Results from relays action at Wormwood Scrubs, Graves Park and Aldersley, plus the Amsterdam Marathon, Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon and more

Click here for a report on Sunday’s Simplyhealth Great South Run, while other highlights are below.

South of England Cross Country Relay Championships, Wormwood Scrubs, October 19

Hercules Wimbledon (pictured) won the men’s race by 12 seconds.

They dominated initially with Will Woodcock (13:42) and former English indoor under-17 800m champion Charlie Eastaugh (13:54) the quickest on the first two legs and at halfway they had a 21-second lead on Herne Hill.

On leg three Alex Lepetre ran a superb 13:09 which powered Highgate into a seven second lead as he overhauled Finn Johnson (14:07).

Pete Chambers ran the equal fourth best leg of the whole championships with a 13:48 but he was powerless to respond to Ross Franks who ran the second fastest of the day with a 13:29 to give Hercules victory. Herne Hill took bronze.

Wycombe Phoenix were clear winners of the women’s race as they had three of the four fastest times.

Start of the senior women’s race at the South of England XC relays at Wornwood Scrubs pic.twitter.com/p5NjGrAhrq

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) October 19, 2019

Zoe Doyle, the world masters W40 indoor 1500m and 3000m champion, opened up a gap of around 80 metres fater the first leg with a time of 11:48.

Clapham’s Olivia Matthews (12:02) won a battle for second (12:02) with another world and European masters champion, Clare Elms (12:04).

There was little change on leg two as Wycombe and Clapham were again the fastest though Emma Headley (11:51) took a few seconds out of Alex Cook (11:54). The lead was still 11 seconds as Mel Wilkins set off 60 metres ahead of Lucie Custance.

Wilkins secured the win for Wycombe as she powered clear with easily the fastest leg of the day with a 11:28 clocking.

Clapham finished a minute up on the third team, Trent Park Trotters.

North of England Cross Country Relays, Graves Park, Sheffield, October 19

Leeds retained Northern women’s title, with Georgia Mair fastest with 12:15 over the 2-mile hilly and muddy lap, writes Martin Duff.

Her team-mates Alice Leake and Jenny Walsh were both within 13 seconds of her opening stage time.

They won by 45 seconds from a couple of Rotherham teams.

Putting out a winning men’s relay team for the first time this year, Lincoln Wellington regained the title they last won in 2017.

Joe Wilkinson anchored for them with their fastest two mile split of 10:27.

Earlier, junior international Josh Cowperthwaite had ‘won’ the opening stage with the best split for Middlesborough. The 18-year-old’s split was 10:23 as his squad held on for third behind Hallamshire

Midland Cross Country Relays Championships, Aldersley Stadium, October 19

Rugby & Northampton took the men’s title as Bristol & West won for the women, writes Martin Duff.

The men’s winners hit the front through Ben Musgrove by the end of the penultimate circuit before William Gardner finished things off with the third quickest lap time of 19:01.

The time by Tipton’s Peter Brookes of 18:34 was the fastest of the race and Tipton teams placed second and third.

Bristol & West came from behind to take the women’s race over the same distance.

Wolverhampton’s Amelia Samuels had comfortably led home the opening stage runners with the quickest women’s time of the day at 20:39.

Wolves then held on to second spot comfortably as third placed Nuneaton were two minutes further back.

TCS Amsterdam Marathon, Netherlands, October 20

Ethiopia’s 20-year-old Degitu Azimeraw ran the second fastest ever marathon debut to win in a course record of 2:19:26 (70:00/69:26).

She led an Ethiopian clean sweep ahead of Tigist Girma (2:19:52) and Azmera Gebru (2:20:48).

The men’s race was won by Kenya’s Vincent Kipchumba in 2:05:09 (63:01/62:08) ahead of Ethiopia’s Solomon Deksisa (2:05:16) and Kenya’s Elisha Rotich (2:05:18).

Ross Skelton was the top Brit in the men’s race, clocking 2:19:21 in 17th, while Hannah Oldroyd was 11th in the women’s race in 2:44:53.

