Football is
While I think it's wrong, I don't think criminal charges should be pursued in this case.
The offending player should be kicked off his team for unsportsmanlike conduct for a set amount of games (I'm sure there's a standard time for this).
Testosterone and aggression go hand-in-hand with football. I'm sure coaches on both teams have taught really good ways to knock the wind out of an opponent (legal or no) without the referees watching. That happens.
It's football. People hit each other. Hard.
Tempers not only flare, but players are encouraged to do so.
To press charges is to buy into the litigious nature of this country, and enhance the 'whine-ability" of a nation too afraid to enjoy life in fear of potential lawsuit.
Pressing charges on a HS football player for being rough? Might as well handcuff his parents, his coach, and the entire school administration. Might as well press charges on the sparring partner who throws bombs in the gym. Etc.
There are better ways to handle this. It's on a personal level between the players and their families and they should seek out the lesson learned in this incident; which is that stupid, unsportsmanlike behavior has is potential consequences and reflects not on just the player, but his community. Wouldn't that show better sportsmanship and personal accountability than slapping some poor kid with a lawsuit?
Alas, the litigious society we live in is also an instant-gratification society. A lawsuit is like the microwave dinner version of solving this problem.
