The butt slap: harmless thing guys in sports do or illegal touching of a person

[nickagneta]

Last night, in the Cavs- Grizzlies game, after Tristan Thompson and Jae Crowder had gotten into it earlier in the game and had received double technicals, Thompson was on the line to take a free throw and Crowder walked in front of him. Thompson slapped him on the backside, but the ref saw this as a problem and T'ed Thompson up and tossed him from the game because of receiving two technicals.

Thompson claims he and Jae have history being teammates in Cleveland and was just giving him a friendly tap, like sports guys do.

Meanwhile, earlier in the week, after LSU had won the national title, security were in the locker room when Odell Beckham, Jr. gave a butt slap to a cop. He said he was doing it playfully as a joke because the security guy/cop was being a dink trying to enforce a no smoking indoors Louisiana law because the players were lighting up victory cigars after winning a national championship. Another security guy/cop told the players not to worry about it, it was okay...considering they just won a title. The dink cop said he wanted to get violent with OBJ for the slap, reported him to NOPD and an arrest warrant was issue. NOPD went so far as to ask for the charge of sexual assault, but that was not allowed by a judge.

In Wednesday's game against the Pistons, it was Celtics ball in on the sidelines when people with Donnie Walhberg spilled a drink, delaying the game while the spill was cleaned. Upon it being cleaned, the guy cleaning it passed by Jaylen Brown, who gave him a butt slap. No controversy or anything else regarding this happened.

I played football and baseball in high school and some baseball in college. The butt slap was always nothing more than a sign of encouragement or respect for your play on the field. But never was it taken out of the game and never was it done to a member of the opposite sex. It was just a teammate thing. I got one from a coach in football after an interception I made, but never thought anything of it. No big deal. He was just telling me "Good job!"

But that was the 80's and the butt slap seems to have migrated out of sports and into society more. And in modern society, you need to respect another person's space and not touch people without their consent.

Three instances above of the butt slap. One in a game amongst friends that a ref viewed in a bad light because, perhaps, that ref believes in today's laws and society that any contact is unwanted and unapproved contact. Another out of game that OBJ said was a joke because they guy was being a jerk...kinda telling the guy to lighten up. Another that happened in clear view of thousands in the stands and maybe hundreds of thousands on television where the guy that got butt slapped took Jaylen's act as a congrats on a job well done.

So, my question is, in today's world and society, should sports do everything they can to kill the culture of the butt slap because outside of sports(and given what happened to Thompson, sometimes in sports) a butt slap can be looked at as an assault, even possibly a sexual act/assault? Or should athletes learn to just do the butt slap to teammates only who perceive the move as a sign that the other player is encouraging them or telling them they made a good play?

Or should society and certain people just chill and learn to understand where the move is coming from?

Thoughts?

[jambr380]

Society should lighten up. This is exactly the kind of thing that right is talking about when they talk about political correctness gone awry (I won't go into the hypocrisy on certain other issues).

You clearly laid out your facts/argument well - and I think you believe the same - but this whole idea is ridiculous. Unless it is something egregious like teammates constantly slapping the butt of a known gay teammate for intimidation or ridicule, this really needs to go away. It is harmless if there's not malicious intent.

[Moranis]

The problem in both of those instances it was not a teammate.  In one case it was an opponent (and it wasn't done in a situation that would clearly call for a congratulatory butt slap and Crowder reacted poorly to it) and in the other a person was mad a cop and slapped him on the butt.  No one gets upset if teammates go around butt slapping each other, chest bumping, or the thousands of other ways teammates interact, but that just wasn't the case in these 2 situations.

[moiso]

Like tons of other things in these hyper sensitive and politically correct times, a small minority of people will act offended and butt slapping will be outlawed.  I don’t agree with a lot of it but that’s the way things have been going.

[Roy H.]

To me, it’s always been pretty harmless. I got it from teammates, but also from opponents in the handshake line after games.

