The Tennessean, and several other sources, have reported that JaJuan Smith has been cited for violating the City of Knoxville’s noise ordinance early Sunday morning. Smith allegedly had his music turned up too loud and when asked to turn it down, he became “antagonistic”.
First off, this is really a non-story. So what if he got a ticket? Why did they leave out what color shirt he was wearing, what he had for breakfast this morning, or what color toothbrush he uses? Those questions are just as relevant in my opinion.
Secondly, they say he was antagonistic? Give me a break. Some of these city cops need to get over themselves. I know of a fan who received a similar noise ordinance citation on campus. This particular citation was given for excessive horn honking in traffic after a football game. You heard me correctly, excessive horn honking at a football game was a violation of the same noise ordinance. Based on that, you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t put much stock in noise ordinances.
Whatever the case may be, not too many good things are going to happen at 2am. Furthermore, it’s definitely not wise to be antagonistic to police. I am going to reserve judgment since I didn’t witness the event.
Coach Pearl has addressed the situation with JaJuan as well as with Josh Tabb and Stanley Asumnu, who were also there. There doesn’t seem to be anything else to the story aside from a $50 fine for the ticket.
What disturbs me the most is that I’ve heard Tennessee fans already comparing him to James Banks. Seriously? How long has JaJuan been on campus without getting into trouble? He will be a senior and as far as I’m concerned, he’s still without incident.