I have no idea if this will be a new trend here or just a one time thing, but Adam Hatlak told me he had some thoughts on Marcus Smart. I took the angle of Smart and perspective around him while Adam looked at the fans and their behavior. This worked out really well. Charlie Tritschler
This is the not the season Oklahoma State Cowboys expected in November. They started out the season ranked number four in the nation with Marcus Smart returning for his sophomore despite a weak 2013 NBA Draft class. People believed this team had as much talent as anyone in the country and could make a serious run at Kansas' Big 12 title run. Those dreams died in January as the Cowboys took their lumps, and the biggest lump of the season happened Saturday night when Marcus Smart pushed a Texas Tech fan in yet another game Oklahoma State lost in what continues to be a disappointing season.
Smart pushing a fan known around the Big 12 for causing trouble was definitely uncalled for, but it should not raise questions about Smart's career at Oklahoma State or the NBA, but rather it should raise questions about fans' attitudes during sporting events across the country in college athletics especially. Additionally, it should not defer people's attention to the putrid season Oklahoma State is having and not all of that blame falls on Smart.
Before the season began, people praised Smart for a variety of reasons. The college basketball purists loved the fact he stayed another year. They reigned down compliments of him staying in school. Related, people loved how he became a leader as a freshman, and how Smart worked on trying to develop his 3-point shot. If you remember at the beginning of the season, ESPN did a whole feature with Jay Bilas and Smart about his knowledge of the game. Weird thing about the season is that narrative can vaporize quickly especially if the team starts losing more than expected. Like a quarterback in football, the reason for losing starts with the best player on the team.
Things began to twist on Smart during the Big 12 season. Articles were written about Smart freaking out on the sidelines taking his agression out on the chairs at West Virginia. More articles continued to pile in criticizing how much Smart flopped on a more than regular basis. Questions about Smart's leadership as Oklahoma State continued to struggle in the Big 12. Smart pushing a fan at Texas Tech was his rock bottom. People had some thoughts whether this affected Smart's Oklahoma State's legacy which is ridiculous given he played one and a half years at a place, but the notion is out there. Without a doubt, this should not define the person who he is as a basketball player and a person.
People overreact to things, and that's exactly what Smart did on Saturday. Overreactions usually are the worst in people. It shows a vulnerable side that we as humans all have but hate to show plus immediately regret it the following day. Smart pushed a man in the heat of the moment because he either told him 'Go back to Africa' or 'a piece of crap.' These are opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to what fans will say, but at the same time, how many fans actually look a player dead in the eye and say something hoping for a reaction. Texas Tech's fan, Jeff Orr, baited Smart and he took it damn hard. It is shame Smart fell for it.
Adam Hatlak First and foremost, what Smart did was wrong, and he was right to be punished. Shoving a fan isn't acceptable, and 3 games shows that this is more than a slap on the wrist. However, what happened might bring a bit more light to a situation that is quickly becoming an issue in sports. Fans are losing perspective.
Social media is great, it allows us to interact with famous people in a way that we never could before. We can get random thoughts from a player without having it published and analyzed by major media outlets, player's creativity can come through as seen in the back and forth with Aaron Rodgers and Tom Crabtree, and players can even recognized specific fans with a retweet or mention for all of the player's followers to see.
The problem with social media is growing rapidly. Twitter began in 2006, and took a few years to truly hit the mainstream as something that a lot of people use. While it is nowhere near the general popularity of Facebook, it has a specific level of importance in the sports world. In the early years of Twitter, the issue seemed to be that athletes wouldn't think before sending off a tweet, and the media would eat them alive for whatever stupid thing was said.
Now that we are in 2014, the issue seems to be different, but far less mainstream. Fans are ruthless and unrelenting to public figures. This gets mentioned a lot on sports radio, as many hosts will attack Twitter "idiots" on their shows, as it must be annoying to listen to all the negative talk all the time. Hosts are able to fight back, but athletes themselves have a harder time doing so, as they need to keep their fans, brand, and don't want to get yelled at by the team that employs them.
Check a player's mentions on Twitter or comments on Facebook, it's atrocious. People are able to take loyal bonds of a rival team or disappointment in their own team's performance and say generally terrible things. They forget the human aspect that comes from it and are able to hide mostly without consequence. Players have slowly started firing back slightly, but it'll blow up soon.
Which brings us back to Smart. In the past few seasons, it feels as if the social media issue is spilling into live sporting events. Fans are taking the consequence free speech that they are allowed on social media, where they don't even have to say it to someone's face, and applying it to live sporting events. I'm all for cheering for your own team, and creating noise to distract the opponent, and even booing, but there is a line that takes things too far.
I talked to a buddy of mine about this, and he reminded me of a Duke/NC State game about a year ago, where fans chanted about someone's grandmother who had passed away. Players were booed this past season in the NFL when they were legitimately injured. I read reports that things were thrown at Novarro Bowman as he was carted off in the NFC Championship game. This goes past the fun, the entertainment of sports, and just becomes people treating other people poorly.
Regardless of what was said to Smart, you can tell that something caught his attention, as he is sitting on the floor and clearly switches his focus to the stands. What he did was wrong, but fans need to be sure to clean up their act, before something truly gets out of control with this.
Charlie & Adam
