Spring Break
INTRAMURALS: Team kicked out of intramural basketball league
by Mike Prada
Editor in Chief
Sports | 2/5/08
Posted online at 10:52 PM EST on 3/9/08
CORRECTION APPENDED SEE BOTTOM
An intramural basketball team has been removed from the league following an altercation in which one of its players allegedly choked an opponent during the second half of a game last Thursday, Assistant Director of Athletics Tom Rand said Monday.
Rand said he decided to remove the Wetmen from the league and reschedule their opponents' games after this incident involving team member Ben Leit '08, as well as a prior one in which another player on the team was ejected in the first game of the season. Rand also said an intramural football team that included eight of the Wetmen's nine members repeatedly argued with officials during the flag football season.
According to witnesses, Leit, a member of the Wetmen, strangled Noah Seifman '08, a member of the Burnt Out Bowens, after Seifman blocked one of Leit's shots. After referees and members of both teams were able to separate Leit from Seifman, he was immediately ejected from the game. Leit walked outside the Shapiro Gymnasium without further incident.
Members of the Wetmen, however, said that prior to the altercation, Leit and Seifman exchanged words and pushed each other following their attempts to retrieve a loose ball. They said that Seifman was standing over Leit after the loose ball went out of bounds, which they said may have provoked physical contact.
"That kind of behavior is obviously not tolerated and has no place in the intramural sports program here at Brandeis," Rand said.
Late Monday night, however, Rand partially reconsidered his decision, allowing the seven other members of the Wetmen who did not have a prior record of altercations to compete on other intramural teams if they wished.
Leit said in a phone interview Monday that he apologized to Seifman, his teammates and the officials, both in person and through e-mail.
"I felt terrible about it, and I still do," he said. "I was out of control, and I apologized to everyone involved in it. I still feel bad about it."
An intramural basketball team has been removed from the league following an altercation in which one of its players allegedly choked an opponent during the second half of a game last Thursday, Assistant Director of Athletics Tom Rand said Monday.
Rand said he decided to remove the Wetmen from the league and reschedule their opponents' games after this incident involving team member Ben Leit '08, as well as a prior one in which another player on the team was ejected in the first game of the season. Rand also said an intramural football team that included eight of the Wetmen's nine members repeatedly argued with officials during the flag football season.
According to witnesses, Leit, a member of the Wetmen, strangled Noah Seifman '08, a member of the Burnt Out Bowens, after Seifman blocked one of Leit's shots. After referees and members of both teams were able to separate Leit from Seifman, he was immediately ejected from the game. Leit walked outside the Shapiro Gymnasium without further incident.
Members of the Wetmen, however, said that prior to the altercation, Leit and Seifman exchanged words and pushed each other following their attempts to retrieve a loose ball. They said that Seifman was standing over Leit after the loose ball went out of bounds, which they said may have provoked physical contact.
"That kind of behavior is obviously not tolerated and has no place in the intramural sports program here at Brandeis," Rand said.
Late Monday night, however, Rand partially reconsidered his decision, allowing the seven other members of the Wetmen who did not have a prior record of altercations to compete on other intramural teams if they wished.
Leit said in a phone interview Monday that he apologized to Seifman, his teammates and the officials, both in person and through e-mail.
"I felt terrible about it, and I still do," he said. "I was out of control, and I apologized to everyone involved in it. I still feel bad about it."
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