What's Wrong With Sports: Rock em Sock em Athletes, Part 2

A few months ago I commented on how much fighting and on-field altercations have taken over the sporting world. Sadly, in the last two weeks, a few more incidences have occurred on the field and on the court that have to make us wonder what is going on. Between Ndomukong Suh's now infamous stomp on Thanksgiving and the terrible Xavier-Cincinnati brawl on Saturday, things are just getting out of hand, not just due to what's happening on the field, but because of the punishments being dished out.


Let's start with Thanksgiving. A peaceful day; a day full of tradition. Families cook turkey (or any other family-traditional meals...gotta love having two family dinners in one day!) and enjoy each others' company. Thankgiving has also been synonymous with the NFL. The one team who has been an NFL Thanksgiving tradition for as long as anybody can remember is the Detroit Lions. Thanksgiving is their one day with a national audience for a putrid team over the years, and they try to make the most of it.

This year, the Lions are not your Lions of old. Starting off 5-0 (last undefeated team besides the Packers, who are still without a loss), Detroit looked to be in good shape! Then a bit of a downward spiral left the Motor City boys with a 7-3 record heading into their Thanksgiving matchup with, that's right, the undefeated and defending Super Bowl Champion Packers. Could this be a day everybody would remember forever? Could this be the day that the lowly Lions get their courage and take down the mighty men from Lambeau?

Well, the latter certainly didn't happen: the Lions got stomped, losing 27-15 (the game wasn't even that close). However, the real stomping came courtesy of a Lion, and it truly would be a day just about every football fan will remember. Defensive lineman Ndomukong Suh got a little frustrated with Green Bay lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith, and after a small scuffle on the ground, Suh appeared to get up and deliberately stomp down on Dietrich-Smith's arm. The league thought it was a deliberate act as well and sentenced Suh to a two game suspension.

The suspension was well warranted, as Suh himself would even agree. The thing is, this great athlete has had the reputation (warranted? I don't believe so...at least not until this incident) of being a "dirty player" and in fact was named by NFL players to be the dirtiest of them all. A player playing tough and making rough tackles is not a dirty player. In a league that's trying to become safer (and as a result is becoming over-protective of players), these "dirty players" are being targeted specifically. If somebody like Suh or Steelers' LB James Harrison (who just got suspended for his hit on Colt McCoy last week....that's another story that I'm sure we're going to address...unreal ruling right there) even get near a QB they're going to get nailed with a penalty and probably a fine. I don't get this idea of hitting a "dirty player" with a heavier fine because he has a history. Why not fine everybody big the FIRST TIME they do something so egregious? If you punish swiftly and strictly, the likelihood of the perpetrator repeating his actions is slim to nil.

The stomp itself gave us an eerie reminder of Albert Haynesworth stomping on Cowboys' center Andre Gurode's head, nearly missing his eye and causing a gash in his head that required 30 stitches. Haynesworth was assessed a 15 yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for the stomp. He THEN threw his helmet in disgust and was assessed another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Only after throwing his helmet was Haynesworth ejected. He was suspended five games for his actions.  Deliberately stomping on somebody, arm or especially face, is subject to long suspensions. Both Suh and Haynesworth got off easy in my mind...

Let's switch gears to the city of Cincinnati. On Saturday, cross-town rivals Cincinnati and 8th ranked Xavier squared off on the basketball court for control of the Queen City. By the end of the night, though, both teams looked more like fools and jokers than queens or kings.

Issues began well before tip off, as Bearcats' guard Sean Kilpatrick spoke out against Xavier star and A-10 Player of the Year Tu Holloway, saying that Holloway, "with the players we (Cincinnati) have now," would not be a starter for the Bearcats. Tempers began to flare at the halftime horn as a Cincinnati bench-warmer tried to get into the face of Xavier guard Mark Lyons on the way to the locker room. That would be nothing compared to the last few seconds...

Let's break it down. Tu Holloway starts yapping with Bearcat freshman Ge'Lawn Guyn (why are you talking? you play 10 minutes per game and average less than 3 points per game, almost all of it against nobody Northwestern State) on the court right in front of the Bearcat bench. Holloway's teammate Dez Wells comes over and literally throws Guyn to the ground. That starts the tussle and the benches clear. Cinci senior Yancy Gates had just gotten the ball and decided to use it as a projectile and gets a C.O.D. worthy headshot on Holloway.  Less than three seconds later, Gates is in the middle of the scuffle and throws a blindside right jab to the face of Kenny Frease. Before Frease can scurry away, Cincinnati freshman Cheikh Mbodj stomps (recurring theme here?) on the back of Frease's head/neck. Frease ends up with a huge cut and a bloodied face, while Gates shows off his shadow-boxing skills to the rest of the Musketeers.

Crying? There's no crying in basketball! I don't want to be
called a thug or gangster either, but maybe you shouldn't
go punching people blind side in the head over a silly
basketball game?

So, let's dissect this one...Let's start with the bad: the suspensions handed down by the two schools. Cincinnati suspended Gates, Mbodj, and another freshman Octavius Ellis (throwing punches) for six games each. They also suspended Guyn for one game for his involvement.  Xavier gave four game suspensions to Wells (starting it and throwing punches) and walk-on Landen Amos (same reason), two game suspension for Mark Lyons (he started getting into it during the brawl with the same guy from the halftime incident), and a one game suspension for Holloway.

They all deserved more.

Now let's look at the good: Cincinnati's coach and President. (Both coaching staffs did a great job of trying to separate the fight, don't get me wrong there! Just what Cinci did after the game spoke volumes). Cinci head coach Mick Cronin said there was zero tolerance for stuff like this, and the kids "need to grow up." He went on to express his disappointment to the university, saying that the institution is more important than a game.

"I made everybody take their jersey off, and they will not put it on again until they have a full understanding of where they go to school and what the university stands for and how lucky they are to even be there, let alone have a scholarship...They're all sitting in there with no jersey on. Some of them I physically took it off."

University of Cincinnati president Gregory H. Williams supported his coach 100% (good for you sir!). The university has done everything right here...except maybe the length of suspensions? This can be debatable I guess, but what do you teach by suspending players for six games for something like this? Especially, let's dissect the Bearcats' next six games: Wright State, Radford, Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Chicago State, Oklahoma, and #14 Pitt. Take out the big conference game vs. Pitt on New Years' Day, those teams have a combined 15-29 record. Take out Oklahoma (who has yet to play anybody either) and the combined record is 8-28. This suspension means nothing to these players I'll guarantee it. Why are you crying? Mike Ditka: "STOP IT!"



One final word of thought: Had these incidents happened out on the streets and outside of the arena/stadium, each could easily be charged with assault. Each, especially Haynesworth and Gates, could and should receive jail time for what they did. However, this didn't happen out on the streets. So their punishment is missing a few games? If I were to go outside right now and find somebody who provoked me and I responded by stomping on his face with cleats on, I'd be behind bars. Why are these guys any different?