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon, Canada, October 20

Canadian all-comers’ records were set in both races as Kenya’s Philemon Rono won the men’s event in 2:05:00 (63:07/61:53) from Ethiopia’s Lemi Berhanu (2:05:09) and Filex Chemonges with a Ugandan record of 2:05:12, while Kenya’s Magdalyne Masai won the women’s race in 2:22:16 (71:40/70:36) from Ethiopia’s Biruktayit Eshetu (2:22:40) and Kenya’s Betsy Saina (2:22:43).

Magdaleine Masai Robertson of Kenya has broken away from the other lead women and cracks the tape!

Unofficial: 2:22:09 – Canadian All-Comers RECORD! pic.twitter.com/265slyYxet

— Toronto Waterfront Marathon (@TOwaterfront42k) October 20, 2019

GB international Josh Griffiths was 13th in 2:15:20 and, running for England, Nick Earl was 18th in 2:18:03.

In the women’s race Earl’s England team-mates Johanna O’Regan and Kate Drew were 22nd in 2:45:43 and 26th in 2:49:31 respectively.

EDP Lisbon Half Marathon, Portugal, October 20

Titus Ekiru and Peres Jepchirchir claimed a Kenyan double in 60:10 and 66:54 respectively.

Ugandans Timothy Toroitich (60:53) and Thomas Ayeko (60:56) were second and third respectively in the men’s race, while Vivian Kiplagat (66:55) with Dorcas Kimeli (67:43) completed a Kenyan clean sweep in the women’s race.

Airtel Delhi Half Marathon, India, October 20

Ethiopia’s Tsehay Gemechu retained her title and took 50 seconds off her course record when winning in 66:00.

Join us as we felicitate our Top-3 International Elite Women for a deserved podium finish at the #ADHM2019.#GoBeyond pic.twitter.com/htOpDB3siq

— ADHM (@runadhm) October 20, 2019

Her compatriot Andamlak Belihu won the men’s race for the second consecutive year, winning in 59:10 for the third fastest time in Delhi and just four seconds off the course record.

Hytteplanmila, Hole, Norway, October 19

Jakob Ingebrigtsen broke Sondre Nordstad Moen’s Norwegian 10km record and also improved the European U20 best as he clocked 27:54 on his 10km debut.

He ran 5km splits of 14:01 and 13:53.

‼️‼️‼️New Norwegian ?? 10km record and 2019 European Best for @JakobIng at Hytteplanmila: 27:53.https://t.co/XX3eBrX9pX pic.twitter.com/u9DSmyKKW1

— NFIF (@Norsk_Friidrett) October 19, 2019

World Rugby has opened an investigation after South African referee Jaco Peyper appeared to mock sent-off France lock Sebastien Vahaamahina in a picture with Wales fans.

In the picture Peyper's elbow is raised into a fan's chin hours after he sent off Vahaamahina for elbowing Aaron Wainwright in Wales' quarter-final win.

Leading France official Serge Simon said if true the photo was "shocking".

World Rugby is trying to "establish the facts" surrounding the picture.

French Rugby Federation vice-president Simon, a former France prop, said on Twitter: "This photo if it is true is shocking and explanations will be necessary."

World Rugby said: "World Rugby is aware of a picture on social media of referee Jaco Peyper with a group of Wales fans taken after last night's [Sunday] quarter-final between Wales and France in Oita.

"It would be inappropriate to comment further while we are establishing the facts."

Peyper was officiating his 50th Test match as Wales progressed to their semi-final against South Africa in Yokohama on Sunday, 2 November.

Dallas Stars center Tyler Seguin says he was not in his house that was badly damaged by a tornado that touched down in Dallas on Sunday night, causing structural damage and knocking out electricity to thousands.

Seguin said in a post on Twitter that he had seen the area affected by the tornado in the aftermath of the storm, and it was an "extremely sad sight to see." Seguin is selling the home but living in another one, he said.

Thanks to everyone reaching out about the news tonight, I am safe. Luckily this is my house for sale and I have moved into a new one. I just left the area and it is an extremely sad sight to see. Prayers to everyone affected by the tornado. https://t.co/wT6XlUBi8N

— Tyler Seguin (@tseguinofficial) October 21, 2019

Local media outlets reported that several homes and businesses were damaged, power lines were downed, and tree limbs were scattered across roadways.

