By now, everybody’s heard about Marcus Smart shoving a Texas Tech fan and not only receiving a likely suspension but also seeing his draft stock fall. Smart is, without question, headed to the NBA.
For today, we’re going to keep it at the basic level: fan interference in sports. In my opinion, people are trying to make it out like fans can do anything, say anything they want. Apparently, there’s someone saying the fan used the “N-bomb” when Smart went into the stands. In my opinion, that’s not a justifiable reason for shoving the fan. However, it’s a justifiable reason to have the fan ejected from the arena and not be allowed to attend a game ever again. Except a fan sitting at that level probably pays a lot of money to sit there, donates money to the school (a.k.a., booster) and nothing will happen to them. It’s just another case of player … who has likely fallen into the stands dozens of times over their career … suddenly going berserk this one time.
Do you really think this guy, who has fallen at the edge of the court, suddenly went berserk this one time? I know, fans want to get the edge. But if you don’t think fans go over the top and earn their shoves, you’ve obviously never been in the stands with them. Smart deserves a lengthy suspension for the shove and the fan deserves widespread public ridicule if he ever made such an utterance.
