The Josh Innes Show - Unruly Fans At Games

Episode Date: April 30, 2025

An idiot fan of the St. Louis Battlehawks got slapped by a player. Why are fans so emboldened to be morons? Tyrese Haliburton's dad ran on the court to talk shit to Giannis after the game last night. I'm pro player when it comes to fan/players having altercations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I've told you before that St. Louis is the only city that gives any shits about the UFL or the United Football League. Is that what the UFL stands for? The UFL has teams, what, in like Arlington, Texas, Michigan, St. Louis, Memphis, I think still has a team, a couple other places. But anyway, St. Louis is the only city that gives any shits about this stuff because really it's just, it's, it's a throwaway football league that no one cares about. But here in St. Louis, people put 30,000 seats or people fill 30,000 seats of a 65,000 seat stadium, which looks impressive considering that most of these teams will not put in 35,000 people for the year but people you know fill up quote-unquote the dome here in St. Louis basically to try to throw a middle finger to the NFL and say fuck you Stan Kroenke it's it's a spite thing nobody really

gives a shit if they're gonna win or lose it's just a spite thing to say hey St. Louis should have the NFL and St. Louis should have the NFL. And St. Louis should have the NFL, but they don't. And that's all this is. So whatever. Why do I bring this up? Well, I saw a video over the weekend of this dude from the Michigan Panthers. His name is Samson Nakua. He is the brother of Puka Nakua, who is a great player to take for betting in football games for receivers, and that would be lovely. But anywho, Puka Nakua's brother, his name again, Samson Nakua, has been suspended by the league. Why was he suspended by the league? Because this dude slapped a fan in the face as he was leaving the field after their, I guess it was after their game. Nakua's suspension comes after he was

involved in an altercation with a fan following Michigan's 32-27 week five loss to the St. Louis Battle Hawks on the 26th. The incident began as a shouting match, but ended with Nakua slapping the fan across the face before walking away. The video is great. Like this guy's talking shit, Nakua's talking shit, and Nakua slaps him in the face. Nakua's suspension will take place in week six ahead of the 3-2 Panthers matchup with the league-leading 4-1 D.C. defenders. He will also participate in community service events arranged by the league as the UFL announced in a statement. Nakua is a three-year spring football veteran, which means he's a guy who will not play in the NFL, it seems. So there you go.

I feel like a one-game suspension for slapping a fan in the face is a bit low, right? First of all, here's what makes me laugh about this story. You've got a guy who's so into the UFL that he's talking shit to a UFL player. And you've got this UFL player who cares so much about the shit that's being talked to him by this guy in the stands that he slaps the fan. I don't know, to me though, if you're going to slap somebody in the face, which is certainly a sign of disrespect, of course, but I feel like a slap in the face to someone should be a more hefty punishment than a one gamer. Now, on the other hand, I think fans can be the fucking worst and do obnoxious things and a lot of times should get their asses kicked. Like we were talking earlier about Tyrese Halliburton's dad, right? Like I think that Giannis or anybody else on that squad would have been well within their rights to just cold

cock this dude, just slug him right in the face. And like, I wouldn't have blamed Giannis. Sometimes you just got like, these people should be punched. I think sometimes you need to put dipshits in their place. I think people have gotten very comfortable being cocksuckers in this country, whether it be in sports. And I think the internet's played a huge role in that. The internet has played a huge role in people feeling very confident, very cocksure, very willing to say a lot of bad shit about people and never really having to deal with the consequences of it. Never having to look somebody face to face because they don't have to. So you can go to a game and yell a bunch of shit. Now, part of being a player is understanding that people are going to say shit to you and you got

to deal with it. That's kind of part of the game, right? Like if you're a player, you know that you're signing up for people saying dumb shit to you, sometimes offensive shit, and that comes with buying the ticket, right? You're allowed to be an asshole. Let me play a couple commercials. We'll continue. All right, if you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you've got to check out Pick 6 from DraftKings. When it comes to basketball payouts, DraftKings Pick 6 posterizes the competition,

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pick six not available everywhere including New York and Ontario void where prohibited one per new customer bonus award it is non-withdrawable pick six credits that expire in 14 days limited time offer see terms at pick six dot draft kings dot com slash promos so you're allowed to be a jerk off you're allowed to say things at players and players kind of get that but when people go too far i'm okay with people getting their asses kicked right i don't know what the whole backstory on this is i can't fathom why somebody would be shit talking a dude at a ufl game but they are but it's just like usually if it's fan versus player in a fight situation i tend to root for the player because

people at sporting events have a tendency to be extremely obnoxious and should just get the shit kicked out of them it's just it's one of those things that I feel like should happen. I think it would kind of set a good precedent for people. But people are very comfortable being real assholes now. And I think that's due in large part to the internet. Imagine if the shit we said on the internet, if we had to say that to a person face to face, we would never fucking say it. None of us would. Maybe Philly people would. I'll give Philly people credit.

