Miami-FIU brawl

[HedleyLamarr]

Well look at the Sugar Bowl fight the polayers with guns, the players arrested, the players in fights off cmapus, off campus shootings, the make of this team is screwed up

There are some troubled kids on this team. What else can you say? Coker has been doing a good job of keeping them in line by suspending them and showing the current UM players that things aren't going to be the same as they were a decade or 2 ago when guys were just running wild.

Anyway, Tank. About the UM players gathering and jumping. What's the problem with that? It's nothing more than pride. Don't tell me that you don't expect the majority of schools to react the same way when an away team comes to their home field and starts an altercation. It's no differemt than when school "A" stomps on school "B's" logo prior to a big game. No harm done.

Didn't Miami do that this year too?

Yep, at Louisville.

They must have worn themselves out, because they lost 31-7, and basically quit in the second half in the process.

[Fred T. Jane]

Remember that these are just kids.

If they're 18 or older, thay're an adult.

Charge 'em with assault, and toss them in jail. Now *that* would be a precedent.

[CZzyzx41]

1. Cancel the football programs of each school for the rest of this season.

2. 3 year ban on bowl game appearances

3. 3 year financial sanctions on the football programs. All money that would normally come into the department will be spread among the other sports teams.

4. For the players involved in the more violent aspects of the fight (using helmets as weapons, body tackling, stomping, etc) they should be kicked out of college and not be able to gain any scholarship for any reason ever. If they want back in, they'll have to pay for it and go to another institution.

5. The announcer of the game that was rooting on the fight needs to be fired and I'd like to see him not find another communications job EVER. Not even cleaning bathrooms in some podunk radio station in the middle of nowhere.

[IceCap]

1. Cancel the football programs of each school for the rest of this season.

2. 3 year ban on bowl game appearances

3. 3 year financial sanctions on the football programs. All money that would normally come into the department will be spread among the other sports teams.

4. For the players involved in the more violent aspects of the fight (using helmets as weapons, body tackling, stomping, etc) they should be kicked out of college and not be able to gain any scholarship for any reason ever. If they want back in, they'll have to pay for it and go to another institution.

5. The announcer of the game that was rooting on the fight needs to be fired and I'd like to see him not find another communications job EVER. Not even cleaning bathrooms in some podunk radio station in the middle of nowhere.

I agree with all of these. Unfortunately Miami=$$$ for the BCS and NCAA, so I think we'll see a slap on the wrist, if anything.

[puckhead42]

THIS WAS SENSELESS...and there is no place for this crap in Football at any level.....Kicked out of school? in my opinion...no...Kicked off the team or suspended for the rest of the season...YES...you have to standup and protect each other as teammates...but you also must be accountable for your conduct in these situations...

[slapshot]

I think there should be more suspensions than just one game. Miami plays Duke next week. A Pop Warner team could beat Duke. I'm not sure abut FIU, but I'd bet this hurts them worse than Miami.

There are problems deeper than just this football game. ESPN mentioned that both FIU and Miami recruit 90% if their teams from Broward and Dade Counties in Florida. Add the fact that the schools are only 9 miles from each other, and you have teams and players that are very familiar with each other. I would not be surprised to find out that the fight was planned, and the original unsportsmanlike celebration penalty from Miami was the catalyst for everything.

I don't buy the "they're just kids" excuse. I was 18 when I went to college. I didn't start any fights. The Miami program has been fostering players with huge egos and behavioral problems for years...I can't see FIU being much different, except that being a smaller program they may not have the recruiting assets Miami does, and being in a smaller conference lets it fly under the radar.

But hopefully, if there is a good thing to come out of this incident, the NCAA can force these schools to instutute a more severe code of conduct for their players, and to enact harsher punishments when things get out of hand.

[OB33]

I think there should be more suspensions than just one game. Miami plays Duke next week. A Pop Warner team could beat Duke. I'm not sure abut FIU, but I'd bet this hurts them worse than Miami.

Agreed. FIU plays Alabama next weekend so already going in heavy underdogs will now be without 18 extra players, while Miami, as bad as they've been, could still probably win by 2 TD's with the 3rd stringers. Miami's punishment has about as much consequence as when Matt Leinart was banned from NCAA competition during the month of December last year.

[JQK]

You can take the hoodrat out of the street, but you can't take the street out the hoodrat.

Miami has always had this problem.

Now, they were shown, in pretty wide coverage, that they, along with FIU, have nothing but street thugs on their team.

[rmered]

If it had been hockey they'd have each got 5 minutes.

Well, apart from the guys who were kicking and whacking blokes with their helmets.

[Fred T. Jane]

If it had been hockey they'd have each got 5 minutes.

Only the first two combatants. The rest would have gotten game misconducts for instigating, not to mention the wrath of Colin Campbell, a fate worse than death!

[rmered]

If it had been hockey they'd have each got 5 minutes.

Only the first two combatants. The rest would have gotten game misconducts for instigating, not to mention the wrath of Colin Campbell, a fate worse than death!

