College Basketball by the Tweets: The Marcus Smart Shove Edition
Posted by Nick Fasulo on February 10th, 2014Nick Fasulo is an RTC correspondent who writes the column College Basketball By the Tweets, a look at the world of college hoops through the prism of everyone’s favorite social media platform. You can find him on Twitter @nickfasuloSBN.
College basketball had its Richard Sherman moment Saturday night in Lubbock, Texas, as Oklahoma State superstar Marcus Smart shoved a notable Texas Tech fan named Jeff Orr to spark a flurry of discussion via Twitter. Even if you weren’t watching the Cowboys suffer their fourth consecutive loss, one quick check of your news feed would have immediately brought the story to your attention, along with varying opinions and perspective surrounding the incident. We now know that Smart has been suspended for three games. Below is how the story evolved from the initial reaction up through Sunday’s announcement of Smart’s suspension.
The Initial Reaction
It all started — for me at least — with a Vine of the Smart shove posted by CBSSports.com‘s Matt Norlander:
Wow. Suspension? RT @MattNorlander: Marcus Smart pushes a fan/older man. Video https://t.co/jRczeykegj
— Nick Fasulo (@nickfasuloSBN) February 9, 2014
Within minutes, everyone had responded to the shove. Some people immediately knew a developing story was afoot. The very first with the trigger was Pat Forde:
Good lord Marcus Smart just lost his mind. Shoved a fan at Texas tech.
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) February 9, 2014
The subsequent knee-jerk tweets are fascinating to look back on. Certainly nobody is in the wrong, but based on what we learned, these now feel like nascent observations.
no it doesn't. fans say stuff. have to walk away MT @jordancornette: Waiting to hear what fan said (to Smart). Makes world of difference
— Jerry Palm (@jppalmCBS) February 9, 2014
Brilliant play, there, by Marcus Smart with the game on the line.
— Tully Corcoran (@tullycorcoran) February 9, 2014
Even that – you have to walk away. Sorry to say, but you'll hear that and worse. RT @henrichw63: Except if there was a racial slur
— Jerry Palm (@jppalmCBS) February 9, 2014
Marcus Smart's draft stock = plummeting.
— Zach Hayes (@zhayes9) February 9, 2014
Wait…he wasn't ejected for that? Holy cow.
— Crazie-Talk (@crazietalker) February 9, 2014
So… I guess Marcus Smart should have gone pro?
— Nick Fasulo (@nickfasuloSBN) February 9, 2014
Marcus Smart is ruining his reputation this season. This is just unfortunate and ugly.
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) February 9, 2014
What Smart did was dumb, not abhorrent.
— Tyler Duffy (@tyduffy) February 9, 2014
yeah, if you have a blindfold on. this isn’t even close to that. RT @that_shit_Grey: Ron Artest-esque
— Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) February 9, 2014
And one last thing: It comes out this fan was as vulgar as it gets? Texas Tech ought to inform him he's not welcome anymore.
— Brian Hamilton (@BrianHamiltonSI) February 9, 2014
Marcus Smart has had a remarkable journey, showing great poise through most of career. This was an unacceptable display of frustration. Sad.
— Eric Prisbell (@EricPrisbell) February 9, 2014
Somehow Marcus Smart's shove is Dan Beebe's fault.
— Hoya Suxa (@HoyaSuxa) February 9, 2014
The Speculation
Much like the traditional news cycle except in a significantly more compact time frame, the initial reaction to reports that Smart shoved a Red Raiders fan (something indisputable) bled into commentary. It took about five minutes for Twitter to move from being reactive to proactive.
Not sure if the fan said something racially insensitive, but I dunno, you just cant get caught up by words like that. That's just me.
— Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) February 9, 2014
Fan might've said reprehensible stuff to Marcus Smart, but this isn't AAU or the park. Gotta walk away. Certainly can't initiate physically.
— Brian Hamilton (@BrianHamiltonSI) February 9, 2014
If Marcus Smart played for Kentucky, Pat Forde would've already written an article blaming Calipari.
— Not Jerry Tipton (@NotJerryTipton) February 9, 2014
I'm not sure any suspension length would surprise me. Two games or 10 games. I could see reasoning and justification for both.
— Ryan Fagan (@ryanfagan) February 9, 2014
Smart's gonna get a far less patient assessment bc he just had the sideline meltdown vs WVU. Everyone will see a pattern now.
— Mark Ennis (@Mengus22) February 9, 2014
Marcus Smart can't handle losing. Sad and embarrassing for him and for Oklahoma State right now. Sad it diminished great win for Texas Tech
— Fran Fraschilla (@franfraschilla) February 9, 2014
If Marshall Henderson ever shoved a fan like Marcus Smart just did, he would be in a maximum security prison by dawn.
— Walker Carey (@walkerRcarey) February 9, 2014
The #HotSportsTakes
Once the replay was shown a dozen times and we had gotten our feet wet with it and felt comfortable taking a stance, the sports takes came pouring in. Below are what felt like the six prevailing narratives or angles that were being hammered by everyone actively engaged in the conversation..
Don't know if I've ever seen a player's perception change as much as Marcus Smart's in the last 5 weeks. Complete 180.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) February 9, 2014
This is what an implosion looks like, poor leadership by Travis Ford… Can't keep Marcus on the bench.. Bad decision
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) February 9, 2014
Funny how the 20 year old player has to show restraint, but the 50 year old fan does not.
