Categories
College Football

The Wrong Decision

I am writing today because I am having major issues with the whole Clemson-SC football fight that so many people label a brawl.  The decision to not accept a bowl bid by Clemson University was one that isn’t the right thing to do and was more of a pressure type decision that stems from the media.First of all, I am thinking about the players.  All these players that played their hearts out this season.  These guys that go out there each and every game that give it their all and play with all they have.  These guys had to go 1-4 and fight back to a 6-5 record, that is a great accomplishment.  I know they aren’t a 10-1 team and in line for a BCS bowl, but they still fought hard to get to this point and that deserves a lot of credit.

Then, there are the fans.  The true Clemson fans that follow their team all season, going to each game, giving money to the University and support it in every way.  These same fans that love football and their team and love their players and the heart they play with.  Clemson fans are some of the best fans in the world, and are always there to support their team, no matter what.  

So given those two factors, let me go into the fight that took place.  Being there in person, to me it seemed like it just wasn’t that big of a deal.  It is a football game, tempers were high, and it is a rivalry game which brings emotions to a whole new level for the fans and the players alike.  When it happened, I watched it unfold and then order was restored.  To me, it was something that got out of hand, but I didn’t think it would become the talk of the weekend.  It was labeled a brawl but to me, it was barely a fight.  Most of the players were just pushing, most weren’t even fighting, just a jumping around fiesta.

I truly believe that Clemson made the wrong decision when they decided to decline a bowl bid.  Why punish the entire team and not just the players that threw punches and went too far.  I am sorry but pushing and jumping around does not warrant a bowl suspension for any player.  The fact of the matter is, there were a handful of players that may have thrown a punch, those that had the video should of watched it and let those players sit for the bowl game.  That was the right thing to do.  That was the way to not punish all the players that worked their butts off this season, the fans that came to the games and spent their money and bought season tickets.  

Why did the Clemson higher ups decide to do this, well it all was because they fell to the pressure of the national media.  They took this and made it into the huge story they wanted it to be.  Anybody remember Florida-FSU last season?  ESPN would throw a comment and show the clip and say something like "it got testy even before kickoff for this one".  Then went on to show the clips of these top 10 teams like it was nothing.  They always have made it seem like it was a hot bitter rivalry and fighting between players can be expected.  It isn’t the first time a fight broke out for certain.  But this time, ESPN made it into their top story, and it is all because of the NBA game the previous night.  That is what this all came down to.  If that didn’t happen, the Clemson-SC fight would of barely been mentioned, except for local media.  Yes I am sure some of it would have been shown, but not into all it was made out to be.  

I think it is sad that Clemson punished all the players and all the fans because of the pressure they felt from the national media.  Yes, some did deserve to be punished, but not this way.  This went way too far and pretty much slapped the fans and players right in the face.  

Punishing all the team for a handful of players wasn’t the correct thing to do.  Yes the whole team was out there, but some were watching, some were trying to break it up, and the few that were fighting should have been punished.  I also do hope that the officiating crew in this one gets some sort of punishment.  They should not walk out of this one with nothing.  They let pushing and shoving go on play after play and after each whistle.  Extra little things that should have been called instead of just taking the player and pushing him out of the face of another player.  I don’t know how many times I saw the ref take a player and pull him aside and out of the way of the others that he was taunting.  That was bad officiating for a rivalry as heated as this one.  The South Carolina players made their way to the bottom of the hill to meet Clemson when they ran down, right there it showed what type of game it would be, and the refs went through the entire game letting the extra push or shove go, and that also needs to be discussed.

I do not support fighting or violence in sports, I think it has no place in there, but it is football and sometimes tempers will flare.  There are players that have tempers and some don’t and fights will always happen, no matter what someone does or says, football will always have fighting, it’s a physical sport that only the people who play or played it can tell you exactly what its like to be out there in the middle of it.  So it would be a great day if fighting disappeared out of our sporting events, but sadly I do not think it ever will.  

2 replies on “The Wrong Decision”

You missed the main point This hurts the smaller sports like softball, tennis, golf, etc. They now lose income from a bowl birth that would go to those sports. Now they will have to cut back on scholarships and road games in those sports.

Also, I don’t think the media had anything to do with their decisions. At 6-5, they were borderline bowl teams anyways and would be going to a low-level bowl probably far away. These teams probably decided before the year what the punishment would be in case of a brawl. I just don’t think it was fair to punish the other sports for what 12 football players did.

A little sloppy but an overall good story.

agree/disagree I do agree it will hurt the smaller sports, vaild point there and it really will hurt them without that extra money.

I do disagree with your comment that the schools had made a decision before the season if a brawl were to happen, they would not accept a bowl bid, nobody thinks about a brawl like that happening and there is never a plan in place for somethign like that.  It was a decision made the following days after the fact.

I do also think the media had a lot to do with it, if the Pacers-Pistons fight didnt happen, i am pretty certain they would of gone to the bowl game….suspended the players that actually threw punches(which was done anyway now) and end of story.  But anyway….

I hope that sports can make it without any fighting but that might be asking for too much…..the whole steroids thing is taking over now.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *