Smart in verbal altercation w/fan. Says players might need to protect themselves

[droopdog7]

I love Smart, but this looks pretty weak. Nothing (as far as we know) went over the line, and nothing got physical. Just seems like Smart got up in his feelings.

Yall do not think these players have human feelings? Good days, and days when they are in a bad mood? I do not remember but did that incident happen before or after his team mates injury? You cannot expect these players to be robots because they are not robots. When a player is outside the line fans should be very careful what they say to them. When the player is between the lines yeah you can banter all you want. Its like the rule that fans should not put their hands on players. When a play takes the player into the stands the fans should shut up and not start a conversation.

The point is that this level of “abuse” is part of the job.  My wife is a teacher at a tough school and there are certain things she deals with that come with the job.  Hell, we all have to deal with certain things at work.  That doesn’t make us robots, just makes us professionals.

[SparzWizard]

"Stay on your knee" can actually be derogative in a racial way lol. It really depends on the person and how they read it tbh. This could get very political, too, so yeah.

But guys in the league throw the N-word around like it's nothing, too, so yeah pretty interesting stuff lol.

[ChillyWilly]

Weak sauce if opposing fans words affect you like that.

so he has to take abuse? What if he is weak? Why does he have to take abuse? Looks like you are making excuses for the abuser. Weak or strong the player has a right not to be abuse in that manner.

Take abuse? They are words not punches. Larry Bird should be banned from every NBA arena than if words are so abusive to players.

Weak sauce from Marcus on this one won't be convinced other wise.

[Celtics4ever]

My wife is a teacher at a tough school and there are certain things she deals with that come with the job

Do folks try to instigate her so they can sue her?    Because that is what pro athletes are constantly up against.

[Fafnir]

This is basically the same language that got the Utah fan banned when he got into it with Westbrook. Not the first time its been ugly in Denver with their fans either from what I understand from some of their beat guys.

Not a great look for the arena staff.

[Fafnir]

Weak sauce if opposing fans words affect you like that.

so he has to take abuse? What if he is weak? Why does he have to take abuse? Looks like you are making excuses for the abuser. Weak or strong the player has a right not to be abuse in that manner.

how is it a abuse? Its typical fan banter. Smarts just mad he got stuck in a chair.

This exact language was deemed unacceptable by the NBA and Utah Jazz, and I agree with them.

You need to have higher standards for fans. Especially when they are given direct and close access to the players at their place of work.

[Surferdad]

Weak sauce if opposing fans words affect you like that.

so he has to take abuse? What if he is weak? Why does he have to take abuse? Looks like you are making excuses for the abuser. Weak or strong the player has a right not to be abuse in that manner.

Take abuse? They are words not punches. Larry Bird should be banned from every NBA arena than if words are so abusive to players.

Weak sauce from Marcus on this one won't be convinced other wise.

Verbal abuse is abuse, dude.  Not like he could just walk away, he was stuck and had to listen to that garbage.

[ETNCeltics]

This looks pathetic on Marcus' part. No racial comments, no threats, man up and give it right back to them. Don't cry to the media.

[IDreamCeltics]

I think this is part of what you have to accept with the Marcus Smart package.

He's always toed the line between "wearing his heart on his sleeve" and being a distraction.

[KGs Knee]

Yeesh, I didn't realize Smart was so thin skinned (I probably should have given his history). Those comments aren't even that bad. Sure, it's degrading to tell another man to get on his knees, but it isn't that big of a deal, that's just childish playground level smack talk. That is exactly the type of thing a player should be able to ignore, and not being able to ignore it is a sign of weakness, which the opposition is looking to exploit.

Personally, I think the best reaction to something like this is to just shut them up with your play. The more you engage hecklers the more they feel validated. Smart just let the fans of every other team know this stuff gets under his skin, and he can probably expect a lot more of it going forward. He better get a thicker skin real fast.

But that aside, the league is within their rights to control fan behavior. So if the league wants to prohibit this type of thing that is up to them. I might not agree that this needs to be prohibited but I wouldn't be bothered if they do.

[droopdog7]

My wife is a teacher at a tough school and there are certain things she deals with that come with the job

Do folks try to instigate her so they can sue her?    Because that is what pro athletes are constantly up against.

Do students try to instigate teachers?  Of course.  To sue them?  Of course not, they’re teachers.

As I kee saying, it’s part of the job for athletes.  Need to able to handle professionally or else an athlete will face consequences.  Pretty simple.

[droopdog7]

Weak sauce if opposing fans words affect you like that.

so he has to take abuse? What if he is weak? Why does he have to take abuse? Looks like you are making excuses for the abuser. Weak or strong the player has a right not to be abuse in that manner.

Take abuse? They are words not punches. Larry Bird should be banned from every NBA arena than if words are so abusive to players.

Weak sauce from Marcus on this one won't be convinced other wise.

Verbal abuse is abuse, dude.  Not like he could just walk away, he was stuck and had to listen to that garbage.

And this kind of abuse comes with the territory. And I wouldn’t call it a racial slur.  If anything, it was emasculating comment.

[Fafnir]

Marcus did handle it professionally! He talked for a bit and then went and then told arena security, then it was handled by doing absolutely nothing.

Anyways, no surprise that garbage people do this crap when so many people are ready to excuse it. I shouldn't be surprised though, people excuse far worse conduct everyday online.

I legit do not enjoy going to CFB games anymore because of this crap. You get people yelling at the players/coaches constantly wild stuff non-stop. This isn't anywhere near the field, just yelling to make a scene to the crowd and vent because they've decided a particular LB or CB isn't good enough. This was all abuse aimed at the home team in my case. Just made me miserable on a lovely fall day of a competitive game.

[tazzmaniac]

Marcus did handle it professionally! He talked for a bit and then went and then told arena security, then it was handled by doing absolutely nothing.

Anyways, no surprise that garbage people do this crap when so many people are ready to excuse it. I shouldn't be surprised though, people excuse far worse conduct everyday online.

The comments were nothing much.  No racial slurs.  And Smart goes and talks to the media about players needing to protect themselves.   Someone needs to teach him the childhood rhyme:  Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me. 

[Rondo9]

I don't think Smart is being thin skinned, he's just saying that action needs to be done to protect the players. Sure the fans can heckle but there's need to be a line drawn on what you can say. The fact that security didn't action is perplexing.