didn't see a thread on this... but the flaming will still occur..

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4616581

This suspension is bullshit. 1/2 a game versus Vandy? I think it shows that UF and the SEC aren't willing to to punish high caliber players on highly ranked teams because it may hurt their wallets. Spikes' move was childish, dangerous, uncalled for, and in no way "Football". I think his ass should be off the team permanently and banned from the NCAA. He nearly blinded a guy on purpose.

What say you?

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 5:38 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2009 5:38:39 PM

Quote :

"Spikes' move was childish, dangerous, uncalled for, and in no way "Football"."

it was in every way "Football".

worse shit goes on in piles during every single game of football, cameras just don't catch it

11/3/2009 5:43:42 PM

and that excuses them? and many players say things like this don't happen that often. sure little things do... but trying to blind a guy? no. and how is trying to blind a guy "Football"?

11/3/2009 5:45:23 PM

this was terrible, and not football

way worse than blount... blount was retaliating to shit talking, still wrong, but we've all been in that moment wanting to punch someone for being a dick


this spikes player just flat out wanted to inflict pain for no reason, and do it "sneakily"
terrible, that bitch, hope he gets his

11/3/2009 5:52:02 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4619952
Ealey: "That's their decision. He shouldn't, I think, get suspended at all. We were just out there playing football."

11/3/2009 5:52:43 PM

tough guy mentality, looking out for other players, etc. it was anything but football

11/3/2009 5:55:46 PM

This is a gross overreaction from the media

Without 20 HD cameras at every game, none of these things would be an issue

Players in the 60s, 70s and 80s all employed these kind of tactics regularly

Even when I was in high school 6-7 years ago, we twisted fingers and testicles everytime there was a pile up, because we knew there were no cameras to catch us

Spikes will laugh this off on his way to being a first round pick and multimillionaire in the spring

11/3/2009 5:56:13 PM

If this type of thing goes on in "every single game of football", wouldn't there be more eye-related injuries? An gouge to the eye can do some serious damage.

11/3/2009 5:58:31 PM

so I'm guessing you guys are against instant replay too? because if it wasn't seen/called, it didn't happen and that's just football?

you guys never bitch about refs missing calls or aren't pleased when a ref is punished for blowing calls?

just because it isn't always seen doesn't mean it's right. sure, when I played guys would get in a punch or a pinch, etc. and if it wasn't seen, it wasn't called, but it never made it right, or "Football".

11/3/2009 5:59:56 PM

you guys need to watch the clip... since you haven't seen it

there was no pile up... he just went up to him and stuck his fingers into his mask to gouge him... totally ridiculous, suspend his bitch ass

11/3/2009 6:00:39 PM

^very true as well.

11/3/2009 6:01:14 PM

This isn't Any Given Sunday where you can pop someone's eye completely out of their socket

Spikes was wearing gloves and there is a 2-3 inch buffer from the opening of your facemask to your eyes

Any actual contact with the eyes would have been nothing more than a harmless poke



[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 6:04 PM. Reason : x]

11/3/2009 6:02:12 PM

O my God what are they gonna do for that first half against VANDY

without Brandon Spikes


^ha you aint in the least bit serious

my whole fist can fit through a face mask, lord knows ive done it before

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 6:13 PM. Reason : r]

11/3/2009 6:12:42 PM

Not with enough force to cause damage...you have to work your hand in there slowly enough that you don't have any momentum going to aid with the gouging





I'm guessing most of the people sayings its a heinous act never played high school football

Because if you did, you'd know it was no big deal

11/3/2009 6:15:50 PM

Quote :

"worse shit goes on in piles during every single game of football, cameras just don't catch it"

11/3/2009 6:19:56 PM

I gaurantee someone got their finger twisted, nuts tugged, or eye tickled during that scrum after the onside kick in the Saints game last night

11/3/2009 6:21:03 PM

yea but if your dumbass doesnt get caught than who cares what goes on in the pile

im pretty sure there are fingers longer than 2 or 3 inches and it doesnt take a 10 inch finger to cause damage to the eye, ive played my share of football and in HS and college, i did not have to wriggle my hand in anyway to get through it and i have fairly large hands

if i had mario williams hands i would be able to do that but mario williams prolly has fingers longer than 3 inches

you dont have to fuckin fuckin push the eye through the back of the brain to lose a point of damage

that wire guy probably anally raped someone down in that pile

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 6:24 PM. Reason : s]

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 6:25 PM. Reason : r]

11/3/2009 6:23:53 PM

"Cause you're FOOTBALL PLAYERS!"

