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I have absolutely no love lost for Texas tech or their fans, but I don't believe for a second the fan said anything racial. It would be highly unusual for someone in a public place watching a sporting event that has a much higher percentage of African Americans participating than the normal population and has been that way for decades. I can't tell you the last time I heard the n-word uttered by a non-Black other than a reference to the word itself (i.e. not calling someone the word). That brings up another issue which we don't need to get into, but there were way too many people around for that guy to get away with using such language.
I don't know Smart personally -- he went to HS in the area I worked, but I didn't work any of his games. I do, however, know people who know him. There were some allegations of him moving for athletic purposes (a no-no in Texas) when he was a freshman. That doesn't necessarily make him a bad person or liar, but from what I know about it, given the choice of taking his word or the fan's, I'm probably going to lean toward the fan's.
Bottom line is this: words are not provocation for anything physical. Smart initiated physical contact, so he is clearly in the wrong regardless of what was said. He could be prosecuted for simple assault in Texas. If he's going to have an NBA career that lasts longer than a warm-up, he needs to grow up and realize he will hear all sorts of things said about him, and "piece of crap" will be one of the milder ones.
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