On NBC Sunday Night Football's halftime show, Cris Collinsworth called for Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth to be arrested for his intentional stomp on Cowboys' center Andre Gurode's head. Haynesworth had ripped off Gurode's helmet after being frustrated by Gurode's domination on a Juilus Jones toudown run. Haynesworth proceeded to kick Gurode's forehead, but he didn't hit him cleanly the first time, so he followed with a more vicious blow that opened up a gash so large that doctors needed 30 stitches to close it. Anyone watching the game saw the blood gushing from Gurode's head during a close-up after the play.

Collinsworth's right that Haynesworth should be arrested for his "crime." The other studio announcers scoffed at the notion, but I don't think they were paying enough heed to the egregiousness of Haynesworth's conduct, which fell outside the custom of the game (as used here, "custom" means the permissible scope of acts that players reasonably expect to be committed during the game's play).

There's a line between personal fouls and crimes. Almost always, a personal foul doesn't rise to a crime when it occurs as a result of a player's legitimate efforts to play the game. For example, when a defender hits a ball carrier late, the contact doesn't rise to an assault because the ball carrier has a legitimate expectation of such contact upon entering the gridiron. Thus, he has consented to being hit after the ball's been snapped. But there's a point at which this consent ends, as no football players have a reasonable expectation of being hit while walking back to the huddle.

Haynesworth began his assault of Gurode about five seconds after Jones had scored. Thus, Haynesworth' conduct falls outside the bounds of an "accepable" personal foul. Furthermore, most personal fouls come as a result of a player's efforts. Offenders usually aren't "intentionally" committing a foul; instead, they're recklessly ignoring a referee's whistle. Haynesworth's act, on the other hand, was most definitely intentional. This intent was exhibited by Haynesworth's act of ripping off Gurode's helmet. He had a preconceived a plan to stomp on Gurode, and this plan required multiple acts (unlike most personal fouls, which involve a single act). Haynesworth's next act was his first kick to Gurode's head, which merely grazed the center. The final act was the vicious stomp that opened a large wound.

The NFL must give Haynesworth a lengthy suspension. But that shouldn't be Haynesworth's only worry. The Davidson County District Attorney (the incident occurred in Nashville) has an obligation to file charges against Haynesworth. This was a crime that should be dealt with seriously. Haynesworth caused bodily injury to Gurode, and it would have been more serious if he hadn't narrowly missed Gurode's eye.

The process would be speeded along if someone files a complaint at the local police station. There were millions of witnesses, and only one has to step forward. And it's our right as citizens to initiate such prosecutions by filing the complaint. I encourage any Cowboys fans who live in Nashville to go the police station or call your local prosecutor's office to figure out how to go about initiating the process. Haynesworth deserves to sit in a jail for a few months for his reprehensible conduct. And it'll send a sound message to all of the players in the league that such dirty tactics won't be tolerated.

Update: I just did a quick google search on Haynesworth, and this guy's got a violence problem. In May of this year, he was arrested for reckless endangerment after he tried to run a motorist off the road with his "large truck."