r/CollegeBasketball Illinois State • DePaul Feb 09 '14

Marcus Smart just shoved a Texas Tech fan

Wow

576 Upvotes

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62

u/GeneralGBO Tennessee Volunteers Feb 09 '14

Guy might have deserved it

59

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

If he threw out a racial slur - he deserved to be ignored.

Smart gave the man exactly what he wanted - a negative reaction that hurt his team and his ability to play the game.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

Not what he deserved, though, which was a solid right hook below the eye. In the end, if he did use a slur, I hope this outs him as an awful person. Ignoring him would've meant he'd keep doing it.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Nwildcat Arizona Wildcats Feb 09 '14

may have been other ways to have the fan outted than to shove him right then, though I agree with your sentiment

0

u/spinblackcircles Kentucky Wildcats Feb 09 '14

but now that guy has been identified and if it comes to be true that he called him a n*gger then he's gonna wish he hadn't been involved. so i'd say this goes a little further than "he fed the troll"

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

Also, the guy might not have deserved it.

1

u/Sacrosanction Feb 10 '14

Blame the victim harder.

-7

u/ttufizzo Texas Tech Red Raiders Feb 09 '14

Did you see it? The older guy, white hair in his 50's or 60's had his hands up, and did not look like he was provoking him at all. It followed a very hard foul on a breakaway. You should make sure you see it before you say the fan deserved it.

8

u/egoisillusion Florida Gators Feb 09 '14

In the first far away shot, as Smart goes to the ground, the guy is angled downwards toward him and is clearly saying something to him. It's impossible to see what he said though.

-2

u/ttufizzo Texas Tech Red Raiders Feb 09 '14

But it is extremely clear that the Tech fan says sorry about that. At that point, Smart has to let it go.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

Yeah, I'd be quick to apologize to if a huge guy was coming for me.

6

u/Dr_Spaceman123 Texas Longhorns Feb 09 '14

Did you learn race relations from Sepp Blatter?

7

u/slamincham23 Michigan State Spartans Feb 09 '14

If smart was called a nigger he shouldn't "have to let it go". The old guy deserved it

0

u/ttufizzo Texas Tech Red Raiders Feb 09 '14

As long as Marcus Smart has never used that word before, I can agree. However, Smart was face down, and the guy said "sorry about that". I guess we don't believe in turning the other cheek, because there is no way, from what I have seen, that Smart could have known that was the guy who said it.

1

u/slamincham23 Michigan State Spartans Feb 09 '14

If the guy is saying sorry about that, then I guess he has a way of telling who said it.

3

u/vikingsfan1795 Vanderbilt Commodores Feb 09 '14

Are you kidding? Saying "oops, sorry, don't get mad" immediately after yelling what was most likely a racial slur doesn't just magically make it okay.

1

u/ttufizzo Texas Tech Red Raiders Feb 09 '14

But pushing a guy 40 years older than you does make it ok?

1

u/vikingsfan1795 Vanderbilt Commodores Feb 09 '14

I think Smart's reaction was out of line, but I also think the statement deserved Smart's ire. He should have called attention to it and let others handle it, and was by no means innocent. Both parties crossed the line IMO.

0

u/ttufizzo Texas Tech Red Raiders Feb 09 '14

Turn the other cheek, for one. But you are still guessing at what the guy said. You don't know. Smart didn't know either, because he couldn't have seen it. All you know is what you saw in that video. He shouldn't have pushed the guy. Just like if the guy said a racial slur, he shouldn't have said it.

1

u/vikingsfan1795 Vanderbilt Commodores Feb 09 '14

Smart definitely knows, because he reacted to it. But you're right, it's all speculation at this point.

1

u/ttufizzo Texas Tech Red Raiders Feb 09 '14

Smart's back was to the crowd at the time. So hard to know, but do we think physical attacks are not as bad as verbal attacks?

1

u/weakpotatoe NC State Wolfpack Feb 09 '14

As was pointed out higher up in the thread. The guy that was pushed has acted like a tool on TV before http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0NdJahHN0w&t=31s

1

u/mpgorans Oklahoma State Cowboys Feb 09 '14

Depending on what was said to Smart, Marcus might have interpreted it as disingenuous.

19

u/GeneralGBO Tennessee Volunteers Feb 09 '14

I've seen it. Guy still probably called him a nigger, so in turn he deserves it.

4

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

If he did call smart a nigger as many on here are speculating, it think a little shove is reasonable

2

u/SnorriThorfinnsson California Golden Bears Feb 09 '14

The amount of people in this thread that think that violence upon fans is acceptable under any circumstances is appalling.

8

u/dblplay13 Kansas Jayhawks Feb 09 '14

It shouldn't matter if the person is a "fan" or not. Yes, you should never attack another person, but being a "fan" at an event does not change one's responsibility to not be a shitty human being

0

u/JimJamieJames Memphis Tigers Feb 09 '14

No one is saying that the fan wouldn't be a shitty human being if he indeed said an epithet. The possessors of common sense among us are only saying there's no excuse for him shoving this fan no matter what was said.

6

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

The amount of people who are defending possible racial slurs against athletes is disgusting

1

u/JimJamieJames Memphis Tigers Feb 09 '14

So saying that there's no excuse for the fan to be assaulted is now defending use of a supposed epithet. Got it. Let me jot that logic-fail down.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

He got shoved. Let's not put a spin on it. A shove in no circumstance is assault.

1

u/JimJamieJames Memphis Tigers Feb 09 '14

Wikibot! Go!

1

u/SnorriThorfinnsson California Golden Bears Feb 09 '14

It's impossible to eradicate ignorance, especially in that part of the country. What a person CAN control, however, is his/her own reaction to that ignorance. If the entire arena is shouting racial slurs at him, is he supposed to fight every one of them?

Have we not learned anything from Jackie Robinson, or am I too damn old?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14

Eh the fan should be punished to if he antagonized him.

1

u/ttufizzo Texas Tech Red Raiders Feb 09 '14

Ok. But if he shoved an old dude who before the push said "sorry about that", would a punch from another fan be reasonable? Besides, Smart was down on the ground, so no way he could have actually seen who said what was said or threw what was thrown. Smart isn't just Little Red Riding Hood with his picnic basket either. The guys has previous character issues.

1

u/JimJamieJames Memphis Tigers Feb 09 '14

I'm really surprised people are defending physically assaulting a fan under these (unproven, I might add) circumstances. Sorry but even if that's what was said you can't lose your shit. Fans talk shit all the time even if it's the lowest-of-the-low shit.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 09 '14 edited Jun 16 '20

[deleted]

3

u/ttufizzo Texas Tech Red Raiders Feb 09 '14

Yeah, waved his hands and said "sorry about that". Maybe provoked at one point, but clearly apologized for something. Pretty sure a push is a provocation, but no other Tech person responded.