Romo beats the cr@p out of a teammate...
 

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=1603083

Monday, August 25, 2003
Updated: August 26, 1:21 PM ET
Romanowski fined, suspended for fight
ESPN.com news services

ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Raiders linebacker Bill Romanowski was suspended from Monday's practice and fined an undisclosed amount after punching and seriously injuring teammate Marcus Williams during a fight in practice a day earlier.

Williams' left orbital bone was broken and his nose was damaged, coach Bill Callahan said. Williams reportedly lost a tooth, as well.

"It doesn't matter who it is," Callahan said when asked whether he was disappointed in Romanowski. "When it gets to that severity, I'm going to level a discipline. It goes beyond the game. Once it's beyond the respect and dignity of a player, it's a tragedy."

Williams, who was a 14-game backup last year, will be sidelined four-to-six weeks, which puts the Raiders in position of reaching an injury settlement with him, ESPN's John Clayton reports. Williams is scheduled to make a base salary of $300,000.

Williams' agent, Lee Kolligian, told the San Francisco Chronicle that his client filed a report with Alameda police after the incident, but Alameda Police Lt. Jim Brock told the newspaper that his department would not pursue the matter after speaking with Williams on Monday afternoon. Following a phone conversation with Callahan on Sunday night, Williams told the investigator he did not want to pursue a criminal complaint against Romanowski.

"He said he kind of overreacted [by calling the police]," Brock told the Chronicle on Monday. "He said he wanted to keep it on the field. As far as we're concerned, the case is closed."

Williams underwent several tests at a local hospital before being released Sunday night.

"I believe we're more concerned with Marcus' health right now and how he comes out of it the next few days," Kolligian told the Chronicle. "I'm hoping there isn't any permanent damage to him. After that, we'll have to see the extent of his damages and how he feels."

Callahan met with Romanowski for three hours on Monday night after practice. Romanowski didn't speak with reporters as he drove up to the team's training complex.

Romanowski is entering his 16th NFL season and second with the Raiders, who signed him as a free agent before their run to the AFC championship last fall. He has appeared in five Super Bowls and played in 240 consecutive regular-season games.

He was second on the team in tackles last year while helping Oakland's defense improve to fourth overall against the run.

But Romanowski has a long history of violent scrapes with opponents and others. One of his more well-publicized incidents came in December 1997, when he spit in the face of San Francisco 49ers receiver J.J. Stokes while playing for the Denver Broncos in a nationally televised game.

Romanowski was fined $7,500 by the NFL -- one of several fines for his behavior during his career.

Williams is in his second year with Oakland after playing in 13 games as an undrafted free agent last season. He played primarily on special teams last season, but was trying to earn a more regular position this year.

"I talked about fighting on the first day of training camp," Callahan said. "It's an intolerable offense. I think everybody understands how I feel. I'm really disappointed. It was really an unfortunate incident that kind of took the edge off practice."

The Raiders play their final preseason game Thursday against the Cowboys in Dallas.

NFL senior writer John Clayton and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

I guess there's an unwritten rule about "keeping it on the field," but at what point does a good ole' fashioned practice field whuppin' become a criminal act?

Romo makes me sick. I wish he Colorado authorities had taken it to him when they had the chance...

And this is a surprise to who?

Doesn't surprise me. But I'd fire his ass.

i am all for ripping on romo but hey has been around an awful long time maybe this tight end blocked him from behind? i don't know the details but this guy may be trying to make the team and was a little over zealous and romo is the kinda guy who is like gasoline on a fire

Wow. Stuff like this happens and yet there are still people that consider Barry Bonds their least favorite athlete...

I can't see how the Raiders can keep Romanowski after this - how can any of his teammates have any respect for him after this? I understand football is a violent game and emotions get the better of people and fights happen in practices among teammates, but it should never reach this level - you lose your head, teammates break things up and you cool off and apologize later. Where were the other Raiders when this was happening?

I would hope that there might be a public backlash, but I am more inclined to belive that he will be made into more of a hero, by the fans, for his toughness in the Raider black and silver.

I agree 110%

I'd guess this increases the respect he gets from most of his teammates. Busting a guy up that bad is pretty hard to do in pads. The media (and most fans) may be upset about it, but football players see violence everyday and learn to respect those who are the most violent.

Shouldn't he at least be on probation by now? He is a punk that belongs in jail. If he was not a great athlete, he already would be or would be dead.

Paging Michael Westbrook....Mr. Michael....Westbrook......

It's things like this that make me not feel bad when I root for career-ending injuries for Romanowski.

I don't understand how they can keep him on a team. Guys get into fights all the time in practice, but they are usually minor scrapes that end with the players re-bonding as they run laps together, the coach pretending discipline.

