First off, let me start this post off with this: Do I, as a criminal defense attorney truly believe that anything that happened on that field should result in criminal charges? No, absolutely not. Things like this rarely ever lead to criminal charges, even when a basketball player uses a chair to "assault" another player in a rivalry game. Suspension, sure, but we shouldn't involve prosecutors or police in sports fights.

That's not to say that "normal" people aren't charged with felonious assault, which is really "assault with a dangerous weapon" in Michigan, for stomping or kicking someone with a shoe. There are cases that have found shoes, yes, regular shoes, not cleats, as "dangerous weapons" for the purpose of the felonious assault statute in Michigan. But, personally, I don't think things like this should end up in a criminal court.

That said, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor set his own charging policy in regards to incidents like this when he charged 7 MSU players for their "involvement" in the tunnel fight. Only one of those players swung a helmet, which certainly would qualify as a "dangerous weapon." The others? Well, one of them wasn't even involved, and yet, he faced criminal charges and was suspended. So, I say all this in hopes of making it clear that I don't blame people that want the same response to this incident, even if I'm not really one of them. A simple statement from the Prosecutor that he was wrong for the way he handled the tunnel incident would be more than enough for me.

But back to the post. I broke this down on twitter and wanted to do it here as well. Even with the little video we have, it's pretty easy to see what happened. Sure, the 4k video from the broadcast, or in-stadium cameras could certainly clear this all up and provide a better picture than I could.

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It’s been a day and a half since Michigan State fell on the road to in-state rival Michigan 24-17 in Jonathan Smith’s first crack at the Wolverines as head coach of the Spartans, and he is still frustrated at the missed opportunities his team left on the field in Ann Arbor Saturday night.

“I think for me, it kind of crystallized Saturday night,” Smith said at his press conference on Monday. “Leading into it, (I) knew it was important, rivalry, emotions are going, but now truly experiencing it for the first time, that thing is different, that thing is important. That’s why it’s so frustrating to feel like we could have done a few things better. But, you got to move onto the next week and whatnot, but you will not forget, after experiencing that sucker, I will not forget that thing.”

More from Smith:

GMA is in town to tell a Spartan story.

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