Well, it’s time to discuss what is perhaps the least classy display I have witnessed in 21 years of watching sports. No, I am not talking about Pedro Martinez “defending himself” from the heinous attack of a seventy-some-odd year-old man; that’s another topic for another day. What I’m getting at, of course, is the despicable cheap shot that linebacker Robert Reynolds of an Ohio State University took at Wisconsin quarterback Jim Sorgi Saturday.
Thanks to ESPN, everyone in America has seen Reynolds applying a choke hold to Sorgi while he was pinned underneath several other players from an Ohio State University. I don’t think that I need to elaborate too much on exactly why attempting to cave in someone’s throat is dirty. There is no place for it in college football, or professional football, or even professional wrestling, at that. The Undertaker would have at least gotten an obligatory three count from the referee to break the hold.
Reynolds, on the other hand, showed no sign that he would release the quarterback, and were it not for Donovan Raiola and Jonathan Clinkscale, who knows what kind of damage would have been done to Sorgi.
This was not a run-of-the-mill, football-related cheap shot. Reynolds did not hit Sorgi after he ran out of bounds; he did not hit him after he had thrown a pass or enact any of the more common bush league practices. Rodney Harrison went for Trent Green’s knees in a 1999 preseason game, costing Green a Super Bowl run. It was an extremely dirty but at least somewhat football related move. Players from Jack Tatum to Andre Waters to Bill Romanowski have made names for themselves by employing these sorts of tactics.
What Reynolds did goes far above and beyond a dirty hit. He makes “Romo” — one of the most despised players in the NFL — seem like a choirboy.
Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany said that, “Robert Reynolds’ actions toward Wisconsin student-athlete Jim Sorgi have no place in our game.”
Forget about football Commissioner Delany; Reynolds’ actions have no place in society. He didn’t just violate the rules of football, he broke the law. If he had locked a chokehold on Sorgi while he was walking down the street, he would have at least been arrested for assault.
In the end, it was Sorgi who came out on top of Reynolds and an Ohio State University, on the field and off. While Reynolds resorted to thuggery, Sorgi and the Badgers took the high road. Instead of retaliating against him or one of his teammates, they let their play and the scoreboard take care of the payback. No one would have blamed Raiola and the rest of the offensive line one bit if they had sought vengeance on him Denver Bronco style. Heck, many people would have applauded if Reynolds was the target of cut block after cut block because, in all honesty, he deserved it. But, as enraged as they were, the Badgers demonstrated class.
Sorgi showed even more class, accepting first a phone call and then an apology from Reynolds.
“I talked to Reynolds last night on the phone,” Sorgi said at Monday’s press conference. “He was very apologetic, and he said it was uncharacteristic of him. Like I said, it takes a man to apologize. He seems like a good guy, and I am sure he regrets what he did. We are all going to move on from it.”
If it takes a man to apologize, it took an even bigger Sorgi to accept an apology from a guy who could have seriously injured him, or worse.
An Ohio State University has suspended Reynolds for one game due to the incident, and “The Big Ten Conference considers this matter concluded and will have no further comment.”
How can it be that in 2000 Jamar Fletcher and others were suspended for three games for getting a good deal on some shoes, yet Reynolds gets only one game for physical assault? Where is the moral watchdog that is the NCAA now? Obviously they are more concerned with protecting the ethics of shopping than the health and welfare of the athletes they make money off of.
You know what, Big Ten? Forget about an Ohio State University’s slap on the wrist suspension. “Conclude this matter.” Just be sure that every offensive line in the conference sees what Reynolds did, and tell Bobby to strap on his kneepads.
