Call Jim Delany - Promote Safety

Submitted by Red_Lee on

(847) 696-1010 - Jim Delany's Number (http://www.bigten.org/school-bio/big10-school-bio.html)

Today, many of us witnessed a few players of a single football team aggresively attack players of the opposing team with obvious intent to injure. There is no way to factually state that these attacks affected the outcome of the game. However, that is not the goal of my proposal. The student-athletes had their safety put at risk today due to lack of appropritae officiatings by both referees and coaches.

1. William Gholston purposely and violently twisted Denard Robinson's neck at the end of a play. There is video evidence of this.

2. William Gholston purposely and violently punched Taylor Lewan in the throat away from the focus of the play. There is video evidence of this.

3. Marcus Rush continued a string of late-hit penalties focused on quarterback Denard Robinson, eventually resulting in his injury. There is video evidence of this and prior late-hits.

Let Jim Delany know how you feel. Spread the word to all B1G schools (MSU included) to voice our disgust in the lack of any sort of authority preventing or appropriately penalizing the aforementioned violence.

This isn't about winning or losing. This is about the safety of the student-athletes who expose themselves to injury for our entertainment benefit. Do them all a favor and make sure that this sort of behavior is not tolerated in any future Big Ten football games. It is dangerous to the student-athletes themselves to allow this behavior to continue.

Call Jim Delany (847) 696-1010. Reinforce the idea that the student-athletes are truly top priority in the college football world.

I'm calling him right after I click "Save"


*UPDATE* I modified the thread title for clarity. By "not Victory" I meant our OWN theoretical victory based on the typical post-game anti-officiating banter proposing we would've have won if x=/=y, Not MSU's actual victory.

Cope

October 16th, 2011 at 7:05 AM ^

This a coaching thing. Idk if this has been posted, but you won't believe it.
This is MSU's defensive coordinator after the game: "The only disappointing thing was the penalties," Narduzzi said. "The unnecessary roughness, you know, the guy (Robinson) is squirming all over the place. I thought that was what the game was, unnecessary roughness on every play, and that's what we tried to do, 60 minutes of unnecessary roughness. I'm just glad they didn't call it every snap."
That's as close to criminal after what happened as I can imagine. My mouth is still open...

spartyparty

October 16th, 2011 at 1:14 PM ^

I LOVE seeing all you wolverines griping about how physical state played.  Instead you should focus on how we dominated you in all phases of the game.  The big ten has a review process already in place and if the plays were as aggregious as you allege, punishment will follow.   Remember, it is your dirty little players that refuse to shake state's hands after the past four losses!  Stop whinning and take your medicine!  We dominate you guys, we are better than you guys and we straight  up beat you guys 4 years straight! Cope, your mouth is probably open for other reasons!

OMG Shirtless

October 15th, 2011 at 7:07 PM ^

The Big Ten will take care of it on its own.  They don't need hundreds of butthurt Michigan fans calling in to complain like little bitches.  Besides, you look like the little kid who runs and tells his mom that his brother stole his fire truck.

Tater

October 15th, 2011 at 8:54 PM ^

The Big Ten will take care of it on its own. They don't need hundreds of butthurt Michigan fans calling in to complain like little bitches.

I see nothing wrong with fans exercising their right to complain about behavior that would result in jail time if it had been done off the field. If the B1G office allowed the public to contact it by email, a call wouldn't be necessary, but they don't.

Since we buy tickets, sit through their commercials, and/or pay cable fees, we are their customers. Therefore, we are allowed to demand good customer service. In this case, good customer service would dictate that someone who adversely affected their product in the manner in which Gholston did should be suspended.

Section 1

October 16th, 2011 at 6:58 PM ^

Now I have no idea if fan-complaints will sway the decision.  I expect not.  But based on how the suspensions of Mouton and REckman went down, I think that there is good reason to believe that things might not get called unless there is a large public outcry.

And it does more good to get it out there fast and loud, so that hopefully the suspension of Gholston can hurt State against Wisconsin, where it could make the biggest difference.

It would be weird, in my view, if the Mouton/Reckman precedent didn't hold up.  Publicized, videotaped incidents, of a very similar nature.  I would think that the Conference would suspend Gholston on its own for the exact same reasons, no matter what we (or any other fans) said.

