In case you've never seen it...

[Sparlimb]

I had never seen the video of this until today, and I'm not sure it was a good idea to find it. A brutal attack that was better left in the past. Glad I wasn't old enough to see this in person. The knee to the groin was out of this world, but the guy that comes and stomps on his head is inconceivable...

1972 OSU v MN Basketball Game...

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lxnCY0CZ1pE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lxnCY0CZ1pE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

 

[rrjackIII]

Sparlimb,

This comes up every year when we play osu - i did not watch your video link but I know what it is.

Mussleman may have been a little over-exuberant in instilling all out wild a** intensity in his players. No excuse for the behavior. I bet the video does not include the footage of 7' Luke Witte casually going to the lockeroom at half time and throwing a vicious right hand elbow smash to Gopher PG Bob Nix's face as they passed each other while going to the locker room. 3 or 4 gophers saw what Witte did and chased after him while Witte broke into a sprint for the safety of the visitor's locker room. Luke evidently later found religion and is some sort of minister somewhere IIRC.

Definitely an embarrassment for Williams Arena the Gophers and OSU. Glad it is in the past.

 

[cncmin]

When I first watched this video (last year) the first thing that came to mind was that it all wasn't anywhere near as bad/violent as its reputation...before seeing the video I had visions of hundreds of Minnesota fans streaming onto the court beating up OSU players. While the incident is certainly horrible, something set off this action. What's the full story (more than just the punches and the stomps)?

Apparently there are still many OSU people who hate Minnesota for this incident. I can't say that I blame them, necessarily, but it was a long time ago, and few involved with the Gophers now have anything to do with that incident.

 

[Gopher4Life]

Fred Taylor's Buckeyes played a very physical (dirty) first half and the worthless refs let them get away with it. That set the tone for the second half when the Gophers were more than willing to retaliate. Plenty of blame to go around including both teams, both coaches, and the refs.

 

[alltimetwinsfan]

Sports Illustrated Article

I was poking around the Net tonight, and happened to come across the Sports Illustrated article that covered this game in-depth...it's a pretty interesting read, and one that shows how things have changed in the past 35 years, both in sports and society as a whole.

It begins on page 18, following the article on Fran Tarkenton returning to the Vikings, incidentally...

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/edb/reader.html?magID=SI&issueDate=19720207&mode=reader_vault

 

[Gopher4Life]

This piece was written by a writer who didn't attend the game, no doubt. He had an agenda and made sure his article supported that agenda. The entire article is a lame and biased attempt to paint OSU as victims and Minnesota coaches, players, and fans as thugs. The assault occurred because referees allowed the physical play in a very emotional contest to get way out of control. The Buckeyes (including Luke Witte and Fred Taylor) were no angels, although the Gophers crossed a line when they retaliated.

 

[GopherRock]

And for a brief moment on Saturday, everyone thought it was 1972 again.

 

[Mikie S]

Sparlimb,
I bet the video does not include the footage of 7' Luke Witte casually going to the lockeroom at half time and throwing a vicious right hand elbow smash to Gopher PG Bob Nix's face as they passed each other while going to the locker room. 3 or 4 gophers saw what Witte did and chased after him while Witte broke into a sprint for the safety of the visitor's locker room. Luke evidently later found religion and is some sort of minister somewhere IIRC.

I was there. I missed the actual Witte cheap shot on Nixon (my buddies saw it), but I saw the aftermath. The brawl nearly started right there except for a quick halftime retreat of the Buckeyes into the locker room.

 

[Gopher4Life]

The Buckeyes were a bunch of cheap shot chicken sh!ts coached by a mouthy scoundrel. It took a lot of nerve for them to whine afterwards.

 

[sec105]

The article tries very hard to paint this as a racial issue. Note the comment "...all except Nix were black athletes who had learned the game on city playgrounds" as if that explains why they were so violent toward "Witte, Ohio State's talented 7 foot blond haired center". In reality it was retaliation against a dirty play by a dirty player that went way overboard.

I was ther that day and I did see the Witte elbow to Nix. it was not an attempt to push Nix's fist pump out of his way. It was an elbow to the face nothing less.

Behagen and C.Taylor went way to far that day and deserved the season long suspession and in my mind could have easily and justifiably been expelled. However to paint Witte as an innocent babe was and is gauling. He has since found religion and has forgiven everyone involved. That is so very big of him.

 

[cncmin]

The article tries very hard to paint this as a racial issue. Note the comment "...all except Nix were black athletes who had learned the game on city playgrounds" as if that explains why they were so violent toward "Witte, Ohio State's talented 7 foot blond haired center". In reality it was retaliation against a dirty play by a dirty player that went way overboard.

I was ther that day and I did see the Witte elbow to Nix. it was not an attempt to push Nix's fist pump out of his way. It was an elbow to the face nothing less.

Behagen and C.Taylor went way to far that day and deserved the season long suspession and in my mind could have easily and justifiably been expelled. However to paint Witte as an innocent babe was and is gauling. He has since found religion and has forgiven everyone involved. That is so very big of him.

Well, it's obvious some of you feel very strongly that the Buckeyes helped instigate the situation...if you saw this stuff in person, why not post that on the YouTube video comments board...there sure are a lot of people in there believing essentially what the Sports Illustrated article portrayed it as - innocent white Buckeyes being beat up by a bunch of thugs for no reason. Sounds like there was more to the story than just the surface, but that whole rest of the story is rarely mentioned.

 

[Gopher4Life]

The Buckeyes didn't help instigate anything. They started it and we finished it. And the refs allowed it to escalate.

This has been discussed over and over for decades. Anyone who wants the whole story already has it. Anyone born after '72 probably has no business discussing it.