I do think it’s different if opposite genders are involved, if it’s done in a hostile or patronizing way or if somebody makes it known it’s unwanted.

[wiley]

Butt slaps are like handshakes...there's good ones and bad ones.  And good intended ones and bad intended ones (mostly good).  So I think it's case by case.

[CelticsElite]

Unwanted touching / sexual assault
Most people who are ok with it have sentimental bias from memories of them playing a sport in junior high so they are ok with this unwanted touching



I bet some of you wouldn’t be OK with it if you found out your coach slapping you was a case like jerry Sandusky

[Ogaju]

Its all contextual....political correctness run amok is the correct term.

Why did Crowder take offense?

[dannyboy35]

 I’m not homophobic in any way but I’ve never done this in all my years and always thought it was very strange. I’m not calling others weird but the act is sooo weird to me. I just accept that it’s not a big deal and I just don’t get it.

[Neurotic Guy]

Like tons of other things in these hyper sensitive and politically correct times, a small minority of people will act offended and butt slapping will be outlawed.  I don’t agree with a lot of it but that’s the way things have been going.

Yes. We are just so limited in what we can do these days. I was in the grocery store just now and wanted to butt slap the cashier for being so efficient  but I couldn’t — those PC people - we can’t do anything anymore.   

It’s all contextual. Sometimes it’s fine and other times it isn’t.  Back in the day you could butt GRAB  (never mind butt slap) women in the workplace with impunity. Now you can’t. So PC... right? or just wrong???

Yes, sensitivities do go to extremes sometimes, but the biggest exaggeration in our society today is about all the things you can’t do anymore.  I don’t think a friendly pat amongst teammates is a big deal and I think the truth is that it is rarely made into a big deal.

BTW... what if Thompson’s butt tap was a head tap - would that have been OK?   I think we are quick to jump the PC gun when it may simply have been the refs interpretation that the contact wasn’t friendly, but provocative — which in today’s NBA is worthy of a T. 

[Sophomore]

I never had another guy slap my butt when I played, and I wouldn’t have wanted it. I think once or twice a coach did, and I thought - wow, what a weird old dude. That was the 1980s and 90s.

I hope people don’t cram these stories into some simple political story. Does anybody think the cop got angry because he was a lib trying to enforce PC? Sounds more like he was trying to do what a lot of cops do - project authority and control - and didn’t like a player slapping his ass.

People have a view about where they want to be touched. Step over it and they get angry. Maybe there’s a sports culture in a lot of places that says grab-assing is all in good fun. Okay. I don’t like that, maybe other guys do. But it’s not “pc” to want a say. In some countries, men who meet kiss each other on the cheek or hold hands while they talk. Do you want your teammates doing that at practice? Does that make you “pc”?

[jambr380]

Some people seem to be taking this beyond the context it is meant to be. Even though he brought up more gray area examples, I believe nick simply means a friendly tap after a good play. I mean, it was never my thing, but those who do this don't mean for it to be sexual. It's not like we are talking about grabbing people's crotches or trying to stick your finger somewhere you shouldn't. We also aren't talking about this outside of the context of sports and in-game physical competition in sports.

Its all contextual....political correctness run amok is the correct term.

Why did Crowder take offense?

Was this directed at my 1st comment? I just worded the 'term' differently - it's okay to do that.

[Ogaju]

my bad ..I thought you were word searching. Too bad there is no butt tapping emoji .... wonder if it would get a lot of use?

[Ogaju]

The thing about the butt tap is it cant be easily reciprocated like the fist bump high five or chest bump. It will be quite awkward for players but tapped to turn around and reciprocate ....lol

[gouki88]

For me, harmless. But I feel like it’s a thing only people close to one another do.

And if anyone is made uncomfortable by it they obviously have the right to not have it done to them.

Those cases are a bit different, like the OBJ one. He was doing it to someone pretty annoyed already (guy seemed like the biggest buzz kill alive), so it likely pushed him over the edge.