It's always the fan's fault

That's always the initial reaction of former athletes and most of the sports media when a player has a conflict with a fan. In the Antonio Davis situation my initial reaction was it's understandable that Davis went into the stands to protect his wife.

However, today I read this from the fan who was involved in the incident:

"It's a lie," 22-year-old Michael Axelrod said in a phone interview with The Associated Press.

Axelrod's attorney, Jay Paul Deratany, said he planned to sue Davis and his wife for more than $1 million. Deratany said he was writing the papers Thursday for a battery suit against Kendra Davis and a slander case against Antonio Davis, and planned to file them Friday.

Axelrod claimed Kendra Davis tried to scratch him after he protested a call. Axelrod, who was sitting a couple of rows behind her, said he never laid a hand on Davis' wife and said he was not drunk.

"When I go to games, I cheer as hard as I can for the Bulls, and I boo as hard as I can for whoever they're playing," Michael Axelrod said. "I don't feel comfortable if players are allowed to easily jump into the crowd whenever they feel like it's necessary."

I've also read reports that Antonio Davis's wife has a reputation of being boisterous in the crowd. So maybe Davis was just being a good husband, and it was the wife who started all the problems.

Davis ended up getting suspended for 5 games, and all NBA players learned a valuable lesson: bring groupies to your games, not your wives.