Another Example of the Complete Madness of Current American Sport

You've almost certainly seen the video by now. Almost every conceivable media outlet has carried it, if you haven't been basically so Olympic-centric that you've chosen to ignore reality.

It stems from an incident late in the February 8, 2014 contest with Oklahoma State travelling to Texas Tech.


This is probably one of the elite NBA prospects in present college basketball, Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State. At least one mock NBA draft has him well into the lottery, ranked sixth. There are many, however, who believe that it was a mistake that Smart stayed at Oklahoma State a second season.

Grave controversy now surrounds him after he shoved a Texas Tech “superfan”, Jeff Orr, in the stands.

Now, from experience, I can tell you the line between “superfan” and “stalker” or “dangerous individual” is, sometimes, a very close one. There are at least three times in my life that I could probably have been viewed as a “superfan”. The first ended with me barred from everything having to do with my first school, the second ended with me being barred from my second school's men's basketball arena, and the third, I did time for, as I've previously discussed.

The reason I bring this up is that it appears that much of the argument in this situation comes down to exactly what prompted Smart to shove this “superfan”.

I'll address my feelings on that in a moment, but there has been significant conjecture that Orr used the N-word as a racial slur against Smart, with an alternate scenario proposing Orr told Smart to "go back to Africa". A statement by Orr the next day claims that he simply referred to Smart as a “piece of crap”.

Let's look at this from both sides of the argument.

Marcus Smart has been suspended by the team for three games. In my honest opinion, that is a joke of the highest order.

For those who do not know, I was one openly calling for the permanent banishment of Ron Artest/Metta World Peace from the NBA after the infamous “Malice at the Palace” in Detroit. The comparison has been made, and Mr. World Peace has actually given some advice to Marcus Smart.

I want people to understand something: How much of it was due to Artest/World Peace's reputation and how much was otherwise, even though it was clear that World Peace had been sufficiently calmed down as he was prone on the scorer's table before the drink was thrown by the idiot (who I openly e-mailed to the Michigan Attorney General's office should've also been prosecuted for inciting a riot), Metta World Peace was banned from the NBA for the balance of that season.

Even with the mitigating factors, and there being obvious mitigating factors, the fact that Artest/World Peace broke that barrier and went into the stands was sufficient for the stiffest on-court suspension in the history of the league.

And it should've been. My position, even with all the mitigating factors, is that he should've been banned from basketball, as well as other members of the Indiana Pacers who also went in the stands.

That said, Detroit should also have been forced to play the better part of (if not) the remainder of that season under closed doors. But too much money would be lost, so, of course, money talked and bullshit walked.

The fact is simple: The mere fact that Marcus Smart went and made violent contact with a fan of any stripe is sufficient grounds, in my mind, for not only his permanent termination from college basketball, but his permanent termination from Oklahoma State University. And that statement is independent of what Mr. Orr said.

The only question regarding what Mr. Orr said to draw the reaction is the question of how long further should Smart be banned from basketball. If Orr's story is shown correct, then Smart should be arrested for assault and battery and banned from basketball for a minimum of one season further than this one, if not permanently. No NBA, no D-League, no NCAA, no foreign teams, nothing.

However, if Orr openly used racial slurs against Smart, then basically accepting the reality that Smart is probably NBA-bound and terminating his college career would probably be, begrudgingly, sufficient, and Orr should never be allowed to spectate another basketball game at any level.

And that gets to the other part of the story.

I've said before on this blog that fan conduct, across the American sports spectrum, is out of control. I have even seen open interference in games by fans aid (at least in small ways) determining playoff situations and the like.

The first thing we need to do is larger than just addressing fan conduct. When you decide that the economic ramification of attempting to control an out-of-control manifestation of Howard Cosell's “Sports Fan Syndrome”:

“The fan is sacred, even as sports are. He pays the freight, thus he is an entitled being. The media people tell him this every day. Therefore, once within the arena, his emotions whetted by the Sports Syndrome, the fan adopts what John Stewart Mill found to be the classic confusion in the American thought process, the confusion between Liberty and License—a natural and probable consequence of which is fan violence.”

