"Make a play sometime, Crowder.

That's the tenor of numerous fan comments I consumed with my daily sports media in the 24 hours after the Dolphins' loss to Baltimore. Or, I should say, the 23 hours after NFL fans saw Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder's two-part profane accusation that Baltimore running back Le'Ron McClain spat in his face.

Whether McClain loogied up Crowder or not -- video seems to say yes, Sparano says he's sending in video to the NFL, McClain and Ravens coach John Harbaugh maintain McClain's innocence -- isn't my focus. Rather, the odious reaction two paragraphs ago that implies ``Shut up and take it. Because you stink.''

It's part of that old, tired, yet still disturbing slotting engaged in by fans, and occasionally, the media: good player, good person worthy of all forgiveness, bad player, a skid mark on society.

I'm talking about the mentality that because someone didn't play well, he doesn't deserve the respect as a human being you would grant to any stranger or even a despised co-worker. If someone spat upon you at work, is there any circumstance you could imagine saying, ``Let me chill out about this and worry about doing my job better?''

Crowder sparked some of the disdain by mistakenly invoking Anne Frank -- the National Honor Society member meant Helen Keller -- in his blind fury over a painful loss and an insult he couldn't address as he wished. But the dismissiveness spat at Crowder is more rooted in his lack of SportsCenter plays (and bad game Sunday), especially when compared to his loquaciousness.

What if Sunday's other No. 52, future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis, accused Dolphins fullback Lousaka Polite of malicious expectoration? Universal excoriation would be swift. In Baltimore, Polite would be less welcome than a Robert Irsay statue. Lewis would be forgiven almost anything he said in anger.

As a corollary to that, when an athlete performs as we wish him or her to, fans assign them the personal characteristics we wish them to have. Especially if they look like us or fit the suit we've tailored for them."