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.

Now it's time to take the next step, and go to the videotape. That's how the Cleveland Browns identified offenders following the near-riot that took place in 2001, when fans angry over an official's call pelted the field with plastic beer bottles and forced the game to be delayed for a half-hour. Three years later, investigators used the same method to find the fans who chucked everything from a beer cup to a folding chair in the Pacers-Pistons brawl.

In all fairness, NASCAR offers a much stiffer challenge. Officials and security personnel are dealing with crowds in excess of 100,000 people, not 20,000 at an NBA contest or 60,000 at an NFL game. It's impossible to maintain vigilant watch over so many people at one time. But it's not impossible to send a message by positively identifying as many violators as possible, throwing them in jail, barring them from the facility and announcing to the world: This can happen to you.

14 fans banned

Talladega Superspeedway has permanently banned 14 fans from buying tickets at the track following their arrests Sunday.

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That's exactly what Talladega has done. Other tracks need to take the same zero-tolerance stance. Because if they don't, something else very crucial may be at stake.

Beer.

In the wake of the Cleveland and New Orleans incidents in 2001, several NFL facilities stopped serving beer in anything other than plastic cups, and further limited when and how many a patron could buy. A few more incidents like Sunday's, and it's possible to see the day when NASCAR ends the practice of allowing fans to bring their own coolers into the speedway, forcing them to buy their brew in cups from vendors like any other fan of any other sport.

Even though cooler sizes were limited in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the simple gesture of allowing spectator to bring their own beer is what endears the sport to so many fans. It's a revered tradition, and one that makes NASCAR so unique. And it's one that a lunkheaded few take advantage of, leading to sad stories like this one, e-mailed from a Texas resident caught in the crossfire while sitting in the 16th row of Talladega's Anniston Grandstand in 2004:

"I was lucky enough not to get hit, and just find myself covered with beer. What upset me most was seeing a father with his young son, who was crying and holding his face where he apparently got hit by one of those beer cans. That image will be something I will never forget, and I'm sure it will be that young man's last NASCAR race."

NASCAR is a series that praises the dedication of its fans, a hardy lot who often endure muddy campgrounds, poor restroom facilities or blazing heat to watch their heroes compete in person. But Sunday once again proved that some don't deserve to be there. Everyone is better off now that the delinquents in the mix have been banished to their own television sets, where the only people they can embarrass are themselves.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.