Emotional Game
November 22, 2004 02:56 PM | General
November 22, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The 97th annual Backyard Brawl promises to be an emotional football game. It’s that way every year. But with the recent fights between the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and the Indiana Pacers and last weekend’s Clemson-South Carolina brawl, both West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez and Pitt's Walt Harris have talked to their teams about keeping things from getting out of hand.
| Henry Suspended | |
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia University coach Rich Rodriguez announced Monday that Chris Henry has been suspended for the Pitt game for a violation of team rules. Henry, a 6-foot-5, 195-pound junior wide receiver, is the team’s top pass-catcher hauling in 49 passes for 811 yards and 12 touchdowns. He is averaging 81.1 yards per game through the air. “I don’t want to go into the specifics about it but we do have rules regarding effort in the class room, in the weight room and on the practice field and when those rules are violated obviously the young men have to face some disciplinary action,” Rodriguez said. “He will not be playing in the Pitt game and will not make the trip.” Earlier this year, Henry was held out of the first half of the Temple game after being ejected from the Rutgers contest for receiving two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. Rodriguez said redshirt freshman Dwayne Thompson will start in Henry’s place. Also, senior wide receiver Eddie Jackson will be available for action after missing the Boston College game with a knee injury. West Virginia plays Pitt Thanksgiving night at 8 pm. The contest will air on ESPN. |
“I addressed this at length with the team yesterday and I will do it again today,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “There is unacceptable behavior and I don’t care what they see on TV and how cool guys think it is. You can embarrass your program and embarrass yourself and your family so quickly now because all of the games are on TV and you’ve got to be really careful.”
Pitt coach Walt Harris agrees: “I did address it with our football team and I would do it regardless of who we’re playing. I think the couple of occurrences are very, very sad for sports in general. Obviously the football one hits more at home than the basketball one,” he said.
In the Clemson-South Carolina game last Saturday, players from both teams brawled late in a game Clemson won 29-7 with 67-year-old coach Lou Holtz diving into the pile trying to restore order.
Police, security and coaches tried to separate both teams, who scuffled before the game and continually pushed and shoved each other throughout.
“I know the Clemson-South Carolina rivalry and I’ve been there,” said Rodriguez. “It is as intense as anything just like the Backyard Brawl or the Auburn-Alabama game. It’s a very, very emotional time between teams. I can’t say what happened because I wasn’t there, but those incidents happening back to back gives coaches a reason to stress that there are boundary limits. You want your guys to play with great passion and great emotion but you can’t cross that line.”
Having coached at Clemson, Rodriguez has remained close with the Tigers staff and also knows Lou Holtz and believes both coaches are sick about what transpired last weekend.
“One of the assistant coaches I know at Clemson said he was getting tossed around like a rag doll trying to break it up. He was just totally helpless and out of control,” he said.
According to Rodriguez, fan behavior is also becoming more of an issue. Indiana’s Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson went into the stands and fought with fans during a basketball game at Detroit last Friday night that resulted in several people being injured and prompted a police investigation.
Artest went into the crowd after a fan threw a cup of beer on him.
Last summer, Texas Rangers reliever Frank Francisco broke a women’s nose when he threw a chair into the stands during a major league baseball game. She turned out to be the wife of a man who had been heckling the Rangers during the game that led to a fracas in the Rangers’ bullpen.
During West Virginia’s 36-17 loss to Boston College on Saturday, Nov. 13, Rodriguez says some of the coaches’ wives were verbally abused during the game.
“I think there is no question that fans are now a lot bolder than they’ve ever been,” he said. “That doesn’t excuse players for going into the stands because there is no excuse for that. People say well they’ll boo but when they make personal attacks on young men and on coaches and coaches’ families I think there is a line that has to be drawn. To me it’s not acceptable behavior and I don’t care what you pay for a ticket or what have you.
“To make personal insults to people and to people’s families … I don’t think there is any business for that amongst true fans,” he added. “Most fans, 90 percent of them, do everything right and are great fans but there is a small, small handful that are embarrassing in their actions.”
Unfortunately, many incidents now wind up being replayed on television from coast to coast.
“If it’s on TV everybody in the country is going to know about it if you do something unacceptable,” Rodriguez said. “You have to be aware of that. I think our players learned that lesson earlier in the year and they’re being taught that lesson now. I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t address it at length.”
Walt Harris says the West Virginia-Pitt rivalry encompasses two great schools with tremendous history and tradition. He hopes all of the participants, fans included, will keep that in mind Thursday night.
“There is no reason for either team, especially us, to get caught up in anything that deters from playing football," he said. "I know Coach Rodriguez is addressing it with his team and I’ve addressed it with our football team. We need to play football and have a great game; may the best team win.”
Rodriguez concurs: “It’s a violent sport but your guys also have to understand that you can’t use it in the wrong way: you’ve just got to play football,” he said. “All that other stuff is not part of football. You don’t have to like your opponent but you still play football. I’m sure between us and Pitt there is no love lost but there is enough class from both programs that we can play good, hard, clean football and leave that other stuff to the WWF, the WWE or whatever you call it.”
