Better than a hockey fight

I went to the fights a couple nights ago and a football game broke out.

I always hated it when that joke involved hockey, so it’s nice to flip it around. But oh my, what a melee!

For those of you that don’t know, during a NCAA football game Saturday night a sideline-clearing brawl broke out, and the incident has so far led to 31 suspensions.

The brawl started shortly after a University of Miami player bowed to the crowd after scoring a touchdown. As the point-after was kicked, Miami players, and the Florida International University players at the line of scrimmage started to push and shove one another. The situation boiled over as a FIU player kicked a fallen Miami player in the head, then all hell broke loose. One Miami player went into the brawl swinging his helmet at players.

The coaches, security and police calmed the brawl down quickly, and the whole thing lasted a little more than a minute. But it speaks to probably the biggest problem in football -- at all levels -- today: showmanship, one-upmanship, and the lack of respect for one another such actions create.

Most leagues are trying to curtail excessive touchdown celebrations, which fans and players alike lament, but the end goal of the penalties and fines is to prevent one individual setting off the egos in 53 (at the NFL level) opponents by disrespecting and mocking them.

Another very concerning development was the pockets of players that formed very quickly. Very few players were paired off to fight, as for the most part groups of three or more players were attacking individuals, many of whom had unsurprisingly fallen to the ground. The malice shown in such attacks, which would be called gang beatings if they happened off a football field, is far greater than the malice and lack of judgment that saw Albert Haynesworth of the Tennessee Titans spike an opposing player after a play. Haynesworth was suspended five games for his action, and if the NCAA has any balls, they will suspend players from both sides of this brawl for equally long periods of time.

And what the hell was that little celebration Miami players engaged in on their sideline after the whole thing had been cleared up? Way to defend your turf morons.

Probably the worst of it all was the moron in the play-by-play booth that loved every moment of the brawl and even insinuated that he was ready to join it, to defend The U, and was spouting off idiotically about not letting opponents talk trash the week before the game.

In 2005, hazing incidents cost McGill University in Montreal their football season and Duke’s lacrosse team their season. Is it right to compare an on-field brawl to sexual assault? It isn’t wrong to. The coaching staffs should be suspended for the remainder of the season, and essentially fired. The players should be suspended, and some of those involved should lose their scholarships. Especially those involved in the gang-style swarmings. The schools should be placed on probation and be stripped of scholarships. If Oklahoma University is going to lose scholarships and be placed on probation because a local car dealership overpaid football players, then I am going to go as far as to say Miami and FIU’s football programs should be suspended for the remainder of the year.

And since the academics seem to be breaking down, I’ll remind the guys that they were all wearing helmets with facemasks, and punches don’t have much effect.