Brown Bear

October 15th, 2011 at 7:09 PM ^

Gholston will definitely get suspended. My bigger issue is with the officials who did nothing to take control of the game and allowed the nonstop thuggery. By not ejecting Gholston it just told msu that you can go ahead and do whatever you want.

urbanachiever

October 15th, 2011 at 7:15 PM ^

No, we told them they can do whatever they want because we were unable to take advantage of any of their thuggery.  It's not as if the plays weren't resulting in penalties.  If we cashed some of our opportunities in they would've been a little cleaner

Brown Bear

October 15th, 2011 at 7:22 PM ^

Fear of ejection is another. Yes we failed to capitalize on penalties but it doesn't forgive letting a player throw a punch and not get ejected. I thought that a thrown punch was automatic ejection, the fact that it was his second personal foul should've made that decision easier. A player that reckless shouldn't be out there.

ats

October 15th, 2011 at 11:47 PM ^

On the late hit that injured Denard, that wasn't your run of the mill late hit.  The player body slammed him AFTER he had the late hit.  Watch it again, he goes in with his arms up and hits Denard, than he moved his hands down, picks up Denard and slams him.

That was pure intent to injure and should result in a multi-game suspension along with Gholston.  Honestly, between the attempted broken neck and the punch, if I was the big ten commish, I'd suspend Gholston for the rest of the year and require that he complete anger management classes.

If something isn't done soon, we'll rapidly go down the path of enforcers: find best play, break best player, get a meh pointless penalty.  Cause if they aren't going to really enforce things like sportsman like conduct, why not take advantage of it, other teams obviously will.  There are rules in the book to handle things like this but the refs are too afraid to utilize the unfair advantage rules (Rule 9-2-3 Unfair Acts).

Same thing with the taunting rule, honestly it doesn't go far enough, should be loss of ball AND minus 6 points (and since the TD never occured that would be a total of -12 points).  Nothing wrong with requiring plays not to be idiots.

miCHIganman1

October 15th, 2011 at 7:12 PM ^

This whole thread is embarrassing and comes off just as sour grapes under the guise of student athlete safety. MSU beat us and did it in a completely classless and thuglike manner that we should have expected they would.

aanii

October 16th, 2011 at 1:24 AM ^

This is really getting out of control.  All this focus on a couple of personal fouls while ignoring the ass kicking we got?  I've read all the articles before coming here and was glad to see Hoke, Kovacs, Martin, and Denard all admit what we all saw:  MSU was stronger, better prepared, and wanted it more and beat us the hell up.  And Lewan is no choir boy, he gives as good as he takes, and you can see how he turns away like it was nothing after the "punch" - because he knew it was coming after grinding his head in the dirt. 

Seriously folks, get a grip.  what we should be concerned with is how our Coach seems to have decided he doesn't want Denard starting at QB anymore.  It's clear he is goingo to continue giving Gardner more and more snaps until he can take over.  It's also clear that our D is not as good as we hoped.  and just like last year, MSU showed the world how to contain Denard and beat us.  THAT is what i'm pissed about...not a couple of personal fouls.  You all sound like extremely sore losers that want to go to the dean have some guy disqualified instead of accepting you got beat straight up.  It's pathetic, and very un-Michigan like.  

justingoblue

October 16th, 2011 at 2:07 AM ^

I don't think anyone is ignoring anything. There are multiple threads dedicated to what our problems were this game, all with posts critical of our team and coaches.

As for Lewan, I've never seen him throw a punch. Ever. Until then, it's not acceptable to punch him; there's a reason Lewan wasn't flagged and Gholston was.

As far as sounding pathetic, I have no idea what to tell you. Do you honestly think this thread wouldn't exist if we had won 58-0? That wasn't "a couple of personal fouls", that was five on one team, their coach encouraging it, and one in particular that would have had a multiple game suspension and a six figure fine in the NFL.

Cope

October 16th, 2011 at 6:48 AM ^

the first time Denard has gone down and not come back up this season. It may have been the first real injury to Denard. Still want to go with that theory?

Cope

October 16th, 2011 at 6:51 AM ^

the first time Denard has gone down and not come back up this season. It may have been the first real injury to Denard.. Still want to go with that theory?

uniqenam

October 15th, 2011 at 7:13 PM ^

I disagree with all te M fans here saying "stop whining". This isn't whining about ref'ing, this is a legitimate issue that could have ended in paralysis. This is not overstatement; watch the neck-twist again. That's not just bad football, that's life-alteringly dangerous. Fr the referees not to eject a player after two such events is ridiculous.

readyourguard

October 15th, 2011 at 7:13 PM ^

Multiple threads on the same topic just makes us sound like whiney sore losers.

