This
past week my alma mater, Oklahoma State University, made headlines for
something negative that happened. The
Cowboy men’s basketball team was supposed to be a top ten team and they have
fallen into a terrible skid, losing several games in a row, some of those to
much worse teams. This past Saturday the
same thing was happening in Lubbock, Texas where the Cowboys were about to lose
to the Texas Tech Red Raiders, a team the Cowboys should be able to beat by 15. With a few seconds left, Oklahoma State’s star
player, 19-year-old Marcus Smart, tried to block a shot and ended up falling
into the crowd. As he was getting up, a so called “Red Raider Super Fan” who is about fifty years old or so,
said something to Marcus Smart. Whatever
he said made Smart so angry that Smart pushed the fan. As Smart was being pulled away it appears
that he is saying, “Call me a n----r again and see what happens!” Smart immediately told the refs and his own
coaches and fellow players that the man had called him a n---r. Smart was given a technical foul, the Cowboys
lost, and the incident has now been the lead story on Sportscenter for three
days.
Some have
called for Marcus Smart to be kicked off the team and say he has marred the
reputation of Oklahoma State. People
have talked about how he has disgraced the university that is giving him a free
education. Free? Since when is working fulltime year round,
bringing in millions of dollars of income for an institution, and then receiving
something in return for that called free?
He just doesn’t get paid in checks, but in his tuition, room, and board
being waived. That’s called work; that’s
called a job; that’s called payment for services rendered. Marcus Smart isn’t getting anything for free,
and I do not believe that he has disgraced my alma mater.
Marcus
Smart still claims that the fan called him a n----r, but the fan says that he
didn’t use a racial slur but did call Marcus Smart “a piece of crap” as he was
getting up. The fan has voluntarily
agreed not to attend any more Texas Tech basketball games this season, which is
a big deal for him because he is not your average fan; he’s a “super fan.” The Big 12 conference suspended Smart, but
his first game back will be against Texas Tech on Oklahoma State’s home
court. Hopefully the Cowboys fans won’t
take out their frustrations on the Texas Tech players when they come to
Stillwater, Oklahoma. The players didn’t
have anything to do with it. Smart has
apologized and a national conversation has begun about how college athletes are
treated. I want to participate in that
conversation.
First of
all, Marcus Smart had to be held accountable for pushing the fan; that cannot
be allowed no matter what the guy said.
With that being said, I don’t blame Marcus Smart for pushing the
guy. Actually, I think the guy is lucky
he didn’t get his nose broken. Marcus
Smart is a 19-year-old world-class athlete.
He is under an extreme amount of pressure. His team is losing and he isn’t playing very
well. Then some jerk calls him either a
n----r or a piece of crap. I can tell
you without hesitating that when I was 19- years-old I would have punched the
guy in the face, probably more than once, and I would have ended up in
jail. What would happen if that same guy
walked into anywhere else and called a strong 19-year-old young man a piece of
crap? That guy would be lucky if he
survived the beating he’d get from a lot of young men. When I was about that age I was kicked out of
an intramural basketball game for throwing the basketball at a guy who kept
fouling me and the ref never called it.
Over time I have matured, growing emotionally and spiritually to a point
where anger like that is not an issue for me anymore, but when I was 19 it was
a big issue. I don’t think Marcus Smart
is a bad person or a thug or a disgrace or anything else he is being
called. I think he is a young man who
got justifiably angry and made a mistake, but an understandable mistake at
that. He’s owned up to it; he’s taking
his punishment; hopefully he’ll learn from it.
You and I are just lucky that our mistakes aren’t played out on
television in front of millions of people.
Now,
however, I want to address the fan. The
fan is not a 19-year-old young man under tremendous stress. The fan is a fifty-ish guy who has been
caught on video flipping off opposing players and who brags about traveling to
31 different states to watch the Texas Tech basketball team play. The former coach at Texas Tech says that the
fan would wait for hours after games just to talk to the coach and players. Plus, this fifty year old man either called
Marcus Smart a n----r or a piece of crap as the young man was getting up from
trying to make a hustle play. This guy did
not make an understandable and isolated youthful mistake. This seems to be a lifestyle and this man
should know better. To me, it shows us
something that I have thought about quite a bit in the last few years: how
ridiculous it is that grown people invest so much of their life, identity, money,
and self-worth in young people playing a sport.
This, in my opinion, is terribly sad and I want to say to a lot of
folks, “Get a life.”