… then you have no prayer of getting any semblance of control over the fans, which will then have, as a similar “natural and probable consequence”, violence by the players against those fans, in the very same principle.

This is what happened here. Especially with the likes of NCAA basketball and the money it makes ESPN and the NCAA, the result of forfeitures and the like will never happen – like it did not happen with an open case of fan interference in the Arena Football League playoffs in 2011.

I'm going to tell you another story about how I got involved with a coach on my days as a “superfan”:

It was the annual Wisconsin-Eau Claire Holiday Tournament in late 1991. Eau Claire, then the #1 NAIA team in the country, is hosting the University of Hawaii at Hilo. I do not know if it was the head coach or an assistant, but he was up on his feet questioning a call, and I yelled “SIT DOWN, COACH!”

Unfortunately, I did so a little late from the hubbub of that call, and the coach looked right at me, said “Oooo-key...” and sat down.

I knew, at that moment, I had crossed the line. I was not disciplined, nor even told to do what I did later: After Hilo's third-place game, I went over to said coach, shook his hand, apologized, and hoped we would see them at the national tournament.

Contrast that to what is believed might have been said at Texas Tech, or what was done in response.

Let me make no mistake: We need to find out what the guy said. He needs to be punished accordingly, should what he said merit.

But we need to go further than that, as Mike Greenberg has noted in a couple of tweets the next day.

First: “The behavior of some fans at sporting events has become a serious issue. To me, that's the discussion worth having today.”

This is beyond obvious, and needs to be addressed. We are showing many signs of descent in the sports fandom to the hooliganism we decry in European and South American soccer.

(There may be, in the intermediate future, a Guest Post on this subject as to why sports fans are going so berserk. But that is a maybe at this point.)

Second: “I've heard things yelled at players at games that, if they retaliated, I would have testified in their defense.”

Then report it to the stadium security, and name names, Greeny.

The fact that sporting competitions are going on under this kind of abuse cannot continue without the games degenerating into small-scale warfare. That we have not had numerous Malices or Miami vs. Florida Internationals is nothing short of blind fucking luck.

And it needs to stop.

So here are some suggestions:

• The overriding principle that sports exists to make money and as an economic construct must end. Yesterday. It is clear that too many events (sporting and otherwise) simply exist for profit, and that profit basically overriding all semblance of common sense. Neither on the player side nor the fan side will incidents like this subside until we cease this.
  
• We must give the referees, leagues, and other relevant parties the authority to end contests, forfeit contests, prevent contests from taking place, etc. should the circumstances require, and those circumstances need to be far stricter than they are now and very well publicized.
  
• We must have safeguards in place to allow fans to cheer, but also the protect the players. Make it a 100% criminal offense to be the aggressor in any fan/player altercation. Make it a forfeiture offense (if the fan can be identified) to be a fan aggressor against a sporting contest (be it “Idiot on the Field” or a person running out onto the court to fight a player).
  
• Any such aggressor is not only disqualified from that venue, but all relevant venues.
  
• Racial or homophobic slurs = Game Over. And it doesn't matter whether it's Pop Warner or the NFL, high school or the NBA.
  
• Any franchise or school unable to keep reasonable control of their fans loses the right to have them attend contests, either by forfeiture of future contests or the soccer solution of being forced to play those contests in empty arenas.
  
• And a big one no fan will like: It is time to fully reexamine the sale of alcohol at sporting events, further than it is now. Many of these incidents are started by fans with what is called “Liquid Bravery”. You abused the privilege? You lose it.
  

I once asked a person whom I greatly trusted on the subject of fandom, “How far is too far?”

The answer I, after years of searching, got (and, unfortunately, too late by the time I actually received it) was to the effect of “People know in their hearts when it happens.”

From my own personal experience, and my viewing of sports, that statement, though meant well, is a categorical falsehood. People need to know where the lines are, and that the consequences apply to far more than just themselves.

It's time for the bullshit to stop.