Gholston's a thug.  The Big 10 office will probably get some film from the coach's office and it's up to them to handle it from there.  Let's stop with the whining.  It's over.  We f'n lost.  Move on.

Drill

October 15th, 2011 at 7:22 PM ^

Cheap shotting a player is NEVER gritty and ALWAYS dirty.  Period.  There are no two ways about it.  If Michigan won by doing this, I would hope like hell that Hoke suspended any of the players involved.  But Michigan didn't.  State did.  I'd rather have a team with morals that loses than a team without them that wins.  Maybe State should move to the SEC, where "win at all costs" is a more appreciated mentality.

 

EDIT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sM18sAZRnIU

http://gif.mocksession.com/2011/10/gholston-punch/?utm_source=rss&utm_m…

If you can look at that and call it anything other than "dirty play," then maybe you should switch over to being an MSU fan.  That sort of activity has NO PLACE on a football field and is nothing that anyone should EVER do.

Aero01

October 15th, 2011 at 8:24 PM ^

I don't think anyone here thinks it wasn't dirty. The point is that at the end of the year, everyone has some dirty plays (including us) and that whining about it accomplishes nothing other than making us look like sore losers. Stop whining.

Red_Lee

October 15th, 2011 at 7:29 PM ^

I did play football, actually. Lakeview High School, Battle Creek, Michigan - 2003. When one of our players, during a city rivalry game, grabbed another player's facemask and repeatedly slammed his head into the ground he was ejected and suspended for a hefty portion of the season.

Thank you for assuming incorrectly, sir.

JHendo

October 15th, 2011 at 7:54 PM ^

you clearly didn't play football...or atleast play it well. I played for 8 years and was considered a "dirty" player. How was I dirty? I held on almost every play without fail, I would keep a pancaked defender from getting back up and I barrel rolled blitzing linebackers. But never did I throw a punch. Never did I hit late or go for someone's head. What the Spartans did isn't dirty or gritty play and its not football. It's a complete lack of class. When my obnoxious spartan friends even take a step back after this victory to comment on how they were a bit embarrassed by some of their players' actions, then something is most definitely wrong with what they did.

Red_Lee

October 15th, 2011 at 8:07 PM ^

Well you're kind of right, I didn't play football "well". But I had passion to play well, I'm just not athletically talented. That's why I went to U of M for an education and not for football.

But I really don't understand everything that followed that statement as far as the overarching theme. I just see a lot about your 8 years of "dirty" but not "dirty" football play and then some loose connection to the current topic.

I listed specific players, not the whole Spartan football team (which I did actually congratulate on a deserved win). So please, take a little bit longer to formulate a clear message and a little more formatting.

Lionsfan

October 15th, 2011 at 7:40 PM ^

You're spot on, this isn't RCMB. Over there they don't care about the exceptionally dirty style of play, they just want a win. Over there how Gholston plays is "gritty" whereas in the rest of the college football world it's dirty. Telling everyone to "man up" because we're complaining that our players are being punched or having theirs head twisted is not smart if you're looking to stay here longterm

08mms

October 15th, 2011 at 8:49 PM ^

Yeah, and we had a cheap bastard who twisted limbs and pulled hairs in the pile. Lucky for everyone, the coach benched him before someone we played decided to take it personally and cause him some real harm. It's one thing to play nasty and follow through on your hits even if you might be able to pull off, it's another to body slam an unsuspecting player well after they've made a throw or try to throw a roundhouse on the field. I have no faith in Dantonio to take care of the issue like most competent coaches would, I hope the big ten steps up with something.

aanii

October 16th, 2011 at 1:28 AM ^

it's clear all the people crying about Gholston have never been at the bottom of a pile!  Ask anyone and they'll tell you it's the meanest nastiest place on earth.  That kind of twisting, pinching, grabbing, biting, poking, and in general trying to hurt the guy next to you happens in ever pile in every game at every level.  Heck, didn't Marcus Ray say he was "a pincher" in that back and forth with Banks in the freep or news last week?  and that he amped it up for this game?  

The only difference in this case is that it was on the OUTSIDE of the pile instead of underneath it - so the world got a rare clear glimpse of what is happening every 22 seconds on saturdays and sundays across America in the fall.   I guarantee you our guys were doing the same shit under the pile all game long.