by Chris Chase, USA TODAY Sports

The son of Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown has received death threats on Twitter in the wake of the team’s 1-4 start to the 2012 season, according to the Orange County Register.

Elijah Brown, a high school basketball player at Los Angeles powerhouse Mater Dei, has been the focus of misplaced vitriol from a bullying segment of the Lakers fan base.

“UR dad is the dumbest dude” and “does your grandma regret having your dad” are two of the messages we can print. There have been much worse.

“That’s the tough part about this business,” Mike Brown said to reporters on Thursday when he was told about the threats, apparently for the first time. “To go after somebody’s family or something like that is, in my opinion, just ridiculous. It’s stupid, crazy, whatever you want to call it.”

The press is right to focus on the ignorance of the folks who issue death threats on Twitter. They should be outed and dealt with appropriately for their illegal actions. But what’s often ignored in the media is the support that follows from other Twitter users after these types of incidents.

For every idiot that goes at Elijah Brown, 10 more rush to his defense. Brown’s timeline is filled with support from followers, random fans and Lakers family members. That has included Kristen Blake, the wife of Lakers guard Steve Blake, who received similar threats after her husband missed a key shot in last year’s playoffs.

“Stop attacking FAMILIES!,” she wrote. “How would you feel if YOUR family was treated like that?”

These death threats are an unfortunate part of the distant world of social media. Fans have always vented in inappropriate ways; now they have the ability to do so with a direct line to the object of their scorn.

Kyle Williams of the San Francisco 49ers, Josh Morgan of the Washington Redskins and British Olympic diver Tom Daley are a few of the many who have been the subject of threats lobbed from cowards hiding behind a keyboard. The British teenager responsible for the tweets at Daley was arrested. Unless law enforcement officials deal … [For more on Mike Brown's son receiving threats on Twitter, click here.]