I have
always disliked what cultured despisers of athletics say about sports. “It’s so barbaric,” they say. “It’s such a waste of time.” I understand why they feel that way but as
someone who has played sports and enjoys watching them I disagree with
them. However, I do think that grown
people thinking it’s okay to call anyone, let alone a young man who is trying
hard and who is someone’s son, a piece of crap or a loser or whatever, says way
more about the fan than it does the player. As Jesus says, "What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles." If non-Christians act this way there is only so much we can do about it,
but Christians cannot act the way many fans do. We are supposed to be the salt of the earth, the light of the world.
First of
all, I do not believe we should feel good about spending large amounts of money
to follow a team of 19-year-olds around the country (unless maybe one of them
is your kid). It is obscene the amount
of money we spend on sports. Everyday
30,000 children around the world die of preventable causes but we spend our
money on being fans? How many Christians
spend more money on tickets and merchandise to support young people playing a
game than they give to charity, than they give to the ministry and mission of
their local church? I’d guess quite a
few. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is
there your heart will be also.” Our
hearts follow our money. Where’s your
heart? With those in need? With the church? In the basketball arena or football stadium?
Secondly,
grown people think they can say whatever they want to players or about them
just because the fans paid money to be there.
That’s ludicrous. James writes, “No one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full
of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it
we curse those who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers
and sisters,
this ought not to be so.”
Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times,
‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a
brother or sister,
you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult
a brother or sister,
you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you
will be liable to the hell
of fire.” Next time you
watch a ballgame or attend one check your tongue. If you are a Christian, you have to remember
that every player on that court or field, every coach, every referee, and every
other fan is a person made in the image of God for whom Christ died on the
cross and whom God has commanded you to love as you love yourself.
Third, there are times when I wonder what must be missing in the lives of these so-called “super fans,” not just the guy at Texas Tech, but the crazies at Ohio State, Notre Dame, North Carolina, and yes at my own Oklahoma State and elsewhere. Why is it that grown people are willing to act like complete buffoons and sometimes even treat other people horribly because they are so invested in a game being played by 18 to 22 year olds? I have often thought about how these folks seem to lack perspective. There was a time in my life when I acted like that: when I was 18 to 22. Then I grew up. As Paul writes, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.” Please enjoy the sports but come on, folks, gain some perspective. When all is said and done whether you were a Cowboy, Buckeye, Sooner, or Wolverine won’t make a lick of difference. That will die when you die. What will live on are your faith and your love. But I do believe that we will have to answer for the way we have treated other people, 19-year-old basketball players included.
Third, there are times when I wonder what must be missing in the lives of these so-called “super fans,” not just the guy at Texas Tech, but the crazies at Ohio State, Notre Dame, North Carolina, and yes at my own Oklahoma State and elsewhere. Why is it that grown people are willing to act like complete buffoons and sometimes even treat other people horribly because they are so invested in a game being played by 18 to 22 year olds? I have often thought about how these folks seem to lack perspective. There was a time in my life when I acted like that: when I was 18 to 22. Then I grew up. As Paul writes, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.” Please enjoy the sports but come on, folks, gain some perspective. When all is said and done whether you were a Cowboy, Buckeye, Sooner, or Wolverine won’t make a lick of difference. That will die when you die. What will live on are your faith and your love. But I do believe that we will have to answer for the way we have treated other people, 19-year-old basketball players included.
Maybe when
you were nineteen you were the kind of person (like I was) who would have given
that fan a black eye and a broken nose.
Maybe not. Maybe you were the
kind of person (maybe you still are) who would call a young man a piece of crap
or a n----r. Hopefully not. Remember what you were like when you were 19
and don’t act like that anymore. Chances
are if you are reading this post you are an adult. Act like an adult. Give up childish ways. Also, chances are if you are reading this
post you are a Christian. Act like a
Christian. Treat people with the grace
and peace offered to you by God through Jesus Christ no matter where you are or who they are. If you are a fan, be a fan who acts like a
Christian adult. And if you are a so
called “super fan," I am here to tell you that there are other areas of
life that need your attention. If you feel the need to be a fanatic about something, be a fanatic for wiping out preventable childhood diseases, be a fanatic for visiting lonely senior citizens, be a fanatic for eradicating the sex trade, be a fanatic for loving your children and spouse. As Jesus said, "Seek first God's kingdom and righteousness," or in my words, "Please, gain some perspective."
Grace and
Peace… and Ride ‘Em Cowboys!
Pastor
Everett
