From Gary Parrish's column:
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...e-only-one
"The video clearly showed Smart commit a foul, fall down, get up and shove a fan in the front row. That alone was worthy of a suspension. So the Big 12 got this right.
"My actions last night were inappropriate and do not reflect myself or Texas Tech -- a university I love dearly. I regret calling Mr. Smart a 'piece of crap' but I want to make it known that I did not use a racial slur of any kind."
That's part of the statement released Sunday by Orr.
Let's get into that for a moment.
I suppose we'll never know for sure exactly what Orr said to provoke Smart. But it's only fair to note that Orr denied using racial slurs, and nobody is on record contradicting that version of events. So, for the sake of this conversation, let's assume all Orr did was what he said he did, which is call Smart a "piece of crap" while the All-American was lying in front of him.
Isn't that still ridiculous?
Honest to God, I can't think of another public place where an old white man calling a young black man a "piece of crap" is mostly considered acceptable behavior, and yet something like that happens at basketball games on the regular. Sticks and stones, I guess. But the words hurled by fans sitting within a few feet of players are often ugly, and I've wondered for a while why those words are allowed. That doesn't mean players should respond by shoving fans; I hope I've been clear enough about that. But fans should know it's not an OK thing to do, and schools should discipline ticket-holders when necessary.
So perhaps that'll be the good that comes from this mess. Maybe schools will start paying attention to verbal abuse, fans will start being less aggressive, and the next idiot who has convinced himself it's fun to taunt college athletes on a personal level will start instead treating players with a degree of human decency.
It's doubtful, I know.
But Marcus Smart isn't the only one who needs to learn from this deal."