, no matter the circumstances. However, Alabama football DB Tony Brown shoving an Auburn fan needs context.
About a month ago, Tennessee Volunteers safety Rashaan Gaulden was given some negative press over his disrespectful gestures to the Alabama crowd in their game against the Crimson Tide. It appears that Tony Brown may have gotten involved in a similar situation, but the circumstances in his case are much different.
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Double standard? Heck, no.
Michael Casagrande of AL.com provides an up-close look at the incident where Brown appears to put his hands on an Auburn fan. Two videos show Casagrande’s account of the incident in his report. The one video “pans at the moment Brown appears to make contact with the fan […] The man lunges forward after Brown reaches him, turning around with his hands up.” Casagrande follows by stating, “Brown appears to shove the fan” in the background of the other video.
Casagrande reported Alabama football head coach Nick Saban’s comments about the issue:
"“‘We are aware of the situation involving Tony Brown,’ Nick Saban said in a statement released through the university, ‘and we are in the process of gathering more information.'”"
The Brown incident begs the question of whether punishment will be required and how severe it would be. Gaulden publicly apologized for his actions, but the media swarmed him with negativity. Does Brown deserve the same?
Nobody is suggesting that a player should take a clean shot, or even a sucker punch, on an opposing fan for any reason, unless he felt that he was in danger. Yet, Brown didn’t invade the Auburn fan’s space and try to impose his anger onto him.
Auburn fans stormed the field as soon as the clock ran out in victory. The Alabama players had little to no time to leave the field without having a barrage of Auburn fans running around chaotically in celebration.
After just playing possibly the most intense matchup of the season against the arch rival school, and losing a game that meant a berth in the SEC Championship game and in the college football playoff picture, the moment was already flooded with distracting emotions for a young man to handle, let alone thousands of fans who have screamed for your head all night all of a sudden running all around him.
The Auburn fan in question also seems to have said something to Brown, who started for the exit but then circled back to the middle of the field in the direction of the fan.
Should Brown have let it go? Of course. Brown’s life was not in danger, and he had the opportunity to leave the situation peacefully. It would make sense if college football, or at least the University of Alabama, reprimanded Brown for his further action taken.
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Yet, there is a reason that Auburn was fined $250 000 by the SEC. The field is always meant to be a safe place for the players, the coaches, and the support staff of both teams, regardless of the venue and the particular game being played. One can understand the mistaken jubilance of all of the fans, who just wanted to share a moment with their favorite team, but it was still a mistake.
Not to mention getting past security to get into the face of one of the opposing players. Once that fan decided to stick his nose, literally, near Brown, that fan crossed more of a line than any other fan did that night.
It was only when Brown took it upon himself to satisfy some sort of justice, the Auburn security could not seemingly provide, did the fan back his hands away like a victim. Unfortunately, that fan’s innocence was gone the moment he decided to make contact with Brown.
It takes two to tango.
Brown deserves to be penalized, but he does not need to be vilified for it. Gaulden took it upon himself to address the Alabama fans and gestured so harshly that it actually took away from his own teammate’s glory after the interception. Brown took it upon himself to get a pseudo form of justice after a fan tried to show him up in Brown’s own place of business. The fan, as well as the rest of the supporters, had no business being there.
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The Auburn fan took it upon himself to get some respect over Brown, but all that he did was disrespect Auburn by putting some of the focus on the incident instead of the big win. Maybe next time the fan will not try disrespecting another player ever again, or at least bring a diaper with him when he does it. It looked like Brown’s justice may have made the fan make a mess in his pants.