Maybe this puts it to bed
 

Only late by about 18 hours. ;)

I am not grabbing any player. Because if I grab a player and they turn around and hit the person they think did something to them. Then what?

What the hell would have happened if someone hit Smart, spit on Smart or threw something at Smart? He just did not have as willing a person and had teammates that were trying to not escalate the issue. But if the right group of people were involved, he might have started a bigger incident. Just look at the Texas-OSU situation where a teammate not involved in thrown a punch in the 2002 situation. So you say he did not go to fight, but he put his hands on a person in those stands. If that is trying to fight, not sure what he was doing?

Peace

Dang it! That's what I get for not reading all 1000 posts.:p

I guess what threw me was it was still being debated that this guy was a racist, or said something racist. Even after the comments by both Smart and Orr were apearently out there.

Why are we still saying (or implying or questioning) that SuperDouche made a racist comment? Are you telling me NO ONE saw SportsCenter last night? Really?

He said "Piece of Crap". Period.

That said, this (and his antics at other games) should be enough for TTech to ask the man (by ask, I mean - taking away his tickets) to sit upstairs from now on. You're a 50-year old man - the kids you're instigating are 20 (or less). Grow up douchebag.

And to a couple who said things like, "If Smart was a hothead" - have we already forgotten the WV game?

(and PS --- suggesting the officials could have done anything here is asinine. First, it's absurd to think an official would go into the stands... and second - pay closer attention to time and distance and the players already helping Smart up that were between the closest official and the player - zero percent chance of the official pushing past 2 players who were already helping him up to go help him up --- and zero chance of reacting between the moment Smart turns toward the fan in reaction to whatever he thought he heard and the moment Smart pushed the fan).

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.

If you live where I live you would hear in malls, high schools, and sport bars...regularly.

My son is a freshman in high school, last I checked he doesn't have the means to move from one neighborhood to another. That would be something my ex-wife and myself would have control of.

So if my ex-wife or myself decided to move so my son could go to a different school for athletic purposes, that would make my son's version less believable if he were to get into a confrontation?

I'm sorry. Frankly, I hear it so rarely (I'm white, so I'm not going to pretend to understand) that it perks my ears up when I hear it. I've only heard it used once in the course of officiating: one black kid to another black kid trying to provoke a fight on a football field. In that context, I DQ'd the kid. I don't go to sports bars, but the only time I hear it in public is when someone is rapping out loud with his headphones on or between kids using it differently than I ever would, or could.

Exactly. I can't think of anything less relevant for this situation.

Separate from even using it to try and define his character, if I have a son in Texas who is an exceptional MS basketball player, and I want to move three towns over because they have a better HS program, the state of TX tries to say you cannot do that? Did I miss something here...?

How exactly is the state of TX going to prevent you from selling your old house or letting your lease expire and then buying a new house or signing a new lease in a different town? Once you have moved, if you decide to send your son to a public school doesn't it have to be the one that serves the community you live in?

Probably why they're only allegations: and completely irrelevant to the issue at hand.

There are instances of a school / coach / player obtaining an apartment address within the local school district so the athlete can play, even if the "move" is not one we would typically think of.

Just a generic statement, and not making any allegations about any particular situation.

If you did that in Texas ... your son might not play sports that year. But more to the point, if you did that (regardless of location) it speaks volumes to the priority set he grew up with.

Or the emphasis Texas puts on High School sports :rolleyes:

Yes ... the state of Texas doesn't TRY to say you cannot do that. It flat out says you can't do that. And before people start into saying things like "I should have every right to move if it gives my kid a better shot at athletics" - you have to remember why this was created. It wasn't that long ago that athletics in Texas involved full blown recruiting - complete with high schools paying players/parents to move to their districts, and including giving parents high paying jobs to get them to move. (See Odessa Permian football as a particularly egregious example, but it was everywhere). This is why the laws exist - to prevent that from occurring again.