Yes, I’ve played a lot of sports both competitively and recreationally. I completely understand that a game can become heated to the point where players will do things they wouldn’t do at other times or off the field/court. But, I think this instance really goes way beyond the game just getting out of hand or the player just getting carried away. This wasn’t a hard flagarant foul or a face to face fight, this was a complete cheap shot followed by the kid continuing to punch his knocked out opponent.
Never played team sports at all, played tennis but not on organized teams. Watched my kids be coached alternately by enraged immature bully-prick rollerhockey coaches, and firm, fun, focused, enthusiastic yet aggressive in appropriate ways rollerhockey coaches.
This…this is a crime, where I come from. Imagine your son, walking through a crowd. He elbows someone, someone elbows him back a bit and then he’s suckerpunched unconscious and beaten more after he drops.
Would anybody in their right mind, watching that tape, had it occurred in a shopping mall or on the street, insist that it was not a crime ? That the police shouldn’t be called in immediately ?
I mean, please.
But it didn’t happen in any of those places. It happened on the court in a sanctioned game. There are plenty of non-criminal remedies available here. The team can be penalized, the player suspended for several games, or possibly kicked off the team. That’s punishment enough, as I see it.
Bear in mind that the whole thing lasted mere seconds. The attacker threw a pretty stiff punch, dropped the victim, the followed up with 3-4 punches before the fight got broken up. No serious injuries were reported. The attacker claims provocation–we didn’t really see what happened earlier. Again, I’m not condoning the behavior. Punishment is warranted, not only for this incident, but to deter future incidents. Just don’t think it rises to the level of a criminal offense.
Horseshit.
So this event happend on a basketball court? So what? If the attacker had walked off the court, picked up a baseball bat, walked back onto the court, and slammed the other kid upside the head, would it have been alright with you? How about (a little less far fetched), a lax player gets another’s helmet off and smacks her in the face with her stick. Is that ok because it was on the field of a sanctioned game?
Another one: what happens when a BOXER knocks someone down? The ref makes the one standing go to his corner, right? So why are these actions ok here when they would have been a flagrant foul in BOXING?
(Bolding in the above quote box, provided, of course, by me.)
Oakminster, how would you respond to the situation I posed earlier in the thread?
Thought it was rhetorical. Answer is obvious.
Yeah, it was rhetorical when I posted it. But I don’t see what differentiates that situation from the junior high game.
Because participating in a sport means you are giving implied consent to a wide range of things that would otherwise be considered assault. Playing football gives consent to be hit and tackled. Playing baseball gives a degree of consent to have pitches thrown at you. Playing hockey gives consent to being checked, and even to being punched in some circumstances - if you watch hockey you will note that fights are almost invariably mutually agreed to by the two players, who will challenge one another, drop the gloves to indicate to each other than they want to fight, and only then go at it. It’s mutually consented to.
Consider, however, a scenario where a pitcher who maybe has roid rage or something decides to bean an unsuspecting batter who is standing in the on deck circle (this actually happened, BTW.) That’s assault; a reasonable person would expect that by playing baseball you may get hit by a pitch while batting, but not while minding your business somewhere else.
In this case, the boy was beaten while lying on the floor unconscious. It is preposterous to claim that this is an accepted part of basketball to which he consented by playing the sport.
If I am not mistaken, Oakminster is an attorney. We may well be attacking his very source of income, if he does personal injury opposed to criminal cases.
I must ask - Oakminster, by any chance do you have children and how old are they? I’m not trying to attack you personally, I am asking because it is reasonable to say that the point of view of a parent watching that videotape is remarkably different than that of a non-parent.
You see a potential client and nothing more if you are not a parent. There is an emotional response involved here that alters the purely intellectual discussion as to whether or not you think a law was broken.
Just a thought.
The entire concept of a “sanctioned school event” as an excuse for breaking a law and getting a free pass is completely appalling. It’s right up there with protecting a tenured teacher for committing an act that on the street would immediately call for police interventon.
The way I was thinking about it was, it would be like the batter getting a high brushback, and then turning around and clubbing the catcher with the bat for calling the chin music.