Marcus Smart Suspension: Was it enough?

 By line: Monti gets the opinion of other athletes

msn.foxsports.com

What Did You Say to Me?

espn.go.com

Marcus Smart gets T-ed Up.

collegesportsblog.dallasnews.com

Come on Ref, Did You Hear What He Called Me?

Mark Montisano's thoughts on Smart's Suspension

Stephen Montisano

Intro to Journalism

2/17/14

Marcus Smart Suspension: Was it enough?

            There is a lot of controversy over the Marcus Smart suspension of three games.  Is three games enough, is three games necessary, does this hurt his draft potential?  Should he have to apologize?  Should the fan who said the things to Marcus Smart to provoke him have to apologize and should he be banned from Texas Tech basketball games?  These thoughts and more are running through many sporting fan’s heads. 

            Anthony Ziccorelli, an outfielder for the Avila University baseball team said that, it probably will never be truthfully reported, what the fan said exactly, but because Marcus Smart is an athlete he is going to be held to a higher standard than the fan, even if what the fan said was nasty and hateful.  But, Anthony Ziccorelli says, there is no excuse to ever walk up into the stands and get in the face of a fan and lay hands on them.  This will hurt his draft potential, it will hurt his team because he’ll probably get suspended, he should have been ejected or kicked off of the team.  No matter what is said to a player by a fan, the athlete has to have enough self control to at least walk away.  Anthony says, I feel sorry for Marcus Smart because in the heat of the moment we all do stupid stuff that we should not do, but at the same time, I do not feel sorry for him because he is responsible for his own actions and has already thrown temper tantrums on the court this year.  You cannot be a hot head like that and lose control and common sense like that.  Marcus Smart hurt his team. 

            Mark Montisano another colligate athlete says that his jaw dropped when he saw it happen live on camera.  “I was in total shock, when I saw it happen.  He cannot lose control like that and touch a fan; no matter what was said.”  Mark Montisano is a supporter of the three game suspension because he said if athletes are allowed to push the envelope and not held to a standard of rules and code of conduct without bluffing of things like suspensions and school’s/coach’s power to kick a player off of a team, then they will push the envelope further and further and then there will be trouble all the time.  Mark Montisano says that it is better for Marcus to learn this now, before he goes to the NBA for the fact that fans there will haggle players even more harshly than the college fans do.  “If you want to be a pro athlete you have to be able to handle trash talk from the opposing players and fans.  Fans say horrible and dumb things to professional athletes at sporting event that they participate in.  If he cannot take the heat, then get out of the kitchen.”   

            In conclusion, the general consensus of athletes asked about the suspension based on the actions of Marcus Smart is that it was well deserved.  They also agree that the fan should have some kind of punishment or suspension as well from being allowed to come to home games at Texas Tech.  These athletes made it clear that being an athlete comes with a responsibility to behave oneself because there is always someone watching.