And everyone hated him for it. He's been on top of the dirtiest players list surveys basically all the time.

It's obvious this doesn't happen all the time

11/3/2009 9:33:54 PM

Quote :

"what spikes did can make someone go blind and completely end their football career. different degrees imo"

a cutblock can tear all three of the ligaments in your knee and end your career, and its a legal play...again, its a violent sport, especially at the college and pro level

11/3/2009 9:34:28 PM

^^agree; doing something under piles does happen ALL the time but not poking someones eyes out

^true; i don't know; spikes' incident just seemed to be different from what you would usually hear about/see

[Edited on November 3, 2009 at 9:37 PM. Reason : .]

11/3/2009 9:35:58 PM

^ his intent was to retaliate for other players, and himself getting poked in the eye earlier before the incident. I don't think he is dumb enough to rip a mans eye out of its socket on national television

11/3/2009 9:38:06 PM

Quote :

"a cutblock can tear all three of the ligaments in your knee and end your career, and its a legal play...again, its a violent sport, especially at the college and pro level"

You just said it, it's a legal play.

Poking someones eye isn't a legal play.

11/3/2009 9:40:36 PM

^how do you know he was trying to poke his eye out?

11/3/2009 9:45:27 PM

the suspension should be for him to have to take his visor off for the rest of the season. with the way that SEC officials watch games, some offensive player will teach him a lesson.

11/3/2009 9:45:37 PM

no one said he was trying to RIP his eye out of the socket.

everyone knows that if something is poked into your eye hard enough you can lose your vision. your eye doesn't go away but you can't see out of it anymore

11/3/2009 9:47:30 PM

^I would bet that the rb had his eyes closed. even in the video the rb gets up and doesn't seem to be too upset or even upset at of what happened. possibly bc this happens and he already knows what to do when gang tackled or under a pile

11/3/2009 9:49:37 PM

Quote :

"You just said it, it's a legal play."

that was in response to his comments about eye poking being different than other things since losing your eyes could cost your career...i pointed to an example of a legal football play that could just as easily end a career

11/3/2009 9:53:26 PM

For me, the biggest difference lies with intent. I have made plenty of cut blocks/cut plenty of lead blockers, but my intent was never to injure someone. I never dove at someone trying to hurt them or because I wanted to hurt them or wanted to blow out their knee.

If you get to the point where you *want* to really hurt someone, going beyond the play on the field, and continuing after the play, you need to be sat down. Brandon Spikes is a LB, I was a LB, you will get PLENTY of chances to lay the smack down on a RB in a perfectly legit way that shows you are a superior football player. Even MMA fighters, who literally train to beat the crap out of another person can control themselves enough that after the bell rings, they can go stand side by side, shake hands, or walk away to their own individual corners.

But just that his intent was so dirty and hateful it should be embarrassing for him to watch.

11/3/2009 10:15:08 PM

^ exactly

If you want to hurt someone, put a legal hit on them before the whistle blows. I realize it happens all the time, but it's a pussy move imo to injure someone in a pile.

Where has everyone's integrity gone to these days?

11/3/2009 10:38:24 PM

though i must say....if it had to be against any team Im glad he gouged one of those georgia fucks

fuck em

11/3/2009 10:40:24 PM

I hope those defending his actions would also defend a late cut block which ruined his pro career.

11/4/2009 12:10:28 AM

I don't think anybody is defending what he did

we're just tired of the "outrage" from the media and fans

11/4/2009 12:14:28 AM

im defending his right and duty to cheapshot georgia football players

11/4/2009 12:16:32 AM

We tried (successfully) to break a guy's leg once, but that was an isolated incident

Most of the time, you're just trying to put them in temporary pain, and I'd reason that was Spikes intent as well

11/4/2009 12:34:35 AM

Quote :

"the suspension should be for him to have to take his visor off for the rest of the season."

11/4/2009 4:36:26 AM

Whether or not it goes on in piles, this happened in plain sight of the refs and on national TV. If you see it, you have to respond and send a message. When guys get game or 2 game suspensions for spitting at another player or throwing a punch, yes they should get at least that suspension for an eye gouge. Unfortunately, part of the lesson is if you do it don't get caught.

11/4/2009 6:00:39 AM

Is eye poking a part of the game? I guess it is. Should it be a part of the game? Definitely not. The way to make it stop being a part of the game? Actually punish the people that get caught doing it.

I think there should have been at least a full game suspension.

