I guess I see a couple of problems with this argument. First, an insult is an insult; padding the name-calling of a player as an "innocent insult" smacks of over-rationalization to me. Nola has been a common target for Philsmania. He may have limited his comments here to the Mr. Softee moniker, but he's torn into him repeatedly in the past. He, like many of us, is a passionate fan and I respect that. But letting your emotions do the talking can lead to hyperbole, such as saying Nola is soft in big games despite the fact that prior to yesterday he had three consecutive excellent outings, all of which held playoff implications.
It also seems a bit hypocritical that you find insulting a player in the heat of the moment to be okay, but bkox's pointed retort, directed toward a general line of thinking about said player, was not. Now, I'm not suggesting the proper response to an insult is another insult - it, IMO, is not. My point is the spiral of uncivilized conversation that can be sparked once that kind of inflammatory rhetoric begins, as seen here with the exchange last night.