Yesterday, this happened.

After watching a guy rip the helmet off of and bash it into the head of another player, the big question today is if he can be held legally responsible for assault and/or battery.

I say ABSOLUTELY! But, it probably won’t happen.

Just because someone can (should) be charged with a crime, doesn’t mean it will come to fruition. Courts have proven time and time again they don’t like to meddle in sports…they leave it up to the leagues, for the most part.

There was one instance very similar to this though in the National Hockey League. You’ll recall a player by the name of Marty McSorely. He took his stick and struck an opponent in the head in the last seconds of a game many years ago, and he was convicted of a crime – rightfully so!

In sports, there are certain things that you sing up for. If you are a kickboxer, you are expecting to be kicked in the face repeatedly. If you are a football player, you are signing up to be thrown to the ground. No one signs up for having their helmet ripped off and used as a weapon. If a baseball player comes out of the dugout and smacks someone with a bat…same thing.

While I don’t think the courts will take this on, I wish this type of behavior would have more consequences than the financial ones Garret will face when he’s suspended for the rest of the year, probably.

Yahoo Sports’ Henry Bushnell has done a GREAT job of breaking all of this down. Give it a read.