Oklahoma State’s Markel Brown(22) and Phil Forte(13) hold Marcus Smart(33) after Smart shoved a fan during their NCAA college basketball game in Lubbock, Texas, Saturday, Feb, 8, 2014.The shove heard ’round the college basketball world. That may be the best way to describe Oklahoma State basketball star Marcus Smart’s physical retaliation for a Texas Tech fan’s classless verbal abuse late Saturday evening.
Less than 24 hours later, Texas Tech supporter Jeff Orr admitted, “my actions were inappropriate.” Smart similarly observed, “I let my emotions get the best of me.”
Nevertheless, Smart has been suspended from the reeling Cowboys for OSU’s next three games, Orr has volunteered to stay away from his beloved Texas Tech basketball program for the rest of the season and a lot of folks are justifiably wondering what this says about the state of sportsmanship in college athletics.
“It’s certainly a learning tool,” University of Tennessee at Chattanooga athletics director David Blackburn said Sunday. “And that includes both athletes and fans.”
Exactly what Orr said to so rile Smart may never be known. Smart reportedly told Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford that it was racist in nature. Texas Tech released a statement that extensive replaying of video footage revealed no such abuse and that no one sitting near Orr heard such inflammatory words.