On February 8th, Oklahoma state basketball player Marcus Smart crossed a line that athletes should know better than to cross. You should never assault a fan, no matter what is said or what team they are on. There was no public reaction. Not during the game, or after. He will only be suspended for three games. People do believe that Smart should have missed at least half of their games and they think “he got off easy”.  The public think that he needs a more crucial punishment, and the behavior will only get worse.

With Smart not being on the court, Oklahoma State fans are afraid that they will extend their losing streak to seven. If this does happen,  a team that began the year in the top ten would be 4-9 in the Big 12. They would need to mount a furious rally in the rest of the regular season and the conference tourney to reach the NCAA tournament. Having Smart for the Big 12 Tournament is the bottom line. That is a place where Oklahoma State’s season will be salvaged or lost for good. The coach, Travis Ford, agrees that his actions were uncalled for, but only a small punishment will be necessary.

The OSU radio broadcast team reported Saturday night this it overheard Smart tell the cowboys coaching staff “he was called the N-word.”  In a statement Sunday, Orr refuted that, saying he called Smart “a piece of crap.” This is agreed that neither is acceptable communication from an adult to an athlete. Orr said he will “voluntarily” attend no more Texas Tech games this season.

Oklahoma State agrees that if we want to eradicate such hateful speech from athletic venues, we will step up and call it out. They will identify the “churls” who need to be tossed out of the arenas. The comments received from Oklahoma State fans on this issue does not help the situation and it will not help clear Smart’s name.

The public fans hope that Smart’s first game back he will return a wiser young man and that he can make better decisions and learn to control his temper better than he had. Hopefully he can also learn that there is no excuse to act how he had. It is agreed by all fans that it got out of control and there is no need for physical involvement. The public asks he control his temper, if not they know that there could be bigger consequences then the consequence that he already got, this could mean maybe losing one of their best players. As they wait to see how things play out, who believe that for a guy whose biggest historic impact on college basketball will probably be going after a fan, this will maybe feel like a “premature return.”

Smart did apologize for his actions on February 8^th and he agreed to work on controlling his temper.