Kiffin's gone, but hits just keep on coming at UTenn, literally

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2010/jul/09/vols-football-players-brawl-bar/

KNOXVILLE — The co-owner of a nightclub near the University of Tennessee campus said “seven to 10” Volunteers football players were involved in a fight early Friday morning at the establishment.

Knoxville Police Department officials were on scene at the incident, but none offered comment on the situation — including whether any arrests were made.

UT spokespeople were gathering information on the incident and also weren’t ready to comment.

Bar Knoxville co-owner Sandy Morton offered her eyewitness account of the event to the Times Free Press.

Morton said the fight started inside but spread outside, and it ended with an off-duty police officer knocked unconscious in Cumberland Avenue.

 

Nice work by my colleague Wes Rucker.

Bigger news coming out of this, any arrests of UT players or the NCAA's reaction to the players' VIP benefits?

 

Very strict on ID? One of the players was 18....

 

Da'Rick Rogers, the one who was arrested, was a pretty high-profile prospect (he's actually a 2010 signee who enrolled in January, I believe).

Darren Myles was a big-timer coming out of high school as well.

 

18 to party, 21 to drink. That's how many college bars are.

And yeah, John's right. NCAA won't like hearing how athletes are getting into the bar for free. They might lose a few practice days for it.

 

Really? Seems like a recipe for disaster and underage drinking if you ask me. Had no idea, up here the drinking age is 19 and I've been carded in the US as late as 2004 - when I was 39!

 

When I was in college, all the bars were 18 to party, 21 to drink. Then every year, the cops would come into one of the bars and do a bust of the underage drinkers, then take away the liquor license of the bar for a week or two.

Then the bar would get the license back, reopen to people over 21. The other bars would get scared and follow suit for a couple of weeks, until they all felt the financial pinch of not having the underage cover charges, then they'd allow the 18 year olds back in again to get snuck beers.

 

C'mon you still look like you're 19 or 20!!!

 

Is there anything else better to do in Knoxville than get in a fight? The number of suspensions is going to remind some of the NBA suspensions from the Heat-Knicks series back in 1997. I guess Dooley will have space the suspensions over several games to avoid putting the whole team on the bench. Considering how bare the cupboard is going to be in Neyland Stadium this year, this has to make it a LOT worse.

 

True dat, my brother.

 

Orange makes you angry.

 

Myles dismissed from the team:

http://www.volunteertv.com/sports/headlines/98140649.html