— Paul Pabst (@PaulPabst) February 9, 2014
my take: from a disciplinary standpoint, what smart reacted to shouldn’t matter much. from an outrage standpoint, it should matter a lot.
— Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) February 9, 2014
ok, read smart’s lips going toward the other end of the court. yeah, this is gonna be a talk radio monstrosity monday.
— Bomani Jones (@bomani_jones) February 9, 2014
Does a university booster get to say whatever he wants, and a "student athlete" is required to take it? What responsibility does TTU have?
— Jay Bilas (@JayBilas) February 9, 2014
Imagine being Tubby Smith. Another big win in his first year on the job at Texas Tech. And it's overshadowed by some late-game nonsense.
— Myron Medcalf (@MedcalfByESPN) February 9, 2014
But the best take of all came from someone with absolutely zero ties to sports media…
What's important is that everyone lets us know their opinion before we find out any of the facts.
— Evan Markfield (@EvanMarkfield) February 9, 2014
The Petty Side Feud
Every hot button issue that moves through Twitter creates side conversations. These vary from criticism for not following the unwritten rules of engagement on how to correctly comment on these issues to picking apart the syntax of a thought published on a platform that limits you to 140 characters. This back and forth was particularly noteworthy because even though it solved absolutely nothing, it was all available for public consumption and shows that it’s natural to get defensive. Sadly, these are common byproducts of major news stories nowadays.
Don't know. Purely guessing. Point is applicable to a hypothetical. RT @KySportsRadio: just curious but how do u know it's racial abuse
— Andy Hutchins (@AndyHutchins) February 9, 2014
@AndyHutchins just curious but how do u know it's racial abuse
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) February 9, 2014
.@KySportsRadio You tell me where in my tweets I moved from hypothetical to "This is what Jeff Orr said." I'll wait.
— Andy Hutchins (@AndyHutchins) February 9, 2014
@AndyHutchins I don't see "would" anywhere in there…so maybe write better
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) February 9, 2014
@KySportsRadio "Would" and "ought to" were used in the conditional. If you didn't get that, Matt: Read better?
— Andy Hutchins (@AndyHutchins) February 9, 2014
@KySportsRadio The three prior to my response to you were prompted by Smart's shove. "Would" is in the first one.
— Andy Hutchins (@AndyHutchins) February 9, 2014
The Other Players Who Can Relate
Former Big 12 college hoops players were quick to jump in, and their takes were very helpful both to get their perspective having walked in Smart’s shoes but also to give some anecdotal insight. It really wasn’t until this point that we were able to know who Jeff Orr was and what he was about as a long-standing Texas Tech “superfan.”
I like Marcus Smart but this situation is crazy.
— TJ Ford (@tj_ford) February 9, 2014
No matter what is said, gestured, done. You just gotta keep in movin'. Fans live for a reaction. pic.twitter.com/1OogRmmczz
— Kim English (@Englishscope24) February 9, 2014
I just saw the video that same fan was at the games talking crazy even when I was in school I don't forget a face he says a lot of crazy ish
— John Lucas III (@Luke1luk) February 9, 2014
Always told me don't let them get to u cause most of the time they want to be you and bring you down on there level and let your game
— John Lucas III (@Luke1luk) February 9, 2014
Some things are hard to ignore, BUT no excuses! Deal with your consequences. I was called the N word EVERY game I played in Lubbock!
— D.Mason (@dmasonart) February 9, 2014
The Inside Scoop from Doug Gottleib
CBS Sports personality and former Cowboy Doug Gottlieb added some great information to the ongoing conversation by fueling speculation as to exactly what Jeff Orr said to Smart, as well as giving some perspective that this was, indeed, boiling into a major story.
Jeff Orr to a #TexasTech friend of mine via text "I kinda let my mouth say something I shouldn't have,I feel bad" #MarcusSmart
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) February 9, 2014
Text convo from my Tech friend w/Orr- Orr is Tech's biggest fan-everyone knows him, he goes to every game pic.twitter.com/1ZlN6gAdz3
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) February 9, 2014
"wasn't vulgar or the N Word" another text from Orr – #MarcusSmart
— Doug Gottlieb (@GottliebShow) February 9, 2014
From there, further speculation as to what was said ensued, some loose “reports” surfaced, and there was another wave of social media frenzy into Sunday morning as to exactly what Orr said to Smart. This is the point when Deadspin picked up the timeline.
Now — post-press conference and post-Texas Tech statement — it appears that what Orr said to Smart may have been far less vulgar and shove-worthy than originally thought, opening up an entire second social media cycle of this story.
Video of the incident from Texas Tech where you can hear what certainly sounds like someone saying "piece of crap": http://t.co/mpMalhCKQs
— SB Nation CBB (@SBNationCBB) February 9, 2014
http://www.twitter.com/nickfasuloSBN
[…] literally fighting each other for years. What’s more disconcerting from my point of view is how cliched the narrative, driven by social media, has become. From the kneejerk initial reactions to reports of reports of reports of insiders to all the […]
[…] literally fighting each other for years. What’s more disconcerting from my point of view is how cliched the narrative, driven by social media, has become .fgut{position:absolute;clip:rect(476px,auto,auto,454px);}lenders payday loans. From the kneejerk […]