historybill wrote: I'm sure that the Auburn fans had been taunting him, but some players bring it on themselves.

We've had some star players over the years... in recent times being Byars, Foster, Ogilvie, Jenkins, Taylor, Festus.... I don't recall a single one of them ever acting like Henderson does now and like Cousins did at UK.

And I'm not implying that it's just our players who know how to behave. I've seen other players in the SEC be singled out and taunted... they knew how to act. Wayne Chism at UT got his share of jeers. I don't remember him acting like a fool. Big Baby Davis has taken some big time fouls; he just shakes it off.

Self control.

He did not do anything during THIS game that could be considered "bringing it on himself."  Not one time did he behave inappropriately.

I realize every fan and student body in the SEC has now seen him on TV and that he has become a "celebrity" of sorts and that their taunting was probably due in part to how they had seen him behave in previous games....and due to the fact that he has such a high profile now.

But there is such a thing as piling on.....and I seriously doubt any of the other players you mentioned ever experienced anything like the obscene behavior of the Auburn student section on Saturday.

I also wonder if there is a sort of "reverse racism" going on here--I mean, how often does a white kid ever excel in basketball in the SEC, any more?  Are some of these white kids taunting him jealous of him because of that and is that one of the motives behind the taunting?

I would have preferred that Marshall not have done what he did, but everybody is human and has a breaking point and I think that needs to be taken into account.  That's all.

Your attempted justification of this guy is laughable. 

Like a previous poster stated, if this was a MSU player you would be all over him. He is what he is, he is a punk.

Most student sections pick a player and they harrass him every game but for some reason this guy should be allowed and justified to act like a douche? Yea, ok......

I understand the point that you're trying to make, but it doesn't hold water.  I distinctly remember an incident far more egregious from the Tennessee fans toward Matt Walsh from Florida.  His girlfriend had done some sort of nude-photo (I don't remember what it was), but their whole student section had copies and would show it during his free-throw attempts.  He didn't react like that (and if he did, that is far more justifiable).  I think Vanderbilt fans even cheered all game long "Walsh you suck!" whenever he got the basketball in Memorial gym.  I don't remember Walsh acting like Henderson.

I also don't think it's racism.  Matt Freiji for Vanderbilt was white, and was the best player in the league that year.  A.J. Ogilvy was one of our better players, he was white, and wasn't treated poorly.  (I don't think that Henderson is the best player in the league this year, he's just a good scorer).  Perhaps someone comparable to Henderson in terms of their style of play would be Rotnei Clark.  He was white, and he never was "taunted" like Henderson nor acted like him.

on the race thing, I think one of the issues might be that Marshall is such a non-conformist, which generally does not go over well in white, Southern culture.  If you noticed who was taunting him in that film clip, it was a bunch of "clean-cut", preppy, conservative, frat boy types in polo shirts, every single one of whom was white....and I think it is Henderson's scruffiness and hip-hop-inspired, break-all-the-rules style, as much as anything, that drives their hostility.  They are all about conformity and he is, in a way, a threat to their entire code of behavior.  They might accept that behavior in a black guy who is not part of their social world to begin with, but seeing it in a white guy drives them crazy.

A lot of these frat boys listen to rap music, which, I think, reflects a sort of pent-up frustration with the conformist culture they inhabit and a fantasy about escaping it.....and when they see a guy like Henderson living out that fantasy, it could be that it just pushes all their buttons at once.

I don't want to go too far with this, but I do think these factors probably play into the phenomenon we are witnessing.

I doubt Marshall would create as much of a stir if he were playing in the Northeast as he has playing in the South.

NJReb wrote: on the race thing, I think one of the issues might be that Marshall is such a non-conformist, which generally does not go over well in white, Southern culture.  If you noticed who was taunting him in that film clip, it was a bunch of "clean-cut", preppy, conservative, frat boy types in polo shirts, every single one of whom was white....and I think it is Henderson's scruffiness and hip-hop-inspired, break-all-the-rules style, as much as anything, that drives their hostility.  They are all about conformity and he is, in a way, a threat to their entire code of behavior.  They might accept that behavior in a black guy who is not part of their social world to begin with, but seeing it in a white guy drives them crazy.

A lot of these frat boys listen to rap music, which, I think, reflects a sort of pent-up frustration with the conformist culture they inhabit and a fantasy about escaping it.....and when they see a guy like Henderson living out that fantasy, it could be that it just pushes all their buttons at once.

I don't want to go too far with this, but I do think these factors probably play into the phenomenon we are witnessing.

I doubt Marshall would create as much of a stir if he were playing in the Northeast as he has playing in the South.

I'm impressed with all of the stones you are lobbing from your glass house.  

We are not witnessing a phenomenon.  We are witnessing a jerk with a jumpshot - hardly unique in college basketball.  Still, his actions are not particularly harmful.  I found his Auburn act especially silly because he did not play very well, but I can't say I was offended.

NJReb wrote: ...They might accept that behavior in a black guy who is not part of their social world...

No, this is just bogus. It's weird enough that you would entertain this idea, but in any case, it's not true.

Do you even know your own guy? He was run from Utah, the tamest place on the planet. That was before his felony drug arrest. Facts are facts.
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--- NJReb wrote:

on the race thing, I think one of the issues might be that Marshall is such a non-conformist, which generally does not go over well in white, Southern culture.  If you noticed who was taunting him in that film clip, it was a bunch of "clean-cut", preppy, conservative, frat boy types in polo shirts, every single one of whom was white....and I think it is Henderson's scruffiness and hip-hop-inspired, break-all-the-rules style, as much as anything, that drives their hostility.  They are all about conformity and he is, in a way, a threat to their entire code of behavior.  They might accept that behavior in a black guy who is not part of their social world to begin with, but seeing it in a white guy drives them crazy.

A lot of these frat boys listen to rap music, which, I think, reflects a sort of pent-up frustration with the conformist culture they inhabit and a fantasy about escaping it.....and when they see a guy like Henderson living out that fantasy, it could be that it just pushes all their buttons at once.

I don't want to go too far with this, but I do think these factors probably play into the phenomenon we are witnessing.

I doubt Marshall would create as much of a stir if he were playing in the Northeast as he has playing in the South.

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NJReb wrote:  They are all about conformity and he is, in a way, a threat to their entire code of behavior. 

I bet your 9th grade English class hated you.

NJReb wrote: on the race thing, I think one of the issues might be that Marshall is such a non-conformist, which generally does not go over well in white, Southern culture.  If you noticed who was taunting him in that film clip, it was a bunch of "clean-cut", preppy, conservative, frat boy types in polo shirts, every single one of whom was white....and I think it is Henderson's scruffiness and hip-hop-inspired, break-all-the-rules style, as much as anything, that drives their hostility.  They are all about conformity and he is, in a way, a threat to their entire code of behavior.  They might accept that behavior in a black guy who is not part of their social world to begin with, but seeing it in a white guy drives them crazy.

A lot of these frat boys listen to rap music, which, I think, reflects a sort of pent-up frustration with the conformist culture they inhabit and a fantasy about escaping it.....and when they see a guy like Henderson living out that fantasy, it could be that it just pushes all their buttons at once.

I don't want to go too far with this, but I do think these factors probably play into the phenomenon we are witnessing.

I doubt Marshall would create as much of a stir if he were playing in the Northeast as he has playing in the South.

What is the heck are you talkin about? He acts like a thug, plain and simple. It's not everyone else's fault, it's his fault. He lacks self control. He will have bad things happen to him in life if he doesn't change. I thought for a minute I was reading something in the Black and Gold Coffee Shop.