Like they'll just shit talk anybody and don't give a fuck. There's like some sort of like they're emboldened to just talk shit to people. Like they will like, like now I've dealt with people there before too, but like if you catch them in the right situation with the right person they dislike and they have been plied with the right amount of alcohol, Philly people will just fucking, they don't give a fuck. But for the most part, people will say evil, terrible, vile shit about you on the Internet and then if given the opportunity to say it to your face, never fucking would. So that's why I tend to root for player over fan when it comes to these kind of interactions. I really wish that Giannis just would have kicked the shit out of Halliburton's dad. Mostly because I find Halliburton to be annoying. I'm like watching these games last night.

And by the way, you don't have to like the NBA playoffs. I don't expect a lot of you to because for whatever reason, regular season stinks. I get that. Playoff ratings are up by a good margin right now. There were some games that are getting four or five million people watching. And of course, the argument will be, oh, what about the ratings in 1998? Well, the world was a different place in 1998. I will defend the NBA on this.

Then as you've gotten into the playoffs, the games have been good. Defense gets ratcheted up a little bit. Teams are playing physical. You've had a great physical series with the Knicks and the Pistons that's going to a game six. For the most part, all the games in the Orlando-Boston series were competitive outside of last night, which by the way, I told you last night to take the point total for the Celtics. I think I told you that. If I didn't, that's what I played last night. I played the over in the late game, which hit easily. And then I had the team over for the Celtics, which they only had 47 points at halftime, ended up with 120. That's what they can do. Had one three-pointer going into the um going into the second half ended up with like 13 when those dudes get hot they get hot but the NBA playoffs have actually

been really compelling and good like it's been fun part of it is because I gamble on it or or you know do the stuff with the draft kings do the pick six stuff so it's fun and I would urge you to do that use the code in us when you sign up but it's fun. And I would urge you to do that. Use the code in us when you sign up, but it's fun. And I'm not asking you to like it. I'm not one of those people. I'm not going to sit here and say, I think you should like this. And if you don't, you don't like sports. That's one of my least favorite things is when someone says, if you don't like this game, then you just don't like basketball. Like, Oh, go fuck yourself. Some people just aren't into certain things, different strokes, different folks. Fine. But I bring this up because last night that game yesterday was great the fact that it went to overtime got me a hit in that game too so thank you very much but Giannis is on the court after the game they lose on the last shot

of the game they had just blown like a seven point lead in the last minute of overtime and you've got Halliburton's dad who runs out on the court. He's got this towel that he's waving in the face of Giannis with his son on it. And apparently he was talking shit to him. And I'm like, talk about people getting comfortable. People's parents, athletes' parents are too fucking comfortable. First off, Halliburton's a nice player. Halliburton ain't fucking LeBron. He ain't Giannis.

Like, that dude can disappear right and then like he was voted I think the most overrated player in the league amongst league players then he's talking shit after the game on Twitter about how who's overrated now like Halliburton's a really fucking annoying guy and Indiana's just really annoying in general so like like I really wish Giannis would have just cold cocked this dude right in the fucking teeth right like there are ways to be kind of the obnoxious basketball parent like the Grizzlies John Morant his dad is T Morant this guy gets shit on by the world they did shit on him for seemingly being drunk at these games and I don't know if he's actually drunk or not like he seems

like the kind of guy that drinks so often that he's not really just drunk. He just is always drunk. And that's just his normal baseline is that he's drunk. And he's fun. And like, you know, he and Ja have this relationship. A lot of people judge him because it seems like Ja doesn't really have a father figure

that'll keep him reined in, whatever. If Ja Morant's dad would have gone out on the court and talked shit to Giannis, they might have had that motherfucker in jail right now and the world would be shitting on him. But because it's Halliburton's dad, no one gives a shit about this story. Like, I wish, and Giannis handled it so well after the game too. He goes on like a three minute thing about having respect for the fucking game and like how his dad taught him this level of respect and maybe he's full of shit, but since he's got that accent that he's got, it's so charming and nice. He just seems like the nicest fucking guy. I like him. Right. So I'm listening to that and I'm like, yeah, I dig this.

