GIVE THE UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI A BREAK

Last Saturday October 14, 2006, there was a football game, the University of Miami against Florida International University, my alma mater. By now, most people in the country know what happened. If you watch the news on television, you had to see it. There was a big brawl on the third quarter. Nobody knows for sure who started it. Apparently, one or more UM players did too much celebrating after a touchdown, and somebody on the FIU side took offense. Both benches cleared after a couple of players started slugging each other.

Yes, it was unfortunate. Yes, that kind of thing does not belong in sports, but no, the University of Miami does not have to shut down its program, fire coaches, dismiss a whole bunch of players or suspend them indefinitely. Those most responsible have already been disciplined.

Some people in the media around the country are not happy with that situation. They want blood. It has been almost twenty years since the “swagger days” of UM, culminating in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl incident where players wore fatigues. This is a different team. These are different individuals.

Sport commentators are not philosophers. There is the rub. Their overblown attacks against UM stem from a lack of analytical skills. First, a team does not have a soul or a body. It is a collective entity made up of human individuals. Those who made up the team twenty years ago are not there now. Second, one should not punish the whole organization or all the individuals belonging to the team for the actions of a few. It is not as if they are getting into a fight every other week, and the coaches are urging them on. Suggesting UM shuts down the football program is an imbecility.

The UM football program has been clean for almost 20 years. Besides, these ardent hateful critics forget how easy it is for young people to react to a situation. Coming to the aid of teammates when a fight ensues is a natural reaction. What happened was not a premeditated act. Nobody got into a huddle to plan and coordinate the melee. Moreover, let us not talk about young people. Let us talk about grown men. How often do fights break up in baseball games with both benches clearing? Not a year passes by without one or more of those incidents. True, those going on the field try to separate fighting players. We rarely see whole teams going at each other. Nevertheless, joining teammates in trouble is a natural reaction. Once a player is on the field, a hit or a shove can provoke him to retaliate even if he intended to act as a peacemaker.

There is no excuse for using a football helmet to hit somebody. Kicking people when they are down is also dirty thug like behavior unbecoming college athletes. Those players deserved suspensions. I am sure UM officials and coaches have warned all players of serious consequences if something similar happens in the future. That is sufficient. It is easy for people in the media—especially those with mediocre talent—to harp on a story and dramatize it, as if they were involved in the narration of an epic novel. We witnessed a fight in a game, not World War III. Give the University of Miami a break. Get off the bandwagon.