Meteorologist Jason Godwin said radar confirmed that the twister hit the ground near Love Field Airport and moved northeast through the city. There were no reports of fatalities or serious injuries as of 12:20 a.m. Monday, according to a release from the city of Dallas.

Nearly 112,000 electric customers were without power as of 12:50 a.m., according to Oncor's online outage map. About 60,000 of those customers were within Dallas, according to the city, which will be opening a shelter by 2 a.m.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Rory McIlroy responded to recent comments made by Brooks Koepka regarding their rivalry – or lack thereof, depending on viewpoint – on Monday in Japan.

McIlroy was diplomatic when speaking on course during the MGM Resorts The Challenge: Japan Skins.

“What Brooks said wasn’t wrong. I mean, he’s been the best player in the world the last couple years – four majors. I don’t think he had to remind me that I haven’t won one in a while,” McIlroy said.

“I love Brooks, he’s a great guy. Obviously super-competitive, like we all are. I can see where he’s coming from.”

Koepka, ahead of his title defense at last week’s CJ Cup in South Korea was asked about his Rory rivalry and said, “I've been out here for what, five years. Rory hasn't won a major since I've been on the PGA Tour. So I don't view it as a rivalry." 

Both McIlroy and Koepka have four major victories. McIlroy’s most recent came in 2014, while Koepka has all of his since 2017.

“I think if you take what Brooks said out of context then it can become this big thing that it’s become,” McIlroy said. “But Brooks and I are good, we’re good friends.”

World No. 2 McIlroy is competing in this week’s Zozo Championship in Japan. Koepka, the current world No. 1, withdrew from the CJ Cup after re-aggravating a knee injury.

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed two men have been arrested on Monday morning following reports of racist abuse during an FA Cup tie between Haringey Borough and Yeovil Town.

The men -- aged between 23 and 26 -- were arrested in Chard and Yeovil on suspicion of racially aggravated common assault.

The fourth-round tie was abandoned on Saturday after Haringey walked off the pitch after racist abuse was aimed at goalkeeper Valery Douglas Pajetat by Yeovil supporters.

Both men were taken into custody at a police station in Somerset.

Pajetat, who is from Cameroon, told BT Sport that he was racially abused by fans, and that they had thrown objects and spat at him.

A spokesperson for the FA later tweeted: "We are deeply concerned about the allegation of discrimination from an area of the crowd towards a player during the FA Cup fourth-round qualifying match between Haringey Borough and Yeovil Town, which resulted in the fixture being abandoned."

The incident comes days after England players were subjected to racist abuse during their Euro 2020 qualifier against Bulgaria in Sofia.

Bulgaria FA president Borislav Mihaylov and head coach Krasimir Balakov both resigned from their respective positions following the incident.

Another wild weekend in the Premier League saw Manchester City close the gap to Liverpool at the top of the table and plenty of movement below. We get you caught up on the action with the Weekend Review.

JUMP TO: Man City's great weekend | Klopp gets frustrated by Man United | Dele Alli's welcome return | VAR issues continue | Norwich keep a clean sheet | Can Silva be saved at Everton? | Ings the Saints' hero | Praise for Adam Lallana | Hudson-Odoi brings the magic | Chris Wood a January target?

A great weekend for Man City

Make no mistake, Manchester City dodged a massive banana skin at Crystal Palace. Could it now change their season? After their defeats to Norwich and Wolves, it wasn't too far-fetched to consider that a punchy Crystal Palace side could land a mortal blow to their title hopes, particularly when the team sheet showed Fernandinho and Rodri bundled together as an unlikely centre-half duo. (Plus, Palace have done it before: witness Andros Townsend's wonder goal in last season's 3-1 win.)

- Williams: Gabriel Jesus might be best option up front

But Pep Guardiola's team found a way through on Saturday, scoring a sublime second goal through David Silva in the process, and putting on the kind of performance that suggests talk of "crisis" is overblown.