Well, then it worked out at about the same.

There are all those players getting 1 match suspensions.

[HowBoutThemFins]

31 suspensions handed out. 13 for Miami, 18 FIU. 1 game suspensions for each player as handed out by the ACC and Sun Belt conferences.

[mkwing]

I just watched the brawl on YouTube. It was the Miami "home" broadcast. My question: Who was the guy they called "Lamar" -- apparently a color commentator -- who was cheering UM on during the fight?

"That's what I'm talkin' about! You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked!"

"Why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel, after the ballgame, and get it on some more?"

Wow. Who IS this guy?

[HowBoutThemFins]

I just watched the brawl on YouTube. It was the Miami "home" broadcast. My question: Who was the guy they called "Lamar" -- apparently a color commentator -- who was cheering UM on during the fight?

"That's what I'm talkin' about! You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked!"

"Why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel, after the ballgame, and get it on some more?"

Wow. Who IS this guy?

Former Hurricane Lamar Thomas. Apparently the guy thought he was only on locally. He wasn't...

[sacker12]

UM's reaction was totally distasteful. The Noles look like choir boys compared to them. I knew I had reason to fall out of favor with UM a few years back, but this incident seals it. They now join Colorado on the list of programs that I have lost all respect for.

[IceCap]

I just watched the brawl on YouTube. It was the Miami "home" broadcast. My question: Who was the guy they called "Lamar" -- apparently a color commentator -- who was cheering UM on during the fight?

"That's what I'm talkin' about! You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked!"

"Why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel, after the ballgame, and get it on some more?"

Wow. Who IS this guy?

Former Hurricane Lamar Thomas. Apparently the guy thought he was only on locally. He wasn't...

People have lost jobs in broadcasting over far less then what he did, I expect he'll be looking for work soon.

[NJTank]

What he said was worse then Steve Lyons he should be canned, it was inexcuasbale to be syaing the things he was syaing while players are swinging helmets as weapons.

[Jimmy!]

Whoever #26 is for Miami needs to be kicked off the team permanently. You should never be using your helmet as a weapon.

Add Miami's #19. Stomping on a player when he's down is a low blow.

[OB33]

Add Miami's #19. Stomping on a player when he's down is a low blow.

Well clearly he couldn't have gone to Miami, that's a Hokie special.

[ROCHitman]

I just watched the brawl on YouTube. It was the Miami "home" broadcast. My question: Who was the guy they called "Lamar" -- apparently a color commentator -- who was cheering UM on during the fight?

"That's what I'm talkin' about! You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked!"

"Why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel, after the ballgame, and get it on some more?"

Wow. Who IS this guy?

Former Hurricane Lamar Thomas. Apparently the guy thought he was only on locally. He wasn't...

People have lost jobs in broadcasting over far less then what he did, I expect he'll be looking for work soon.

Found this on espn.com today....

Comments made by TV analyst and former Miami player Lamar Thomas during a sideline-clearing brawl involving the Hurricanes and Florida International will be edited out before the game is replayed later this week.Bruce Feldman's blog

Thomas may also lose his job with Comcast Sports SouthEast, a regional cable network available in 5.5 million homes.

"We will take appropriate disciplinary action," CSS general manager Mark Fuhrman said Monday. The network will replay the game Wednesday.

Thomas made his comments as dozens of Miami and FIU players stormed the Orange Bowl field and fought during the third quarter of their teams' game Saturday night, an incident that led to the suspension of at least 31 players and forced officials from both schools to publicly apologize for the melee.

"Now, that's what I'm talking about," Thomas said as the brawl raged out of control. "You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don't come into the OB playing that stuff. You're across the ocean over there. You're across the city. You can't come over to our place talking noise like that. You'll get your butt beat. I was about to go down the elevator to get in that thing."

Monday, on the Dan Patrick Show on ESPN Radio, Thomas said he got caught up in the moment as a former Miami player.

"Anybody who knows me knows I played the game of football with my heart on my sleeve," Thomas said. "Unfortunately for me during the fight I got a little hyped up. In no way do I condone fighting."

Miami and Florida International have campuses 9 miles apart in Miami-Dade County. It was the first meeting between the two programs, and the Hurricanes went on to win 35-0.

As the fight slowed, Thomas' comments continued.

"I say, why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more? You don't come into the OB, baby," Thomas said. "We've had a down couple years but you don't come in here talking smack. Not in our house."

A tape of the fight, including Thomas' comments, was available on the Internet on Sunday and Monday. The game was available for viewing Saturday night on a pay-per-view basis.

"We do not support or condone any of the comments that were made by Lamar," Fuhrman said.

Thomas was a third-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1993 and spent six seasons in the NFL, three with the Bucs and three with the Miami Dolphins.

He has a Gainesville address, but there was no listed telephone number for him in that area. He could not be reached Monday.

Fuhrman said CSS will consult with Miami officials before determining what action should be taken.

"The university recommends talent for the broadcast, but we ultimately will make the decision," Fuhrman said.