The (diminishing) Ethos of College Football

31 Thugs, I mean players, were suspended by Miami, Florida International, and their respectives conferences for their participation in the brawl on Saturday. The President of "The Penitentiary," I mean, "The University" stated that the fight was "outrageous." So outrageous, that the Miami players were suspended for one game-- against the legendary powerhouse of Duke. (I wonder if a regular student would be suspended or expelled from school for swining a helmet, swinging a crutch, or stomping on another student's leg? What if it happened in a chemistry lab and the students threw beakers at one another? Would they be suspended for the next lab session? Or what if in a business ethics class, one aspiring capitalist were to repeatedly beat another aspiring capitalist with Marx's Das Kapital?)

While the President of "The U" issued harsh words, the most severe (and most unbelievable) were delivered (and the passive voice is appropriate) from the Conference Comissioners. According to the ACC Commissioner John Swofford: "These suspensions send a clear and definitive message that this type of behavior will not be tolerated." According to Wright Waters, comissioner of the Sun Belt: "There is no place in higher education for the type of conduct exhibitd." According to the NCAA, "It is hoped that the actions taken by Miami, FIU and the conferences will send a message that such behavior is not tolerated."

If anyone finds these statements believable, please tell me why. This seems to me to be a "Nod-Nod, Wink-Wink" type of action: After all, "A nod is as good as a wink to a blind bat, eh?"



Edit: I stand corrected, kind of. Miami extended one ban; FI booted two and extended the sentences of 16 other players. Somehow the sentence for the foot-stomping UM player remains unchanged.