So, uh, but all that said, uh, the NBA playoffs have been very good. Have you ever watched a guy, like have you seen a fan get slugged by a player like in person or watch an altercation? Like I'm trying to remember if I've ever watched a player and a fan have an altercation in person. Now I've seen a bunch of them on TV. Remember in Philly when some guy threw like a Bud Light lime at Ryan Howard? Some guy, if I recall, he was wearing pink shorts. That was the bit we did on the air as we talked about how this pink shorts, Bud Light lime guy threw a bottle at Ryan Howard. Like in a million years, and I'm not some better than you type of guy, I do dumb shit.

But in a million years, I would never feel compelled to throw anything on the field at a player or because of a ref or whatever I've been in stadiums where it's happened well in Philly I feel like all these fan stories come back to Philly but there was the night that Ed Snyder the owner of the Flyers had died and they had a celebration for him where there was a light show on all these little wrist bands now you see that in a lot of places that's the first time i'd ever seen that where you put on a wristband and like the it's choreographed shit you know and i had left the game early because the game was you know blowout or whatever come to find out all these flyers fans just start

throwing these on the ice you know and it's like it's not something i would do i don't think it's the worst thing anyone's ever done you know but well and hockey's a weird thing because they're all fine with you throwing your hats on the ice if someone gets a hat trick you start throwing your wristbands because you're pissed off you're assholes so it's double standard a little bit but like i'm trying to think i've never been an have i been because the Saints that would happen at the Saints games a lot too not a lot but like you'd see people throwing shit on the field at Saints games yeah I don't know I'm trying to think but like fan behavior at sport like I think fans are too fucking comfortable like I couldn't fathom yelling offensive shit at a sporting event like they're look again i do dumb shit i'm not some great human i respect

that i'm not some great human totally get it but i've never felt compelled to yell offensive shit now i've yelled at refs before like i like and there are times depending like if i'm worked up into something i will get pissed but i'm not someone that's like gonna fucking go at players it's just not my style I don't know I just I find it to be kind of a dopey thing to do but I can't think of any times where I've seen a player actually confront well actually one of my favorite things is when um when uh what's his name uh Papelbon grabbed his junk when he was walking off the field the Phillies fans were booing him and he just grabbed

his dick towards all the people and then acted like he was just adjusting his crotch I have that picture somewhere still of him grabbing his crotch I put it on a canvas wall art I liked it so much but uh yeah so what did we learn in this episode it is bizarre that there are people who are allegedly so passionate about the UFL that they're willing to shit talk a player on the other team it's wild that there's someone so passionate as a player in the ufl that he would slap a fan of a team in the ufl it's fucking wild that you can just put hands on a fan who by the way did not put hands on you he can shit talk he wasn't on the field you slap a dude and only get a one game suspension that's pretty fucked up we've learned that tyrese halliburton's dad should have gotten his ass whipped by y'all should have put a greek fucking

beat down on that son of a bitch but he didn't but he could have he's out there waving his tail he could have come up now credit to Tyrese Halliburton he also went out was like yeah my dad shouldn't have done that I gotta talk to my dad about that whatever but the the setup for basketball is also strange because in no other sport are you literally on the playing surface without any barrier protecting you from the playing surface i think about that all the time like you'll see a shot of a coach standing there walking up and down the sideline and you'll see some other jamoke that's you'll got courtside seats carrying a popcorn and a beer going to sit down like here's steve kerr yelling out a play and then there's some asshole sitting there right next to him that's weird like that

doesn't happen in football you know what I'm saying you're not sitting at the on the the white line at the 50 yard line right it doesn't happen I just find that to be so fascinating that you're just sitting there and just and like some assholes yelling and screaming and and then of course those people feel like they're part of the game. Like Spike Lee, who's a total fucking chode. As an obnoxious asshat. But, you know, that's the part of sitting courtside like like Spike Lee will start coaching and shit. And you're like, what the fuck?

And yelling at the refs like rich people. Fuck them. Anyway, more to come.