11/4/2009 7:46:36 AM

I guess this pretty much sums it up; if the Georgia player doesn't think he should be suspended and didn't see any big deal about it then I guess we shouldn't either

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4619952&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

11/4/2009 10:09:28 AM

Brandon Spikes is dirty fucking player. Anyone who has seen him play the last two seasons can attest to that. The half game suspension against Vandy is a huge joke and goes to show what a joke the SEC and Urban Meyer are in terms of class.

Mike Golic went on a rant about this today on Mike and Mike and he was spot on. He said finger bending, kneeing, etc were part of the game when he played, but no one condones eye gouging. Golic said the "punishment" was ridiculous and that UF was sending a poor message by acting like this was no big deal.

No one who has actually watched the replay and seen what Spikes did can honestly think a half game suspension is enough.

11/4/2009 10:10:05 AM

urban meyer is a piece of shit and all this does is say to the country that sportsmanship and the right thing comes second to winning.

pathetic. florida should be embarassed and i think the athletic director has NO balls if he couldnt come out and override this bullshit 1/2 game suspension against the worst team in the SEC.

shameful.

that is NOT football.

11/4/2009 10:13:22 AM

Eye gouging is not football. I played high school football and I currently am an official for high school football. I've never seen that before, and if I did, that player would be ejected and probably suspended for at least a game.

11/4/2009 10:28:14 AM

its not cheating till you get caught. he just happened to get caught. however i believe that since he did get caught that a half game suspension is laughable. ol' boy from oregon is still suspended for that punch.

11/4/2009 10:32:12 AM

for what it's worth .. i'd rather get fucking domed by Blount than get my eyes poked at.

11/4/2009 10:57:34 AM

Quote :

"I guess this pretty much sums it up; if the Georgia player doesn't think he should be suspended and didn't see any big deal about it then I guess we shouldn't either"

That's dumb.

First, Georgia player doesn't want to come off as a bitch for complaining about.

Second, he didn't get injured. I bet if his eye was all fucked up and he could have missed a game because of it, he would be singing a different tune.

11/4/2009 11:04:29 AM

sounds like a lot of people are getting a wakeup call ITT as to what goes on in bigtime football

11/4/2009 11:08:14 AM

jbrick played soccer, so he'd pitch a fit if someone even got close to him

In football, you look for any advantage possible

and blurry vision for the opposition's running back is definitely a big advantage

11/4/2009 11:14:11 AM

TreeTwista10: Bigtime football expert

11/4/2009 11:20:52 AM

Quote :

"sounds like a lot of people are getting a wakeup call ITT as to what goes on in bigtime football"

Nobody is saying that this shit doesn't happen. But when you do stuff like this, you take the risk of getting caught and punished.

His act is just like Blount's. Intentional, illegal acts (in life and in the game) that can severely hurt the opposing player. They both got caught...one player gets punished for over half the season, the other gets a slap on the wrist. The difference is that Meyer cares more about winning and less about teaching lessons.

11/4/2009 11:35:20 AM

Again, serious question: If this is commonplace in college and pro football, why don't we at least hear about serveral serious eye injuries every year? Gloves or not, if there's enough instances of eye-gouging like this, it seems like some guys would get blinded, or at least have to sit out a few games while recovering from eye surgery.

11/4/2009 11:37:30 AM

just let it go. half the people saying this is football and does happen a lot totally can't conceive the point

11/4/2009 11:44:48 AM

Quote :

"f this is commonplace in college and pro football, why don't we at least hear about serveral serious eye injuries every year?"

Vikings fullback missed game last week with eye injury http://ballhype.com/story/report-tahi-has-an-eye-injury/

Quote :

"TreeTwista10: Bigtime football expert"

TreeTwista10: actually realizes football is a violent sport

how many of you people get this bent out of shape when somebody gets horsecollared? how about when somebody makes a tackle by the face mask? how about blocks in the back? all illegal, all happen all the time, because its TACKLE FOOTBALL

[Edited on November 4, 2009 at 12:13 PM. Reason : .]

11/4/2009 12:00:02 PM

and........ still missing the point

/thread

11/4/2009 12:17:26 PM

worse things happen in piles, the cameras just caught him on this one.

11/4/2009 12:18:37 PM

^^No no no you're right, you are clearly more of an expert on what happened and if its part of the game than Lashaun Ealey

The guy is like "no I don't think he should be suspended, this stuff happens in football"

But you know better than he does!!

[Edited on November 4, 2009 at 12:20 PM. Reason : .]

11/4/2009 12:19:31 PM

tree, i'm not disagreeing with your overall point, but there's a bit of a difference in making an illegal, dangerous tackle and deliberately gouging someone's eye when they're already down.

