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ESPN is running raw audio that shows Orr calling him a piece of crap. Smart jumps up and says F*** you. Orr says "you're not my type" and Smart pushes him.

Nothing racial. End of story.

(02-10-2014 09:18 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(02-10-2014 09:12 AM)DragonClaw Wrote:  Jackie Robinson.

...has nothing to do with this incident

Oh, but it very much does... esp if it was racial.

If it wasn't racial, and it apparently wasn't, JR still has some bearing as one could point to JR as the shining example on how athletes should respond (or not respond) to any abuse from the stands (racial or no).

Any athlete that has not gone into the stands after hearing verbal abuse is also an example.

What Smart heard wasn't racial. What Robinson heard was.

(02-10-2014 08:19 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  I go back to the title of this thread and the initial insinuation behind it.

What insinuation?

A boorish fan yelling something ugly at a player is not news.

A player reaching into the crowd and putting his hands on a fan is.

(02-10-2014 10:52 AM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Any athlete that has not gone into the stands after hearing verbal abuse is also an example.

What Smart heard wasn't racial. What Robinson heard was.

Tom Izzo on Mike & Mike this morning nailed it. It obviously matters to some degree what Orr specifically said in this specific instance. But that's not really what Smart was reacting to. I don't know what Orr said or didn't say, and it is certainly possible he'd been calling him other things before this happened. There is no doubt, however, that Smart has been hearing and reading outrageous comments all year; there is also little doubt guys like Orr have been treating him as though he is inferior his entire life. In the heat of passion, he made a bad decision. But it was a human reaction by a young kid who's had a hard life and gave up a top 3 draft slot to come back to school only to see that draft status deteriorate.

He's frustrated. He's got people on Twitter calling him all sorts of names. And now he's got a fat, obnoxious fan with what appears to be an even worse wife calling him a piece of crap. For playing basketball really well. He's a piece of crap because he plays basketball well against this loser's team. Smart's reaction was not right; but I get it.

The only reason this never really happens in another sport is distance and noise. In baseball, there's a fence. In football, there's too much noise to hear specific people. In hockey and soccer, the action is so constant it's more difficult to get a player's attention. But in basketball, there's no barrier and the fans are right on top of them shouting horrible stuff. The action stops regularly. We want to believe we participate and have an impact on the outcome; we probably do. But you don't support your team by personally attacking kids who mostly aren't old enough to drink. Fans shouldn't be permitted to do that.

Three games seems about right for Smart. But the fan should be suspended from the arena for three games too. Because when your defense to an accusation is that all you did was call a 19 year old kid a piece of crap because he's good at basketball, you're a bad person who should be called out as a loser.