How can the guys there now trust this guy, go to war with him? Is he really on their side?

All I needed to know about his character was how he set his wife up to take the heat for the drugs he was illegally using to keep up with his "darker pigmented" teammates.

These wishes sometimes come true.
See: Michael Irvin

:mad:

RIP, Veterans Stadium astroturf! :D

Is he even on an NFL roster this year? I did a player search for him on ESPN and it came up empty...

Fights happen all the time in practice. I used to get into one almost on a daily basis when I played. Some were just shoving matches, others were all-out fights trying to take the other guy's head off. Sometimes I would get into it with someone I got along with and we'd make up after practice or whatever, but there were plenty of guys on the opposite side of the ball I just didn't like.

I don't know Romo, but he seems like the kind of guy that doesn't get along well with offensive players (I've known quite a few guys like that). If that's the case, I wouldn't be surprised if Romo laid into him. Not an uncommon occurence from my experience. When you start throwing punches, you do so with the intent to hurt the other guy. Romo actually did so, which is pretty rare in pads. So are people wanting him punished because he got into a fight or because he was actually successful in the fight?

They were talking about this on the radio here in Chicago. One of the radio personalities was former Bears runningback Raymont Harris, and I guess in his final season as a player he was Romanowski's teammate.

Raymont inferred that Romo was a racist, saying "he did not like people who did not look like him." Also he mentioned that none of his teammates liked Romo as a person, because of his views and arrogance, but they all loved him as a teammate on Sunday.

Just found Raymont's views on him interesting and just wanted to share a former teammate's view on him for y'all.

I don't believe so. NFL.com lists him as being with the Bengals on his player page, but he's not on their roster.

Wow... how the mighty have fallen... probably second only to Heath Shuler on the list of all-time Redskins busts.

Hey, I'm no Eagles fan! I just want his knees ruined. No spinal injuries please.

Hey, he's healthy enough to be on NFL Countdown (hmm, Sterling Sharpe, Irvin...I guess the ticket to that job is to be an outspoken receiver who retired due to a neck injury).

Sad thing is in a few years we will probably see Romo on CBS or ESPN doing games. This guy is a piece poo in my opinion.

I definitely see that happening. He's made guest appearances on a couple of shows including the last draft broadcast and actually handled himself well in front of the camera.

If you've ever followed a hockey training camp, you'd see that fighting is pretty common place for guys trying to make a name for themselves, even taking on more established name players who better step up to the plate.

If the fight was a result of just fighting for possession or whatever fine... but if the motive was beyond the football field, then he deserves whatever's coming to him.

I was listening to the Jim Rome radio program a couple of hours ago and the calls seemed to be about 10 to 1 in favor of this jerk.

This has been more than inferred, many times in the past. He has been reported to have pushed his particular chemical preparation routine on young players that did look like him, telling them that they needed the drugs, "to keep up with the {everyone's favorite racial epithet}"

Think about the average Rome caller base. No shocker.

Don't even get me started on Rome.

Doesn't surprise me that he and his listeners would be Romo fans...

I have a hard time believing this is good for team morale - it's one thing to lose your head and take some swings, but I have to believe that this was more than that given the damage inflicted.

OTOH, I remember when Olin Kreutz was a young C for the Huskies and he busted the jaw of a teammate on the DL. Kreutz was always regarded as a bad-ass mofo with extreme attitude, and this solidified that rep. Kreutz was not well-liked by most of his teammates, but he was a monster on the field. I guess the acceptability of acts like these are related to the talent of the player...

I'm not really a Rome listener and definately (spelling?) not a Romo fan. That was the only sports program I could find on the radio coming home from work. SO THERE JeeberD ! :p

I was a linesman at the now defunct Quebec Nordiques training camp for about 5 years, just before they moved to Colorado. While what you say is very true, about fights being pretty common place in an NHL training camp, they are also part of the game, which isn't really true about football. Also, fights in NHL training camps would sometimes be very short with a whole lot of dancing around, maybe a few jabs, but mostly right on the helmet...

FM

Where did I say that you were a Rome fan? :confused: :)

There's a difference between fighting and beating the crap out of someone. Romanowski is a jackass who doesn't deserve to play in the NFL

You said "he and his listeners" would be ROMO fans not ROME fans. :)

I never liked Romo when he was with the Broncos. One of those things where your favorite team wins the Super Bowl and when they show that one player celebrating you turn your head.

Fighting is commonplace in camps. Breaking the orbital bone of a teammate isn't. I've never quite understood the logic of this type of attitude. "because fighting happens, it's ok that Romo injured a guy for 6 weeks" No, the two don't go together. There is a line you cross.