11/3/2009 6:26:35 PM

Quote :

"I'm guessing most of the people sayings its a heinous act never played high school football Because if you did, you'd know it was no big deal"

I did and eye gouging someone wasn't common, in fact, I never saw/heard of it.

and what worse stuff happens every single play?

11/3/2009 6:30:29 PM

eye gouges happen pretty commonly, just not intentionally, just dudes reachin for the football/pulling at others limbs and hitting eyes that happen to be in the way

^people get kneed, swept at the side of the knee, punched in the stomach and throat, chopped in the neck, elbowed, frog punched, cleated in the feet and hands, held down by the neck, fingers twisted, raked all kinda shit really

and a lot of that isnt concealed in a pile, its every down

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 6:34 PM. Reason : f]

11/3/2009 6:32:09 PM

ok... I still don't think it's that common and it's even less common for someone to intentionally eye gouge another player. it wasn't a mistake. spikes' intentions were malicious. he was caught. throw the guy out.

11/3/2009 6:34:11 PM

haha i agree with that


but i think its a harsh enough punishment that he sits out the first half against VANDY

that will show him.

nah but seriously, he wont get to pad them stats like he could have

11/3/2009 6:35:36 PM

this is total bs. he should be suspended for at least a full game. trying to blind a guy is not football. btw spikes plays with a clear visor, wonder what that's for?

(opinion from someone who DID play high school oline and DOES play rugby front row)

11/3/2009 6:37:10 PM

Eye injuries are a lot more common in basketball, because of the lack of protection and loose hands constantly darting around people's faces

Allen Ray, anyone ?



Point is, as a football player, there are other things you should be worried about, namely your knees, as BigHit mentioned

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 6:38 PM. Reason : x]

11/3/2009 6:38:12 PM

Quote :

"^people get kneed, swept at the side of the knee, punched in the stomach and throat, chopped in the neck, elbowed, frog punched, cleated in the feet and hands, held down by the neck, fingers twisted, raked all kinda shit really"

non of which are nearly as bad as eye gouging, which may blind you. I've been punched, kicked, grabbed, pinched nearly all over (include throat, stomach, etc), and should the other player have been caught, he should have been punished. but, those aren't nearly as bad as eye gouging, with the possible exception of acts involving the throat... which can cause really serious injuries, but in the middle of a pile, it's harder to do that much damage.

^typically, you can't do that much damage to a knee in the pile. not to mention, having a hurt knee isn't nearly as bad as being blinded.

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 6:39 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2009 6:38:45 PM

If you're an athlete with professional aspirations, anything directed toward your knees is 10x worse than anything aimed at your eyes

You never see scouts downgrade a player because he's had a scratched cornea

11/3/2009 6:40:47 PM

^^^did you see when the Saints guy went down from his own player fallin into his knee??


whooo...i dont think he had a brace on either

I would argue that getting cleated in your hands and punched in the neck is pretty close to being as bad as being eye gouged at game time and thats what matters

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 6:42 PM. Reason : f]

11/3/2009 6:41:16 PM

and should that happen and it be seen, the offending player should be harshly punished. why is eye gouging seen as ok? why is any malicious act like this seen as ok? just because it happens and isn't always caught? in that case, football and even real life should have no rules or laws because you aren't going to catch every person with malicious intents.

11/3/2009 6:44:52 PM

I use to go after pinky fingers, because they were the easiest to bend and elicited the highest shrieks from the opposition

11/3/2009 6:46:03 PM

who said it was ok?

11/3/2009 6:46:38 PM

And if UF is up by 35 in the 2nd half, Meyer wont let him play and then say he decided to make it a full game suspension right before the game started

11/3/2009 6:49:06 PM

Like other people have said this shit goes on in every pile. The cameras just don't catch them all. When I played football I would twist ankles and all that shit.

I play rugby and in rucks and mauls I have had similar stuff happen.

Whatever, half game suspension sounds good to me. Like it matters they are playing vandy

11/3/2009 6:52:15 PM

well, by dismissing these actions people are virtually saying it's ok. and again, why is it more tolerable because other malicious acts are sometimes committed in the pile? I agree that some punching, kicking, etc goes in in many piles (I'm hesitant to say every play or every pile) but that doesn't make it right. should the offender be seen in the act, he should be punished. in this case, where Spikes' intentionally tried to inflict ocular damage, is much worse than what normally goes on in the pile, not to mention, this act did not occur in the pile.

someone show me evidence that other malicious acts are committed on every play and that those acts are more malicious than eye gouging. I played o-line. when there was a pile, I was in it (for the most part). acts like this did not occur every time. mike golic even said things like this don't happen all the time and I'm sure there are more players who will say the same thing.

