Latest / Best of: Features / Fever GM Amber Cox defends Indiana fans: Criticism 'has no basis in reality'

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Fever GM Amber Cox defends Indiana fans: Criticism 'has no basis in reality' · Best of: Features

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  Fever GM Amber Cox defended Indiana fans. Criticism has no
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  basis in reality, This article is being read by an automated voice
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  generated by Everlett. Indianapolis, the AP. Indiana general manager Amber
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  Cox defended the Fever's fanbase on Saturday during the team's end of
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  season news conferences. The attacks on our fan base have no basis
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  in reality, and they need to stop, especially with members of the
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  media, Cox said. I'm talking about media who have never been to
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  a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Every organization in the league, every organization
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  throughout professional sports, all the way down to youth rec leagues, have
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  to deal with occasional bad behavior from spectators. And anyone who crosses
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  the line in an arena or online needs to be held accountable.
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  I want to be really clear about that. There is a line,
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  and people need to be held accountable if The cross it. Criticism
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  of fever fans occurred again in Game Two of Indiana's first round
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  series with the Las Vegas Aces. Four time MVP Aja Wilson had
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  an incident with a fan sitting behind the baseline who shouted and
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  pointed at her. She did the same to him. The fan was
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  taken to the back of the arena before returning to his seat,
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  when it was determined that they fan code of conduct hadn't been
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  broken. We did not have one fan pointed out by a player
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  who violated the WNBA Code of Conduct this season. Not one fan
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  was removed from a game, Cox's said. Our fans love this team.
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  They're going to cheer, they're going to boo, and sometimes the might
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  point. It's a home court advantage for a reason, and it's the
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  same for the Pacers. And all of that is within the code
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  of conduct. Former Fever player Brianna Turner, who now plays for the
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  Aces, disagreed with Cox's comments. This is an unequivocally false statement, Turner
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  wrote on social media. Players inside and outside the organization have repeatedly
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  issued complaints with the Fever fan base. While it's not all indie
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  fans, it's certainly a trend. To say the attacks have no basis
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  in reality is disingenuous. Kelsey Mitchell, who had a career best season
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  with the fever, said in her exit interview that playing in Indiana
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  can be difficult at times, because of interactions with some of the
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  fans. She has spent her entire career with the fever since getting
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  drafted second in twenty eighteen. I don't think people really understand how
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  much we endure, said Mitchell, who is a free agent this offseason.
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  Like, if I showed y'all my DMs about the hate and all
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  of the stuff that comes with being a professional athlete, but specifically
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  being an Indiana fever basketball player, it's a lot that goes into
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  that. And those days are hard as hell. See the AP's full
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  WNBA coverage here.