# Are Clemson football players committing a crime here? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 7, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535 "2017-01-07T16:33:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nate/32/13085_2.png) [@nate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nate)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/1 "2017-01-07T16:33:22Z")
Maybe this is better suited for GQ, but I don’t know if there is a factual answer to this. For those not familiar with the situation, Clemson college football players have been seen on TV grabbing/poking the opposing team’s players’ genitals during football games. Here are some clips: [https://twitter.com/SBNationGIF/status/815369478968143873?ref\_src=twsrc%5Etfw](https://twitter.com/SBNationGIF/status/815369478968143873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [https://twitter.com/ZackaryDBailey/status/815383254559813632?ref\_src=twsrc%5Etfw](https://twitter.com/ZackaryDBailey/status/815383254559813632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Is there any crime being committed here? Is this sexual assault? ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/2 "2017-01-07T17:22:52Z")
No crime. But it certainly looks like a violation of "Unsportsmanlike Conduct. From the NCAA 2016 rulebook (Rule 9; Sec. 2; Article 1) > [@](#): > > No player, substitute, coach or other person subject to the rules > shall use abusive, threatening or obscene language or gestures, or > engage in such acts that provoke ill will or are demeaning to an > opponent, to game officials or to the image of the game… It’s a little tough to enforce everyday laws at football games with assault and battery being committed at every snap of the ball. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/3 "2017-01-07T18:30:04Z")
> [@MonkeyMensch](#): > > It’s a little tough to enforce everyday laws at football games with assault and battery being committed at every snap of the ball. 🙂 Those are part of the game. You can be charged with crimes that are not expected parts of the game. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/4 "2017-01-07T18:39:16Z")
> [@nate](#): > > … > [x.com](https://twitter.com/SBNationGIF/status/815369478968143873?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > > … Ah, wow. I suppose not a crime during a football game, but, ah, wow. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/5 "2017-01-07T18:59:55Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Those are part of the game. You can be charged with crimes that are not expected parts of the game. My point was merely to show that the rules already include matters of this sort. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/6 "2017-01-07T20:20:31Z")
There have been a few civil lawsuits, alleging assault and battery, in professional sports, when one player goes well beyond the boundaries. I can’t cite any, and I don’t know if any such suit has ever won. (ISTR that a baseball player sued a pitcher for a deliberate bean-ball.) (Hm… Maybe not; there’s a Supreme Court ruling – Avila vs. Cirtus Community College District, where they said getting hit by a beanball is “an inherent risk of the sport.” There’s also apparently NLB rules saying you can’t sue.) ---
**Author:** ![Palooka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/palooka/32/2902_2.png) [@Palooka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Palooka)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/7 "2017-01-07T22:11:33Z")
Todd Bertuzzi was definitely successfully-sued for his career-ending sucker punch against Steve Moore. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2017, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/8 "2017-01-07T23:05:16Z")
He was also charged with assault and pled guilty. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/9 "2017-01-11T17:05:47Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Those are part of the game. You can be charged with crimes that are not expected parts of the game. It’s long last time for athletes to have some form of immunity from criminal assault charges. I would love to see local police come in and arrest entire hockey teams that get into brawls, which in my life seem to have become an “expected” part of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/10 "2017-01-11T17:17:39Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > (ISTR that a baseball player sued a pitcher for a deliberate bean-ball.) Witchita State’s [Ben Christensen](http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-11-24/sports/9911240379_1_ben-christensen-criminal-charges-rene-lachemann) hit University of Evansville’s [Anthony Molina](http://qctimes.com/news/local/a-decade-after-blinding-pitch-anthony-molina-says-he-misses/article_0807d368-2f9b-11de-a388-001cc4c002e0.html) while in the batter’s box. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/11 "2017-01-11T17:28:42Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I would love to see local police come in and arrest entire hockey teams that get into brawls, which in my life seem to have become an “expected” part of the game. Even in hockey it’s possible to [go too far.](http://www.citynews.ca/2016/02/09/some-notable-on-ice-incidents-that-led-to-criminal-charges/) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/12 "2017-01-11T18:55:09Z")
Personally, I thought Bertuzzi and the Vancouver coach should have been charged with conspiracy to commit assault. The evidence seemed pretty clear that they went into that game planning a revenge hit. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/13 "2017-01-11T19:56:27Z")
The bottom line is that if you want to emphasize to your defense to get their hands on the ball to create turnovers, you had better be more specific. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/14 "2017-01-11T21:09:48Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Even in hockey it’s possible to [go too far.](http://www.citynews.ca/2016/02/09/some-notable-on-ice-incidents-that-led-to-criminal-charges/) Hockey seems to picked up a few of these. They are the most egregious assaults I can recall in sports. And it’s better now than it used to be. Philadelphia’s Broad Street Bullies got their name in the 70s after deliberately loading their roster with tough men after being physically beaten by the old NHL veterans on other teams. Football has quite a checkered history also. I recall some NFL player mentioning that unspeakable acts occurred in scrums to recover a loose ball. (A scrum being what you get when you knock the OT out of a scrotum). The sport was nearly banned more than once in it’s early history and I doubt any contact sport has as big a list of career ending injuries and deaths. The days of the Flying Wedge may be long over but attempts to knock quarterbacks out of games and retaliatory hits still exist. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/15 "2017-01-11T21:14:07Z")
If you stab someone in your local bar, you’ll do ten years in prison … stab someone in a hockey game, you’ll do five minutes in the penalty box … what a game !!! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/16 "2017-01-11T21:32:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Hockey seems to picked up a few of these. They are the most egregious assaults I can recall in sports. And it’s better now than it used to be. … I’ve heard hockey has gotten less violent recently, but I stopped watching years ago. I used to think it was a beautiful, even elegant, sport, but it just got too ugly. I had no interest in gang boxing. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/17 "2017-01-12T08:46:57Z")
Why would it not be sexual assault? If you were playing a mixed gender sport and a male slapped a woman’s arse to put her off would that not be sexual assault either? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/18 "2017-01-12T13:28:26Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > Why would it not be sexual assault? > > If you were playing a mixed gender sport and a male slapped a woman’s arse to put her off would that not be sexual assault either? Probably. But switch that around and probably not. That’s how our culture is. ---
**Author:** ![Charmbrights](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@Charmbrights](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charmbrights)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2017, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-clemson-football-players-committing-a-crime-here/776535/19 "2017-01-13T17:51:44Z")
At rugby union in the UK there was an epidemic of “bag snatching” many years ago. It ended when any player who got a reputation for it could expect to have a broken bone or two put him out of the game for months. Collar bones proved to be especially vulnerable,