^and that's why I said the 1/2 game is BS. a whole game is BS.



[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 7:00 PM. Reason : .]

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 7:01 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2009 6:55:15 PM

the 1/2 game is BS if you're going to punish him, I agree

make it a whole game or nothing at all

1/2 game is like going on timeout instead of being grounded

11/3/2009 6:59:25 PM

I don't see why he shouldn't get the same suspension as Blount.

11/3/2009 7:14:16 PM

This guy should be benched for the rest of the year at the very least because he's a piece of shit. Gouging a dude in the eye for no other reason than pure maliciousness is despicable and if anyone else says that it's ok because other people do the same pussy shit in a pile then you can go fuck yourself as well. This kind of crap is wrong and you know it's wrong.

11/3/2009 7:17:54 PM

i've been cleated, choked, punched, bitten, had my ankle and leg stomped and about everything else minus ball twisting. those are cheap shots that you just get up and get the guy back. if a guy is trying to blind you, you have to consider who you are playing: someone who has lost all touch with the confines of the GAME. he's wearing the visor for a reason. he is a child who doesn't know how to control his emotions on the field and should be treated as such.

11/3/2009 7:27:49 PM

^^^ the point was he should get a worse suspension

11/3/2009 7:29:15 PM

Quote :

"the point was he should get a worse suspension"

Nah...I don't see how you can say he should have a worse suspension. Both are intentional acts that have the potential to do great harm to someone and are outside the scope of the game. You can't nit-pick certain acts like that and say that one was worse than the other. But you can equally punish the shit out of them for the acts.

11/3/2009 7:56:38 PM

Shit when I played football I had a knife with me and disemboweled every single lineman I could reach on the bottom of every pile.

Anyone who says they didn't do that is either a pussy or didn't play real football.

11/3/2009 8:00:49 PM

I'd be curious how it was punished internally. Football coach punishment can be some of the worse punishment ever, way worse than any suspension. This has gotten so public and reflects pretty poorly on UF I'd be surprised if Spikes didn't have a few miserable days after practice or "serve his time" some other way that would just stay within the team.

That is what I am hoping anyway, if not he should have gotten a game but thats it.

11/3/2009 8:16:46 PM

^I doubt Urban does anything extra.

11/3/2009 8:24:50 PM

SEC football teams have LOOOOOONG memories; i would not be the least bit surprised for someone to take a cheap shot on him before the year is out.

i think the length and everything involved with this suspension shows just how much college football has turned into a huge business

11/3/2009 8:26:50 PM

Quote :

"it was in every way "Football". worse shit goes on in piles during every single game of football, cameras just don't catch it"

That is the dumbest shit...I hate hearing that used as an excuse.

Hey, I can go around and stab people because worse shit goes on in life every single day.

**edit** And I did play high school football, it's a shame that crap like that is considered, "part of the game." It's embarrassing. It's a physical game in which strength, speed, agility, smarts, etc all play a huge roll. And if you have to poke someone in the eye while they're in a pile gtfo the field. It's lame and has no place in football.

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 8:33 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2009 8:30:52 PM

I would love to read the reactions on this board had Spikes' done this to Russell Wilson.

RAWR RAWR RAWR

Get a rope!

RAWR RAWR RAWR

11/3/2009 8:32:22 PM

Quote :

"well, by dismissing these actions people are virtually saying it's ok"

newsflash: football is a violent sport, this is nothing new at all, talk to some former college or NFL players, bad stuff, bad bad stuff happens under a pile...stepping on somebody's nuts, pulling somebody down by their mouth, having them bite your hand, digging your fingernails into somebody's skin, etc

just as it has been mentioned earlier, you just dont normally see it

11/3/2009 9:07:15 PM

^i see this as a little different though

i can see getting stepped on, punched in the stomach, and other things like that.


but what spikes did can make someone go blind and completely end their football career. different degrees imo

11/3/2009 9:12:22 PM

i look at it them all the same way...from what i hear if you play some type of offensive skill position, early in high school you learn that once you get into a pile, you close your eyes

not saying its right, but it is what it is

11/3/2009 9:14:53 PM

^i've heard that as well

i understand that it happens often and this time just got caught on camera but getting punched/kicked prob. isn't going to end your career like getting permanent eye damage again.

and just the fact that he was holding him still with his other hand and jabbing over and over just made it seem so much worse

11/3/2009 9:24:04 PM

Rodney Harrison was notorious to do this in piles up until last year when he retired.

This sort of thing happens in football.

11/3/2009 9:27:36 PM