Then there's irrational. Then there's irresponsible. Then there's Philadelphia Inquirer columnist John Mitchell.
After Kevin Garnett called Sixers fans "fair-weather" in his postgame comments Monday, Mitchell decided the best way to respond was to call Boston fans racist.
Here's an excerpt from Mitchell's column:
You think were the fair weather type, do you? Ok, to that I say that its better to be fair weather than to be anything remotely akin the cretins that unleashed their racist vitriol via Twitter upon Washington Capitals defenseman Joel Ward, a Black hockey player, last month after he eliminated Bostons Bruins from the NHL playoffs with an overtime goal.
Of course he's right. The folks on Twitter who spewed hate after Ward beat the Bruins in Game 7 of the first round of the NHL playoffs were wrong to write the things they did. But for Mitchell to lump Boston fans en mass with a small group of anonymous bigots on the Internet is embarrassingly uninformed.
Mitchell says he doesn't think "the whole" Boston fan base is racist, but nowhere in his column does he acknowledge just how small a percentage of fans were responsible for the Ward tweets.
For Mitchell to give so much credence to a racist minority -- and to characterize a city's fan base because of their actions -- is a joke.
Take that how you want. Or ask Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, David Ortiz, Troy Brown or any number of black athletes who have been adored by the Boston fan base.