AR Husker Fan
Team HuskerBoard
No, it's not simply a fight. One is a premeditated attack, the other is heat of the moment. That's the kind of distinction that makes one a feloneous assault and significant prison (not just jail) time, and the other anything from a slap on the wrist to a (relatively) minor misdeameanor.It's still a fight. Have you heard of a player getting booted off a team for an altercation?? Maybe for repeated incidents.Hmmmm...there is a distinction to be made, and a very significant one, if the early reports are correct. A "heat of the moment" fight is one thing, but what amounts to a premeditated attack that occurs approximately a week after the incident that precipitated the fight is quite another.Here's the deal..................he got into a fight.
I don't think you should be booted for that. Suspended if anything. But not for getting into a fight.
Put another way - and, again, assuming the early facts are correct - he had ample opportunity to reflect on this and to come to the realization that he should have stayed out of the situtation. That he did not is a far worse indicator of behavior than one who starts brawling when the perceived "insult" is first delivered. The former is a considered, deliberate, planned response; the latter is a moment of passion that overwhelms reason.
When a reporter writes "Player involved in altercation at bar." it does not seem as bad. This is the same case, an altercation involving a player at bar....but in this case, it goes into details and to the public.......it sounds a lot worse than just "player involved in altercation."
If this was Mo's 2nd or 3rd offense, than yeah BOOT HIM.
Is the former grounds for being removed from the team? Depends, I suppose, on the coach, the administration, the university. I've not advocated either way, and in fact, in an earlier post I opined that whether he is removed from the team could very well depend on whether he has had other disciplinary problems about which we know nothing.
Regardless, this is far worse than simply getting in a fight. He had more than sufficient time to cool off, to think about what consequences this would have, to recognize that he represents the University in a way a "regular" college student does not, to think of a better way to handle this. That he did not - that he in fact seemed to use that week to plan the attack - makes this worse than a "simple fight".