Weasel of the Week: Sal Alosi

If you're a football fan, this one's pretty obvious.

Alosi is a heretofore anonymous strength & conditioning coach for the New York Jets who became public enemy #1, at least in the eyes of the press and the Miami Dolphins, on December 12 when he leaned out from the sideline with his knee to trip up the Dolphins' Nolan Carroll. What was his motivation? I get that it's a long-standing rivalry between the two teams, but this just goes beyond common sense. Carroll could've been seriously injured, but he wasn't, and he re-entered the game later on. Miami won, 10-6, to split the season series (the Jets won at Miami earlier in the season).

The Jets, knowing they're under more scrutiny from the New York media than usual after appearing on the HBO pre-season series, Hard Knocks, not to mention the fact that their 2nd year coach, Rex Ryan, has become a media magnet, took action, suspending Alosi indefinitely after it came out that Alosi instructed some of the players to form a wall on the sideline to prevent Carroll or anyone else on the Dolphins from seeing what he was planning to do. The next likely step is Alosi being fired, probably before the end of the regular season.

Yahoo! Sports referenced a college game from years ago as a precedent set for Alosi's actions, but the only other incident that I can think of in the college ranks was when Ohio State coach Woody Hayes assaulted a Clemson player several years ago. That ultimately led to Hayes leaving Ohio State, having soiled his reputation and that of the university. What Alosi did was similarly uncalled for, adding more fuel to the fire between the Jets & the Dolphins, who don't play each other again until next season. By then, Alosi's folly will be a distant memory, punctuated by the weasel ears he gets for further tarnishing the Jets' collective image, as if it wasn't already soiled this season.