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Ok- I was going to stay away from this Brandon Spikes thing. I really was. I love Florida, and I love Spikes, but what he did was wrong. There's no excuse for playing amateur eye surgeon on the football field. He should, and is, being punished for a stupid act. Should be the end of the story. Right?
Maybe not.
Turns out when you're the defending champs and you get more TV coverage than President Obama, then everybody is going to voice their opinions. In one week, Spikes has gone from the All-American linebacker for the Gators to the poster boy for all that is wrong in the world. I've heard it all at this point... about how Florida should suspend him for the season, or Florida should have to forfeit games, or Spikes should be placed in front of an execution squad, or how Urban Meyer is actually Hitler's grandson. You know- typical message board fans weighing in with their always unbiased and credible thoughts.
Was the original punishment doled out by Meyer pretty tame, even though the SEC agreed with it? You could argue that. You could also argue that very few people who critcized it have access to Florida's locker room or practices, meaning they have no idea if he was being punished internally.
I remember reading an article a few years ago in which Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, who has had his share of player trouble, said "Everyone wants to see a public hanging, when half the time, we can do much worse behind closed doors." He talked about a player who had gotten a DUI, and the message-board faithful were all over the coach to suspend him. Instead, Bowden said he made the player run stadium steps for three, two-hours practices that week. That's six hours of running up and down the steps at Doak Walker Stadium in the Tallahassee heat. Ever run stadium steps? It's not exactly a cake-walk. I don't know, but I'm betting that kid learned a little lesson somewhere in there. Of course the public didn't see it, so they continued to kill Bowden and talk about his lack of control over players. Gotta love college football fans right?
Now I don't know if Meyer does this kind of stuff. But I do know there are tons of ways to punish a kid that don't involve punishing the team. Why should the team be punished for the actions of one, when you can just as easily punish the guilty party?
And now that Spikes has said he will not play at all against Vanderbilt, people are still over him. The common theme now is that "he wouldn't be doing this if they were playing Alabama or LSU next week." Well, as it happens, Vanderbilt falls next on their schedule. What is he supposed to do? Should Florida only schedule one week at a time, leaving some wiggle room so that if a player gets suspended, they can bring in a big-name opponent to show that they will uphold the suspension?
Another interesting chapter of the story is that the "victim" here, Georgia RB Washaun Ealey, has said he doesn't think Spikes should be suspended. Interesting. I would assume this guy would be on his deathbed from the way some have described the incident, but apparently, the victim of this supposed atrocity isn't all that worked about it. Could it be because just a few plays earlier, this happened?
That wouldn't happen to be Ealey's hand inside Joe Haden's helmet would it? Weird. I wonder why the Georgia fans and Gator haters aren't bringing this up?
Look, this doesn't make what Spikes did right. But maybe the moral outrage should be tempered just a bit. This kind of thing was happening all game long, from both sides, and Spikes just happened to be the lucky one caught on the TV cameras. Again- this doesn't excuse his actions. I'm okay with him being punished. But let's not act like this was an isolated incident from one rogue, out-of-control player.
Oh well. No one ever said trying to defend a title was easy.
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