Follow Talladega's lead and send the hooligans home

Throw an object onto the court during an NBA game, and you're hauled out of the arena immediately. The police are notified, and charges are filed. And then comes the harshest punishment of all -- they take your tickets away.

You're barred from all NBA arenas for at least a year. If you're a season-ticket holder, your tickets are revoked. If you're a season-ticket holder and someone else using your ducats causes a ruckus, you receive a written warning that states if one more similar incident occurs, you'll be reduced to watching games from home.

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It's a hard-line stance, one merited by a potentially injurious action. And it's refreshing to see Talladega Superspeedway doing the same thing.

Track officials made honest attempts Sunday to prevent a repeat of the can-throwing incidents that marred the ends of events there in 2004 and at Phoenix International Raceway two weeks ago. They brought in additional security, including armed police officers who patrolled the grandstands. Using the public address system, track president Grant Lynch pleaded with fans to behave. Even Dale Earnhardt Jr. tried to intervene.

Yet the boozybodies chucked away, using Jeff Gordon's victory under caution as a lame excuse to violate the law. And a day that should have been glorious, with Gordon making a riveting charge to victory and the vast majority of the 180,000 spectators behaving themselves, became an embarrassment that Tuesday had national radio talk-show hosts discussing whether a certain portion of NASCAR's fan base -- you know the one, with the sunburn on the back of a certain body part -- is holding the sport back.

Now, after two similar events at the same track in four years, Talladega is sending the yahoos home. Some of them, at least. The Birmingham News reported Tuesday that 14 people were arrested, charged with disorderly conduct, and barred from ever buying tickets at the track again. These hooligans will now be forced to watch from the relative safety of their own living rooms, where they can curse Gordon in solitude and toss empty Bud bottles at the TV. It may prove difficult to enforce -- they can still get buddies to buy the tickets for them -- but it's a welcome attempt toward restoring some civility in the grandstands.

And it sends a message, just like the NBA did in 2004 when it banned the blockhead who threw a cup of beer at former Indiana Pacers forward Ron Artest and sparked the worst NBA brawl in modern memory. Just as the New York Giants did in 1995, when 15 people were arrested for throwing snowballs, and many had their ticket privileges revoked. Just as the New Orleans Saints did in 2001, when 15 bottle-tossers were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace. (Continued)