I marvel occasionally at the ability of football referees and umpires to stay out of the way of the action as it unfolds before them on the field.
One usually doesn’t worry, though, about players deliberately targeting officials for seriously vicious hits.
Perhaps we ought to worry now.
Two San Antonio-area high school football players have been suspended from school after they pile-drived an official during a game this past week.
John Jay High School was playing Marble Falls High School. The game was nearing the end. The ref was blindsided by the players. The video, which has gone viral, looks — to me at least — as if it was deliberate and malicious.
The John Jay head coach has apologized for his team. The Marble Falls coach said he’s never seen anything like what happened in his 14 years coaching high school sports.
The question now being floated is: Should the players be prosecuted for committing a crime?
The ref is so upset at what happened he’s considering pressing charges. If it were me and I was threatened with potential permanent injury as a result of two football players wearing body armor, well, I believe I’d file charges.
Poor sportsmanship happens. You see kids taunting other kids on occasion. They get reprimanded for losing their cool.
The video, though, suggests to me something considerably worse.
I agree with the school officials: Let’s let “due process” play out.
I believe the process is going to produce a criminal prosecution.
Take a look at the video. Your thoughts?
The coach of the team is noticeably absent. My question is, I realize this was at the end of the game but were they benched? Did the coach run onto the field, grab them by the nape of the neck and drag them off, get in their face and scream, “what the hell are you doing?” If he did, then the punishments I’ve heard about need to proceed and the apology by the coach is accepted. If not, he needs to lose his job and never coach again!!! Teachers set the example, not fuel the fire. The fact that two other players had been ejected from the game for doing something wrong, says that maybe there is a lack of discipline coming from the sidelines and that the football program needs an overhaul!!!
I see malicious intent when I see that video. There’s no way this can be ruled an “accident” or a player “letting his emotion get away from him.”