Sam Donnellon: Phillies reliever Romero should have walked away from taunting fan

WHEN IS IT OK to touch a fan in the stands?

Never.

This has nothing to do with whether the fan in Tampa the other night provoked J.C. Romero or deserved it. This has everything to do with J.C. Romero being a professional athlete - really, just a professional.

It has nothing to do with whose story is accurate: the one given to police by Tampa Bay fan Robert "No relation to Adam" Eaton after the Phillies lost to the Rays Thursday night; or the one issued by Romero, the Phillies reliever, before he mummed up the following day.

Eaton, a 25-year-old resident of New Port Richey, Fla., filed a police report alleging that Romero assaulted him after the game. He also told the St. Petersburg Times that Romero grabbed him by the neck and pushed him after Eaton taunted him about steroids. (Messages left for Eaton by the Daily News have not been returned.)

A day later, Romero told Comcast SportsNet's Leslie Gudel that he stopped to sign autographs after the Phillies' ugly, 10-4 loss that night and that Eaton "was saying a lot of things" to him.

One of those things had to do with Romero's 50-game suspension for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance.

Romero said he told Eaton to "think before he speaks."

Eaton's version was that Romero told him to "shut the bleep up."

Romero said that Eaton then said, "What are you gonna do about it," and it reached a point where the fan got face to face with the player.

That is when Romero said he pushed Eaton back. Romero said the fan was drunk and that eyewitnesses would confirm his account. However, one fan who posted after the CSN story claimed to be sitting two rows behind Eaton and said that Romero's account was a lie and that Eaton was not drinking alcohol.

Another who posted after David Murphy's Daily News blog about the incident said the Rays fan taunted Romero (which Eaton admitted) and said, "I bet you won't hit me and JC smacked him and walked away." The fan added the incident wasn't "anything big really." Ah, but it is - when anyone in the public eye is involved. It's sad that people like Eaton feel compelled to get their 15 minutes of infamy this way, and that we stand around and let them. Reading some of the reactions to the stories on the various Web sites, it's also sad how many Phillies fans - some of whom undoubtedly have booed and abused both the home and away team over the years - see Romero's behavior as justified.