Henderson returning insult for insult to fans is everything wrong with college athletics, but the fans hurling insult at the players is not?
Why is it that fans always get a pass for composing themselves in ways in which they would be terrible role-models, but athletes do not?
I would argue that a much more fundamental problem in the world of sports is that the fans both desire and expect their athletes to be some sort of role-models, to hold them up as some sort of hero. They are not; they are individuals who spend their life playing a game. Many here have expressed the notion that Henderson is a bad influence on kids; I would counter that Henderson is only a bad influence on those kids who come from households and communities in which athletes are tacitly (if not explicitly) worshiped.
As for your Pacers example: if a fan chooses to assault a player on the court, I will not express outrage if said player decides to enter the stands and return the assault on said fan(s).