Thursday, 19 October 2006
Brawl in Miami
« A Democratic Response to Steny Hoyer's Remarks | Main | Yarmuth's Smarmy Campaign »Last Saturday in Miami, a football game was played between the University of Miami and Florida International. Late in the third quarter a melee broke out between the two teams. It was a wild affair with players swinging their helmets, players stomping on opponents with their cleats, and one player swinging his crutches at people.
The whole spectacle was a complete embarrassment to both teams and the schools they represent. The best commentary I saw on the incident came from former Kentucky coach Bill Curry
The aftermath is predictable except for one aspect. We are acting as if we are surprised. How could rational thinkers possibly be surprised? The surprise should be that we do not have more unbridled violence in our sports.
We live in a culture that celebrates belligerence like we once celebrated religious holidays. We live in a culture in which a large percentage of fathers have abdicated responsibility to raise their children. We live in a culture in which many parents would rather be friends with their children than disciplinarians of their children.
Our kids play video games that make the FIU-Miami brawl look like a Sunday school picnic. We pack huge arenas to watch grotesque actors impersonate competitive athletes while bashing each other with metal folding chairs and throwing referees out of the rings. We allow our children to listen to song lyrics that call into question the most basic attributes of human decency. We pay millions of dollars to radio talk hawks, who pound away at the fabric of reason and diplomacy. Football fans believe it is their absolute right to scream obscenities into the faces of coaches, coaches' families, players and players' families.
Curry insightfully outlines the root cause of the outright violence that showed its way onto the field last Saturday. We have a culture that glorifies violence, abdicates responsibility, and fails to discipline.
While the culture is not an issue we can address overnight, responsibility and discipline could have been enforced in this case.. Unfortunately, the universities (especially Miami) refused make examples of these thugs that desecrated the game. Instead most of the players will only serve a one game suspension. So much for the colleges setting an example for others to follow. Rather they decided to kick the can down the road for others to deal with in the future.
It's a shame to see these fine universities fail to act. Especially when they could have helped turn the tide against the poisonous elements of our culture.