To his credit, Guardiola himself has never let the highs or lows consume him. "It is always easy when you win because you spend a lot of money and the others are disaster teams," he said in a radio interview regarding the coverage surrounding his team. "When Wolves win, it is because they are exceptional and we are a disaster." Perhaps we should just watch and wait for a while longer before jumping to conclusions.

City now face successive home games against Aston Villa and Southampton; if those hurdles are navigated, the visit to Anfield on Nov. 10 will look seismic no matter how Jurgen Klopp's side have fared in the meantime. Last season City guzzled up the points difference as soon as Liverpool showed signs of faltering; they would be forgiven for smelling blood now as it is very much game on once again.

Man United unsettle Klopp in promising performance

Jurgen Klopp will probably reflect that he was speaking in the heat of the moment when saying Manchester United "just defend" minutes after Sunday's 1-1 draw. It was not a fair comment, and deep down, he probably knew it. While Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side were not exactly buccaneering, they showed plenty of ambition in the first half, to the degree that their lead was deserved. Aaron Wan-Bissaka, in particular, found himself playing virtually as a winger while the peeling runs of Daniel James and Marcus Rashford gave Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip problems they did not look entirely comfortable facing.

- When will Man United next win the title?
- Mourinho: Liverpool 'didn't like the menu' at Man United
- Liverpool ratings: Lallana 7/10 off the bench
- Man United ratings: Rashford, James 8/10 in spirited draw

Liverpool, meanwhile, were passive until the second period, their full-backs unable to show their usual initiative and their midfield bested by Scott McTominay, Fred and Andreas Pereira. It's true that after Adam Lallana's equaliser there only looked like being one winner, and that a threadbare United team tired as the game wore on. But Klopp was probably more frustrated with the two iffy VAR calls that went against his side -- more on this later, though their luck has been good this season -- and the way in which his side once again clammed up on a visit to Old Trafford. This was a golden opportunity and he knew it.

For United and Solskjaer, any disappointment at the sloppy late goal they conceded was offset by the fact that this was a good result, and it might nudge the narrative away from speculation about the manager's suitability for the role for one week, at least.

Alli's return offers Tottenham a glimmer of hope

Defeat to Watford on Saturday would have turned up the noise around Tottenham's early-season worries to deafening levels. That was averted through Dele Alli when his goal was finally (and correctly) awarded by VAR; better yet, his contribution, coming in his first Premier League start of the season, made up for one of the many attributes they've been missing of late. Alli is better than most in his position at sniffing out danger in the box and snaffling up a scruffy goal, just like this one.

A draw against the division's bottom side isn't good enough in reality, and the alarm bells continue to ring loudly around a squad whose time may well be up. Yet with Alli back in the groove, there is every chance they'll rescue a few more points from the brink between now and the season's end.

... but it still wasn't the game's biggest story

The fact that Alli's goal was, on the stadium's big screens, incorrectly shown to have been overturned owed to a (presumably) one-off error by those operating the VAR system. These things happen but it caused significant confusion and was a neat example of the way VAR does a massive disservice to match-going fans.

This issue was emphasised again during Manchester United vs. Liverpool, with a lengthy wait to check for a possible foul by Victor Lindelof in the buildup to Marcus Rashford's goal that was evidently not "clear and obvious" given the length of time taken to assess it. The delay would dampen the home celebrations for some time; later in the first half, the traveling Liverpool support then saw the rug pulled from under their feet after another significant delay when Sadio Mane was, correctly under this season's pedantic new handball stipulation, ruled not to have equalised.

Anecdotal evidence from many supporters is that they feel the in-stadium experience is being compromised to a critical level. The suspicion is that VAR is being overused and taking too long: nobody should be surprised that it has come to this. It was instructive to hear Dean Smith, the Aston Villa manager and a man who has suffered more than his fair share of VAR letdowns already this season, opine after their victory over Brighton that the technology had crept into a subjective decision when Conor Hourihane's goal was disallowed for an apparent foul by Wesley. Smith was so annoyed that he said he could not even celebrate Matt Targett's late winner.

