Respect the game

Like most people, I was one part horrified, one part shocked, one part excited, and one part stunned by the extreme violence appearing in college football a couple weeks ago. The Saturday night foot-brawl that took place between the University of Miami's and Florida International University's football teams was a reprehensible act that proved to the whole world that they were nothing but a bunch of thugs who'd just as soon use their helmets to hit their competitors than put them on their heads.

There was immediate fallout in the days following the melee. In total, 31 players were suspended. Miami coach Larry Coker suspended only one player indefinitely: safety Anthony Reddick — the player everyone saw run across the field and use his helmet as a weapon against an FIU player. FIU has seen fit to dismiss three of their student athletes and "indefinitely suspend" the other 16 players involved in the fracas.

It appears FIU, the smaller and lesser known school in this situation realizes the correct course of action, unlike Miami, which apparently still doesn't believe it needs to take full responsibility for its player's actions.

The University of Miami is not what the great game of college football is about, and unless sufficient changes are made to the program, it will most likely continue to be an abomination, a disgrace to real schools with real student-athletes who compete fairly and aren't well known for incomprehensible displays of audacious violence.

Eric Kochneff
DI columnist