11/4/2009 12:27:39 PM

I'm not saying what he did was right, I'm just saying it happens...it was retaliation for him getting poked in the eye earlier in the game

Payback is a part of football...if somebody gets a cheap shot on you or a teammate, you get that person back

Not saying its right, just saying it is and has been part of the game, and its not a big deal to me

I don't get all the outrage about this story

11/4/2009 12:30:10 PM

In the OP's original link, Mike Golic (who played in the NFL) was one of the "oversensitive" media who thought the eye gouging was unacceptable and that it did NOT happen regularly in pileups. So yeah, I'm gonna take his word for it and not some of the highschool superstars around here.

Then again, if you can't acknowledge the difference between an illegal tackle as a result of being overaggressive or careless and a deliberate attempt to injure someone by poking someone's eye, there is nothing left to say.

11/4/2009 12:44:15 PM

Quote :

"So yeah, I'm gonna take his word for it and not some of the highschool superstars around here."

I will choose to take the accounts of other former NFL players, like Larry Kennedy, Brenston Buckner, Frank Garcia, who all said its not a big deal and worse stuff happens in piles all the time, and that that is part of football

11/4/2009 12:45:58 PM

TreeTwista never played a down of football in his life

He's just a fake old tough guy

11/4/2009 12:53:42 PM

I used to fuck guys like Slave Famous in the ass underneath pileups

11/4/2009 12:54:36 PM

I got my eye gouged badly in high school. I was the kick returner for our team. Very first play of the game against RJ Reynolds, one of their guys stands me up while the other gouged my eye -- dude didn't even try to tackle me, just jammed his finger right in my eye. My eye wouldn't open, so my coach made me go straight to the ER at the local hospital.

While I'm sitting at the hospital getting treated, I hear our team's star RB in the room next to me. Those dirty bastards had done the same thing to him a few series after I left. Thankfully, we beat the shit out of them and my eye eventually re-opened. I still can't see for shit out of it, and now I have these things called "floaters" darting all over the place. Point: Eye-gouging might happen a lot or it might not, but that doesn't make it any less pathetic/disgusting.



[Edited on November 4, 2009 at 1:10 PM. Reason : ]

11/4/2009 1:03:35 PM

Quote :

"how many of you people get this bent out of shape when somebody gets horsecollared? how about when somebody makes a tackle by the face mask? how about blocks in the back? all illegal, all happen all the time, because its TACKLE FOOTBALL"

Another stupid analogy. Horsecollars, facemasks, and blocks in the back happen during the course of a play. Facemasks and horsecollars usually occur when a tackle is trying to be made to be made and are usually not intentional for (intentional that they are trying to make a tackle, but not in an illegal way). Blocks in the back are self-explanatory, and also shouldn't be included because they don't come to close to causing injuries like the first two you mentioned, and definitely not close to eye-gauging.

The eye-gauging occurred long after the play was dead and had NOTHING to do with the tackle (as facemasks and horsecollars do).

11/4/2009 1:13:12 PM

Basically, the gist of what TreeTwista and Slave Famous is saying is that most of the time things like robbery, vandalism, arson, and mugging go unpunished because the offenders aren't caught.

That of course means when we do catch them they shouldn't really be punished because most of the time people get away with that stuff.

[Edited on November 4, 2009 at 1:36 PM. Reason : ]

11/4/2009 1:36:01 PM

I dont know what to do in this thread... people that I usually argue with constantly are on different sides of the issue... this complicates things...

but ^ is correct

11/4/2009 1:37:35 PM

^Just be your normal, objective self.

11/4/2009 1:38:50 PM

Quote :

"Vikings fullback missed game last week with eye injury http://ballhype.com/story/report-tahi-has-an-eye-injury/"

because eye injury = eye gouging

I'm not saying injuries and malicious acts don't occur. I'm saying that should someone intentionally commit a malicious act they should be severely punished. Have you no clue what happened? After the play, outside of a pile, Spikes' runs up to the guy and immediately starts to attempt to eye gouge the guy. It doesn't matter if other dirty shit happens on other plays. This move is wrong, dangerous, and against the rules. This asshat should get the boot.

Quote :

"how many of you people get this bent out of shape when somebody gets horsecollared? how about when somebody makes a tackle by the face mask? how about blocks in the back? all illegal, all happen all the time, because its TACKLE FOOTBALL"

the problem here is that you can't differentiate between the game and malicious intent. most facemasks, horsecollar tackles, etc occur ACCIDENTALLY as a result of the game. Eye gouging another player, after the play, is nothing but MALICIOUS INTENT, and is no way related to the game.

[Edited on November 4, 2009 at 1:43 PM. Reason : .]

11/4/2009 1:40:52 PM

^^ that's all I know... that's all I know

11/4/2009 1:47:30 PM