It all makes for great theatre if you're watching on television, but this is sport, not a soap opera, and this weekend's events mark another warning that football's essence risks being distorted forever. Is all this really worth it?

Norwich finally stop their losing run

It had been 11 months since Norwich fans were able to pause for breath. Before Saturday's stalemate at Bournemouth, their last 0-0 draw was at Hull on Nov. 27 of last year, coming in the midst of their run to the Championship title. That was 37 games ago and in the meantime, they've soared to a free-flowing promotion and started their Premier League campaign in raucous fashion, defeating Manchester City but leaking goals liberally along the way.

Norwich have been conceding too much in recent weeks given injuries across their back four, so a dull draw at the Vitality Stadium felt like a welcome relief. Above all else, it suggested Daniel Farke's side have the wherewithal to grit out a result against decent opposition and that relegation still looks a fate they should avoid.

Silva services continues for now at Everton

Marco Silva may well have been sacked if Everton had not beaten West Ham 2-0 on Saturday. He might still be in the near future, because there's nothing yet to show that his team can achieve any consistency and the suspicion remains that he's riding on the back of the strange over-hyping of his talents that occurred in his early months with Hull and Watford. But credit where it's due: the Toffees thoroughly deserved their win against opponents who can be almost as infuriating.

Bernard, whose end product has rarely matched his scurrying workrate, scored a particularly fine goal and the out-of-form Gylfi Sigurdsson finished neatly too to put the game beyond doubt in the closing stages. Everton looked smooth and slick while avoiding mishaps at the back; now they and their manager need to show that can be the case on a regular basis.

Ings keeping Saints alive

It's good to see Danny Ings looking the real deal for Southampton after injuries denied him a deserved opportunity at Liverpool. His well-taken strike at Wolves made it three goals in three games -- five in four if you include two Carabao Cup goals against Portsmouth -- and the signs are he will need to keep this up.

Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl did enough in the second half of last season to suggest a season in midtable should be possible but they're looking like a team destined for a relegation battle this time around. If Ings gets hurt, having scored four of their nine league goals to date, it's hard to see where the firepower to escape danger is coming from.

Man of the weekend

Bangladesh's cricketers have called a spontaneous - and unprecedented - press conference on Monday afternoon, with sources suggesting they could go on strike and even cast a shadow over next month's tour of India. The country's top cricketers are expected to be present at the press conference, which comes in the backdrop of simmering discontent among them over how the game is run in the country.

The trigger seems to be the Bangladesh Cricket Board's decision last month to abandon the Bangladesh Premier League's franchise-based model. It meant that the average professional cricketer's earning has gone to an all-time low. The players' woes were furthered after the BCB didn't raise the match fees in the first-class competition that began earlier this month. These, in addition to the salary cap applied to the Dhaka Premier League, although it used to be an open market for club-to-club transfer for players, for the last several years.

Professional cricketers have been voicing their concerns over the last month or so. None more than Shakib Al Hasan, the Test and T20I captain and Bangladesh's most celebrated cricketer, who said in a recent interview that cricketers are "suppressed" and must be treated better.

Shakib's stance was praised in most quarters, particularly among the cricketers, although the BCB didn't react to his stinging criticism.

"You have to be firm about how you will support the players. A long-term policy maker is needed in this regard. Then a lot of good things will happen" Shakib Al Hasan to Daily Star

In another interview to the Dhaka-based Daily Star published on Monday, Shakib said that he didn't see any long-term planning in Bangladesh cricket. "Actually, we only focus on whatever series we have going on. But if it's something like a World Cup, then maybe we plan six to eight months in advance. Otherwise, we only focus on the ongoing series. It's a cultural thing," he said. "People expect that we will win all matches. We plant a tree and crave the fruits the very next day. This is why it's difficult to plan long-term."

Shakib said that the players also needed someone strong in a technical position to take these long-term decisions, and used Andrew Strauss' example - vis-à-vis English cricket - to make his point.

"The guardians of the country's cricket have a big role to play here," he said. "You have to be firm about how you will support the players. A long-term policy maker is needed in this regard. Then a lot of good things will happen. There is a lot to be changed and it's a technical matter.