I'm not surprised in the least Romo crossed it. I was very happy when he went to the Raiders. I can cheer against him there and not feel bad about it.

TroyF

I meant that it doesn't surprise me that Rome and his fanatical followers would be Romo fans. Cause Rome is an ass.

Anyways....

So it's ok to fight as long as you aren't very good at it?

:D

I agree there's a line you can cross. Taking a bat to someone. Jumping them after practice. etc.

But just because the guy got injured from a punch, doesn't make that punch something drastically different than other punches that get thrown all the time. Slightly different, but not drastically. Folks think he should be cut because of this. A normal fight in practice results in getting a talking to from the coach. I don't know what Romo's punishment is, I suspect a fine and probably being held out of practice or something similar. That seems about right to me. I think a lot of people are just reacting to this because they don't like Romo (I don't care one way or the other about the guy myself) and want to see him punished.

Bee,

This guy lost a tooth. He had an orbital bone broken. He has damage done to his nose.

That's THREE big punches, anyone of which should have ended the skirmish. (we've all fought with our brothers or cousins, we know when we've landed somehting that crossed the line) Even if you say that one of the punches could have caused two of those things (which I'd concede could happen), that's still an extra punch.

He crossed the line, plain and simple. This has nothing to do with punishing him because he's a good fighter. It has to do with him being an a$$hole.

TroyF

Sure it does. If I stab someone in the stomach, and they live, but you stab someone else in the stomach and they die, aren't those different? Wouldn't you (and shouldn't you) be punished more severely than I would be for the resulting harm to the individual? I don't think you could argue that you should get a lighter sentence because you "just happened" to kill someone with the same action that only resulted in an injury when I did it.

And, in the world of tort (civil) law, it matters as well. There's a concept called the "eggshell plaintiff" - which basically means "you take the victim as you found him" - if he has a preexisting physicial or mental condition, and you negligently or intentionally cause injuries that are exacerbated by the condition, you are at fault, even if the results are unforeseeable.

So, if you negligently or intentionally cut a hemophiliac, and he bleeds to death, you are responsible for the death, even if the cut wouldn't have caused a scar on a normal person.

I'm with Troy on this one - this isn't about whether Romo is a 'good' fighter or not. He had to have landed at least 3 solid blows with the other guy's helmet off, and who knows how many swings he took.

My observation of football practice fights is when the helmets come off that's when the teammates and coaches move in to break things up. Taking a number of hard swings at a teammate with their helmet off is crossing the line.

HOWEVER, loathe as I am to admit it, there's a possibility Romo felt justification for his actions based on what Williams had done to him. We don't know the backstory here; we don't know if what set Romo off was Williams attempting to injure Romo (at least in Romo's opinion). I'll retract my earlier statements and wait to here his side of the story, but it had better be good - if not, I think the Raiders ought to cut him.

I was going to respond, but decided there's no point. I think I probably have a much different perspective of these things than most people on the board and will just have to accept that.

We're talking about a fight in a football practice, not stabbing someone. One's a criminal act, the other is a common occurance that is often encouraged (and if you don't think it is, you've never played the game).

Sure the severity of the fight should be dealt with differently, but like I said before the difference is not drastic IMO.

The good fighter crack was a joke folks. That's why there was a big grin after it.

Bee,

I think you're making an assumption that none of us who are being critical of Romo ever played football. You're thinking that maybe we don't understand what a practice fight is. Maybe we are naive and think all players get along all the time.

Stop making it.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I do know what is going on. I also know when someone goes to far. Just because fighting happens and it is encouraged (by some coaches, not all) doesn't mean it's ok to beat on them like you would a punching bag. When a guy has to go to the hospital because you were an a$$hole, you've went from two brothers fighting to INTENTIONALLY trying to hurt someone on your own team.

There is a difference. I know you're shocked that some people can't believe fighting occurs in practice. Well, I'm just as shocked you can't see when someone crosses the line and what that does to a team.

TroyF

How many of us would like to see Kelci Stringer win her lawsuit against the Vikings?

When someone accepts the invitation into the sports world, he accepts a world with different rules. The lines we see in our society are drawn in different places.

I suspect that's why Williams decided to withdraw his police complaint. It's also why you don't hear of players refusing to practice or demanding major changes in how training camp is conducted due to Stringer's death.

I don't know where the line is on a practice-field fight. Hopefully, even a thug like Romo wouldn't actually have to kill someone before we find out.

Oh my god! Bill Romanowski is a bad man!!

Fine...let's string him up by the testicles in Time Square and everyone can take a swing at him with a very large club. :D