The Marcus Smart incident this past Saturday is indeed bad for the game of basketball but, my good friend Matthew Wegner posed a great question on Twitter after the altercation "Why don't we see more player-fan altercations?". Great question because we all know true fans are ruthless and will do anything to get under the oppositions skin. I myself have been guilty of such trash-talk I've been known to openly call players ugly or "scrubs". The reason I believe we don't see more of these altercations is because athletes are more under control because it may ruin their reputation or in a college-players case their draft stock. Marcus Smart had clearly lost his cool on Jeff Orr but, did he have reason?
Here is my case for the defense of Jeff Orr yes he may have called him a "piece of crap" and that could have sent Smart over the edge. However in Orr's defense it could have been a culmination of frustrations that led to the shove. Oklahoma State had lost 4 out of their previous 5 games and were on their way to another loss against the Red Raiders. Smart had not been playing his best basketball in those last 5 games as well he had gone cold shooting wise and was not being the "Smart"(punny) player/leader he had been at the beginning of the year. He had to be wondering "Why did I come back to Stillwater?" he had his NBA ticket punched but decided to come back for one more year, and now he is paying the price.
Now my case for Marcus Smart, the BURNING question here folks is did Jeff Orr call Smart a racial slur? The answer will remain with Orr, Smart, and those mean looking old ladies standing by Orr but, I have my own reservations. I'm not trying to step on any Texan toes but it is considered to be in the "South" were whether or not we fail to admit there are still remnants of racism (that is a different blog for a different day). Yes Smart could have reacted based on the frustrations of the Oklahoma State season but to that degree? When Orr supposedly only called him a "piece of crap", something if fishy here folks. No player and I MEAN NO PLAYER reacts the way Smart did to being called a "piece of crap" I'm sorry. After the incident you can see Smart mouthing "Watch your f*****g mouth", do you really think he said that after being called crap? No. This leads me to believe that Orr did in fact call Smart the "N" word which honestly makes me cringe just thinking about it. You probably ask yourself "but Nolan rappers say the "N" word all the time?", indeed they do but did Jeff Orr say it the same way and with the same meaning as 2 Chainz would? No. Things like this disgust me in sports and culture in general how a word such as that is still being said in that tone and with that meaning (again another blog for another day). All I'm getting at here folks is that there is a bigger picture to this then just a player-fan altercation.
I will agree Smart was slightly out of line and acted out of impulse but who wouldn't react the way he did if you were called some sort of slur. His punishment did fit his crime, his Oklahoma State Cowboys, and his draft stock will suffer in the three games he is absent. On the other end of the spectrum Jeff Orr will be in attendance at the next Texas Tech home game against #7 Kansas on the 18th. Does anyone else see anything wrong with that?
-NS (@NolanPSchmidt)
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