"There are points about requirements. It will be good when someone takes these factors into account while planning. For instance, England has [chair of the ECB's cricket committee] Andrew Strauss, who plans everything. The planning of the last four years is all his. We need someone like that who can plan only regarding cricket, someone with foresight."

International cricket is set for a fourth attempt to shake up the way the game is governed in the space of seven years, after the Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings was commissioned by the ICC chairman Shashank Manohar to lead a review of governance that may well challenge its status as a members organisation with a board largely drawn from that membership.

Manohar's decision to commission the review may be a signal that he intends to push for another term as the ICC's independent chairman, allowing him to usher through further reforms to the game after pushing through a reversal of the "Big Three" policies led by the boards of India, England and Australia and their overseers N Srinivasan, Giles Clarke and Wally Edwards in 2014.

Though no date for its completion has been set, there is the strong possibility that Eddings and his committee will present at least an interim report on a fresh vision for the game's decision-making by the time of the next ICC annual conference in June 2020.

Eddings has initially been joined on the working group by Greg Barclay (New Zealand Cricket), Tony Brian (Cricket Scotland), Ehsan Mani (Pakistan Cricket Board), Chris Nenzani (Cricket South Africa) and Ricky Skerritt (Cricket West Indies), but there is believed to be scope to add other members to the group - the absence of representation for the BCCI being a notable feature of the panel at this point.

Areas the review will look into will likely include the composition of the executive board of the ICC, the need to introduce more women to the game's highest level of decision making - a single independent female board director, Indra Nooyi, has sat on the board for the past year and was recently re-elected for another two years - and a desire to adopt more professional governance practices across the ICC.

The job confronting Eddings, while underlining the respected place he now holds at the ICC after replacing David Peever as CA chairman a year ago, is a dicey one given the recent history of changes. After the failure of CA and NZC to have their nomination of John Howard for ICC president succeed in 2010 as the BCCI led opposition to the rotation of the presidency, an independent review into governance was commissioned by the then ICC chief executive Haroon Lorgat and helmed by Lord Woolf.

His findings, released publicly in 2012, called for fundamental changes, and was immediately rejected by the BCCI - more or less automatically consigning the document to the bottom drawer of the ICC's management and board. Instead, Srinivasan, the ECB and CA set about building a different system in which the game's richest nations took the lion's share of its key financial and strategic decisions.

After Srinivasan was blindsided by the BCCI's domestic corruption problems - many of them related to the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, of which he was owner - Manohar's ascension to the position of independent chairman of the ICC brought a third change, rolling back many of the Big Three changes, though retaining a larger share of ICC event revenue for India.

Eddings, who was on the CA board when it underwent fundamental changes, from a 14-person representative board composed of delegates from the six state associations that own CA to a nine-person independent board appointed on a skills basis, can be expected to review all these events and their related reports, including the hotly-debated Woolf report.

Equally, a wide variety of views will be canvassed, with the option of taking on independent consultants and advice. However, there will be one major difference this time around - the review, when it does arrive, will have been put together by the ICC's membership itself, a major reason why the BCCI was able to dismiss Woolf's findings seven years ago.

About a dozen NBA players gathered for a teleconference with officials in the league office this summer, making their case about what they believe is one of the biggest problems in the game.

Fan behavior, they said, is getting worse.

The numbers show they're right, and if that isn't troubling enough race only adds to the complexity of the issue: Most NBA players are black, and it seems like most of those in the closest seats are white. Not every incident is racially motivated, though some clearly are.

After high-profile incidents involving Russell Westbrook, DeMarcus Cousins, Kyle Lowry and others last season -- including ones involving racist taunts -- zero tolerance for abusive or hateful behavior is now to become the NBA's policy going forward. The league is changing and toughening its code of conduct for fans, especially putting those in closest proximity to the players and the court on alert that anything over the line will lead to ejections and possibly more.

"We've added any sexist language or LGBTQ language, any denigrating language in that way, anything that is non-basketball related," said Jerome Pickett, the NBA's executive vice president and chief security officer. "So 'your mother' comments, talking about your family, talking about test scores, anything non-basketball related, we've added that in as well as being something that we will go and pull a fan out of the seat and investigate what happened."

