Enough Allready!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Enough Allready!
I thought I’d seen it all when I saw hockey player Marty McSorley slash an opponent on the neck with his stick. I hadn’t. I thought I’d seen enough when I saw basketball’s Jermaine O'Neal go into the stands and attack a fan. I hadn’t. I thought I’d seen it all when I saw Phoenix Suns baller, Raja Bell, slam Kobe Bryant to the ground by the neck. I hadn’t. Now, in the name of sports, I hope and plead that I’ve seen enough after watching the 5-minute brawl between players on the University of Miami and Florida International football teams.As a hockey fan, I’ve seen some pretty creative attacks, but never in my life had I even imagined seeing a football player attack another player with his helmet. That is, until my innocent vision of sports was blurred when I watched the disgusting brawl on Sportscenter on Oct 14 . The vicious riot in Miami escalated from a minor scuffle, a harmless scrap that adds flavor to the soup of the game, to an uncontrollable melee, which was like adding ten tons of garlic to an 8 oz. cup of soup.The fight resulted in 31 players being suspended. Before I discuss how ineffective a simple suspension is, I’d like to point out that at any given time, there are only 22 players on the field. All players involved were eventually suspended for the remainder of the season, and one player was suspended indefinitely—and he was only suspended indefinitely because he was using his helmet like a medieval armament. He should not be suspended indefinitely, he should be arrested and in a state penitentiary indefinitely.It gets worse. Initially, the players involved in the fight, which required police intervention to be stopped, were initially suspended for only one game. Thank goodness the Atlantic Coast Conference came to its senses and changed the laughable one-game suspensions to slightly less laughable suspensions for the rest of the season, meaning that both teams will be without most of their starters. Given the intensity of the brawl, suspending players for the rest of the season really isn’t enough. I’d venture, far enough to say that program sanctions--a year off from competitive play next season--are necessary.The real losers in all of this are the students of Florida International University. A month ago, if somebody said they went to Florida International, a standard response might have been, “Florida What?” Now, if somebody said they went to Florida International, the more standard response would be a timid “Oh”. At least Miami is a big name university famous for things other than the disgraced football fight.Those who lost even more are the players from Florida International not involved in the debacle. For anybody to tell their grandkids that they played college football, it makes a great bedtime story. When the benchwarmers not involved in the madness tell their grandkids about their days playing college ball at Florida International, it’ll be a pg-13 if not R-rated horror story.

Originally Published For October Issue of The Oarsman