Don’t be so quick to judge Marcus Smart

Over the last two years I’ve grown increasingly fond of Marcus Smart. The six-foot, four-inch sophomore guard has reignited Oklahoma State basketball and displayed a mature calm on the court, similar to his pro comparison: Jarret Jack.

I believe Smart has a higher upside than Jack, reminding me at times of James Harden who, like Smart, felt comfortable as a controlled combo guard playing in a post-oriented offense. Smart is dangerously athletic, a great finisher around the rim and, like Harden, he is a lockdown off-ball defender.

On Saturday, my flattering opinions of Marcus Smart were in question.

Gallagher-IBA Arena is one of the most iconic in the midwest. Away from home Marcus Smart has been the subject of controversy this week. By Ashlux at en.wikipedia, from Wikimedia Commons

The star Oklahoma State guard was ejected from a game against Texas Tech, after shoving a fan. That fan, a fifty-something “super fan” named Jeff Orr, sat three rows from the court. Diving for a loose ball, the gritty guard worked his way back up with his teammate’s help, and then wham: before anyone could react, Orr was thrown back and the broad shouldered guard led off the court.

Memories of that epic Pacers-Pistons fight came to memory, something I, along with many college hoops fans, never would have associated with the court-quiet Cowboy star. But as the story continued to cycle, the truth illumined.

It has been reported that Jeff Orr called him a racial slur. Jeff Orr says he called him a “piece of crap.” Orr’s self-suspension (he vowed not to attend any Texas Tech games for the rest of the year) on the surface, seems noble, but not entirely honest either.

The resolution for Marcus Smart was a national apology, an ensuing character assassination and a three-game suspension handed down by the Big XII. And I have a serious problem with that.

While I understand a 3 game suspension—considering the slippery slope the Big Ten would find themselves in, if letting Smart off free—I don’t understand sports pontificators siding with Orr in the incident.

Driving home Sunday from the bay area, radio personalities Adam Schein and Chris Russo characterized Smart as an irrational teen with a serious bone to pick; Russo at one point referencing Smart as a ‘hot head.’

My issue is that the majority of sports TV and radio personalities are white. The majority of those calling the kid a ‘hot head,’ or wishing he’d ‘been the bigger man and walked away,’ have never experienced vehement racism. It’s easy to have demands of others when never having walked in their shoes.

But I won’t do the same.

Yes, I’m white, middle class, live in a predominately white suburbia, and have only a small handful of African-American friends. But that doesn’t make me ignorant either. I’m fully aware of racism’s insidious prevalence in today’s “progressive” America.

Smart has never been ejected in nearly two years, until Saturday. He’s never even received a technical foul. His coach Pat Ford, called Smart a young man with a “tremendous heart.” Smart himself — though (at some level, possibly) justified in his actions — apologetically asked the media, his fans and teammates for forgiveness. That doesn’t sound a whole lot like a hot headed thug. That sounds like a young man learning to live in his skin. Something I, and many of you reading this, will never have to confront.