Westbrook and Cousins were subjected to racist taunts in Salt Lake City and Boston and the fans involved in those incidents were banned by the Jazz and Celtics. Lowry was shoved by a minority partner of the Golden State Warriors' ownership group, seated courtside during the NBA Finals, and that person was banned from team business for a year by the league.

There were more. Those were just the highest-profile ones. The NBA would not release exact numbers -- and the totals are believed to be very low -- but Pickett said the ejections of fans in the courtside area still more than doubled last season.

Westbrook declined comment for this story, saying through a Rockets official that he was not comfortable discussing the matter. But the players' union insists that the problem is getting bigger and bigger.

"Last season, I began to sense even at the games I was attending that there was a certain, I'll call it absence of civility, that permeated the games," said Michele Roberts, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. "I was seeing more bad-mouthing opposing teams that were not simply `you suck,' which every one of us will tolerate, but really nasty, nasty comments being directed at players."

The Celtics banned a fan for two years for directing racist chants at Cousins. Westbrook was involved in a pair of incidents in Utah that came to light last season; was offended by a fan during the 2018 playoffs by a fan calling him "boy" before a playoff game, and then last season was involved in a back-and-forth shouting match with another fan.

The Jazz banned both fans for life, and Westbrook was fined $25,000 by the NBA for threatening the fan involved in last season's incident.

"I try very hard not to have my default answer be, `It's racism.' I really do because I don't think that necessarily advances the argument," Roberts said. "If it's undoubtedly that, then I'm happy to say it."

It's not always racism, either -- Roberts also said she's received complaints from many white players about being the subject of nastiness from fans.

Amira Davis is an assistant professor at Penn State specializing in 20th Century American History with an emphasis on race, gender, sports and politics. She believes fans feel more emboldened now to say whatever they like, without fear of repercussions.

"There have been plenty of sober fans yelling slurs and attacking players in the worst way," Davis said. "I think it's a mix of all of those things and when looking at predominantly white spaces like Utah and a largely black labor force, it ratchets it up a little bit more and makes it a lot more intense. Particularly in this political climate in which it's very easy to project onto high-profile black athletes and pathologies and misconceptions about the black community."

Fan behavior is not just a concern in the NBA. It is being noted everywhere.

Racist chants and taunts are a major issue in European soccer, including at a Euro 2020 qualifier between Bulgaria and England last week. Green Bay and Philadelphia fans fought in the stands at Lambeau Field last month. The Atlanta Braves had fans stop doing their "tomahawk chop" during the playoffs earlier this month. During the AL Championship Series between Houston and New York, Astros manager A.J. Hinch told umpires that he felt the behavior of fans at Yankee Stadium had crossed the line and that it "was becoming a dangerous situation."

"There's no place for that," Hinch said, referencing matters like debris being thrown from the stands toward players and taunts directed toward some of the Astros. "Both teams will agree. And it's really hard to stop fans from doing that. But it's also very dangerous."

And the athletes are not always just victims, either.

Golfer Bio Kim was suspended by the Korean PGA for three years for making an obscene gesture at the crowd during the final round of a tournament that he won, angry because of noise from a cellphone camera.

In the NBA, the league is expanding the area in arenas most closely monitored when it comes to player-fan interaction. The top-priority area used to be just those seated with feet on the court itself or maybe the first couple rows of courtside seats; now, that area goes several rows deep in every building, plus the areas where teams and referees enter and exit the court.

The fan code of conduct, a standard announcement at every NBA arena for years, is now being shown and promoted more times in each game. Season-ticket holders have been put on notice by teams that they may lose their seats even if they give their tickets to someone who goes over the line and harasses players or officials too vociferously.

Fans believed to have been involved in incidents will be removed from seats while officials investigate; many times, when a security guard asks those in a certain area what just happened, no one would volunteer information with the suspected heckler present.

"I think players are definitely vulnerable," Golden State's Draymond Green said after the Lowry incident. "Any time you're in a situation where you can do no right, like in defending yourself, you're vulnerable."