Tunnel Mugging Yet Another Sign of Our Troubled Times

What possessed Michigan State players to act like street thugs? Just look around. It's everywhere.

 A mugging in the tunnel? Seriously?

Every time you think you’ve seen it all. . .

I don’t even know how to wrap my mind around this utter trampling of sportsmanship, perspective—of all kinds of other things.

To see a gang of Michigan State players assaulting two outnumbered Michigan players who made the mistake of lone-wolfing it in the tunnel. . . is pretty stark stuff.

Yes, Michigan may be arrogant. Maybe some things were said. But there are no excuses for a street-mugging. None. It's a football game. Not West Side Story.

A century ago, somebody at Michigan thought it would be a good idea to have a real, live snarling wolverine in a cage in that tunnel. Didn't last. Fearful, even the Michigan players hustled past the little beast.

Maybe they should bring back one of those guys back. That would keep people moving in the tunnel.

I’ve been in that tunnel many times, including games that easily could have left people bent on violence.

I was behind  the end zone when Michael Westbrook caught a 64-yard Hail Mary from Kordell Stewart to give No. 7 Colorado a 27-26 shocker over No. 4 Michigan 27-26 in 1994.

After the game, Westbrook, who was from Detroit, walked around, pointing up at the crowd and taunting Michigan fans.

And yet, nobody laid hands on Westbrook in the tunnel.

I went up that tunnel after Michigan beat Illinois 67-65 in triple overtime in 2010. Do you think Ron Zook and his Illini were gnashing their teeth after that one?

I covered a bunch of Notre Dame games there, including the one in which Rocket Ismail returned two kickoffs for second-half touchdowns, leading top-ranked ND to a 24-19 victory over No. 2 Michigan before 105,912.

Any chance Bo Schembechler wanted to punch somebody?

But here’s the deal. I think this is as much a sign of the times as an indictment of those Michigan State players.

There is an increasing lack of respect, lack of self-control in so many arenas of modern life. People don’t accept defeat. They don’t accept people who are different. They feel they have a right to puff up their chest and do whatever they want, without regard for consequences or other people.

To be clear, I am not talking just about this incident. That's a blip on the radar. The problem is way bigger than that. It’s everywhere.

What was Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard thinking last winter when he mixed it up with the Wisconsin staff after a game?

The whole world seems to be on edge.

The other thing is, the Michigan-Michigan State rivalry is over the top. It has crossed a line on both sides.

Spartan fans still get incensed about being called ``Little Brother.’’ And Wolverines, aided by the media, keep poking that hot button.

Sometimes I wonder if Michigan State people feel disrespected because Michigan saves its most frothy venom for Ohio State.

In 2007, when Mike Hart first made the Little Brother comment, it was a throwaway, the kind of thing you would say to your. . . real brother. But Michigan fans took it and ran with it. And Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, instead of playing along, poured gasoline on the fire by being offended and wanting payback.

He’s not the first coach who decided it would be better to clench his teeth and get revenge.

If these were crosstown high school teams and I were the superintendent, I would just say, ``You guys aren’t playing each other for a while.’’

Back in the day, this rivalry was fun. I remember a long-ago Big Ten Media Day where Nick Saban, who was at Michigan State before LSU sent up that Lear jet filled with greenbacks, and Michigan coach Lloyd Carr were needling each other.

It was an old joke about heaven—with a punch line about God living in either that Green and White house. Or that Maize and Blue house.

I can’t remember which. But it was fun. We all had a good laugh.

Too bad those days are gone. In sports. And everywhere else.