Football is violent? Since when?

If you turned on a sports show any time during the last week or so, you likely watched some talking heads discuss the recent on-field brawl between football players from the University of Miami and Florida International University.

The event provoked extreme responses, as just about every old, pasty sportswriter who gets his ugly mug on TV got all hot and bothered about it.

The background: Miami and FIU players don't like each other. Florida is one of the best, if not the best, states for high school football talent. Most of the best players go to one of three schools: Florida, Florida State or Miami. The second-tier players go to Central Florida or South Florida. And at the next level down there's the Florida International guys. So, naturally, the FIU guys don't like the Miami guys because the Miami guys go to Miami and all the FIU guys wanted to go — and probably at one point thought they would go — to Miami. One can imagine the trash talking.

The events: Miami hits the extra point after scoring a touchdown and there's a little post-play pushing and shoving. Nothing out of the ordinary. But then, out of nowhere, an FIU player tackles the Miami holder and punches him. Predictably, all hell breaks loose. Players from both sidelines, some on crutches, charge onto the field like the Scots charging the English in "Braveheart," though these football guys wear better armor. An FIU player gets trapped on the ground and stomped upon.

The image that will endure for some time, though, is that of Miami safety Anthony Reddick flying into the fray with his helmet in his hand and bopping (there is no other word to describe what he did) an FIU player on his head, which was of course covered with a helmet. After the refs and police restore order, the Miami players huddle close together and jump up and down celebrating, as they would after beating Florida State. And the game wasn't over yet.

Now, as I said, the talking heads really didn't like any of this. They called the event "disgusting," "embarrassing," "terrible," "vile" and so on. When something like this happens, the heads get worked up and red in the face and so self-righteous that you're surprised that God doesn't anoint them angels right then and there and suck them up to heaven.

The heads condemn, but what right do they have to do so? About 99 percent of us are jerks every once in awhile, and those who don't admit it are even bigger jerks. Anyone who has played a sport at a decent level (high school) knows that if someone on the other team hits someone on your team illegally, you get on the field. I'm not saying I would be stomping on someone, but I would be pissed. And on the FIU side, if I had to listen to some guy I used to play in high school football talk about how much I stink and how great he is, I would be pretty ticked off, too.

Of course, Miami has a long history of poor behavior — in the late '80s when they played Notre Dame, the match-up was called the "Catholics vs. Convicts" game. We need more humor like that in sports.

The truth is, the only things that are possibly disgusting and embarrassing about big-time college football are the off-the-field realities: the loopholes coaches use to get their prized, and often academically unprepared, recruits into school in the first place; the segregation of the football players on many campuses and the preferential treatment they receive from teachers and administrators; the low graduation rate at many top schools and the absurd amounts of money the schools and TV networks make off the players. In the end, college football is nothing more than a minor league for the NFL.

Back to field, and a small point the talking heads amazingly forgot to bring up: the Miami and FIU guys are football players. They are loved and lionized because they are violent. The more violent they are, the better they are and the more love they receive. No one was injured in the brawl — the players were punching each other in the helmets and pads! That's kinda funny!

We all like violence anyway, even if we don't like to admit it. Many people love football for the violence. And why do people watch NASCAR? For the crashes. Why do people rubberneck on the highway? To see mangled metal and maybe even a body part or two. Who watched the New Year's Eve countdown on Dec. 31, 1999 waiting for Times Square to go up in smoke? I know I did, even though it pains me to say it now. What about the Miami brawl, then? What did I think of that? Riveting TV.