BRANDON SPIKES EYE GOUGING VIDEO: FLORIDA GATOR SUSPENDED FOR EYE POKING
(Huffington Post)
Coach Urban Meyer has suspended star linebacker Brandon Spikes from the first half of the Vanderbilt game after Spikes attempted to gouge the eyes of running back Washaun Ealey during the Florida-Georgia game this past Saturday. According to Meyer, it was retaliation for an earlier play in which Spikes' eyes almost met a similar fate.
I love my Florida Gators and I've been an avid football fan as long as I can remember (I'm thinking womb), but I have to say that it's actions like these that really make me lose faith in sports. Yes, Spikes is a valuable player to the team as a whole but the consequences to his actions seem almost trivial. It was an admittedly deliberate act and the punishment should reflect that. Of course this happens all the time in the NFL, yes, but there are viral videos spiraling about the Internet that simply cannot be ignored.
Sorry, Spikes -- Hammurabi just isn't for everyone.
Link to story and video at huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/02/brandon-spikes-eye-gougin_n_342401.html
Edit: I wrote this before I had many of the later details of the story, including Ealey's defense of Spikes and the like. Totally unjournalistic of me, right? Anyway, my opinion on the matter has changed since then so bear that in mind before I get a horde of angry Gators at me with pitchforks and torches. Please and thank you!
Frankly, I think this whole issue is overblown. It is more likely that he did not know where his hand was and he thought he was trying to strip the ball, like you do on every play. That happens way more in football than intentional eye-gouging, but that explanation would not satisfy Gator haters. Therefor, Coach Meyer decided to punish Spikes for an accident, just to appease the public. After all, it's just Vandy, so it's not like we need him that badly for the first half of the game. He'll be completely fresh when he gets to go in, so it's actually doing us a favor.
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