Brownlee Suspended One Game For Giving Arkansas Fans The Finger

You may not have heard, but Mississippi State outfielder Brent Brownlee gave the Arkansas fans the finger after a 5-3 win over the #25 Razorbacks on Sunday.

MSU head baseball coach John Cohen responded quickly and slapped a one game suspension on Brownlee just hours after the victory.  Obviously, he was slightly disappointed:

"No amount of verbal abuse or threats of physical violence from fans justifies Brent’s actions.  Brent is a model student-athlete and made a poor decision with a knee-jerk type of reaction. This type of action by our athletes is unacceptable and will not be tolerated."

Obviously, Brownlee's gesture was unnecessary and the guy should've just taken the win and headed back to Starkville.  However, I think its important to note how unruly and disrespectful the Arkansas fans can be, especially as of late.  An incident occurred this past March in which several Arkansas fans spewed a barrage of racial slurs on Delaware State's Troy Drummond.  The verbal assault got so bad he had to complain to an umpire during the game. 

On a positive note, Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn did apologize to Drummond on behalf of the entire University of Arkansas.

To be clear, I'm not saying what Brent Brownlee did was justified, but obviously some of the Arkansas fans take their baseball a little too seriously. 

Brownlee had just returned from a two week absence due to a foot injury and he caught the final out to win the game.  The victory kool-aid was probably tasting really good and after hearing the Hog-heckling all game, Brownlee couldn't resist the urge for a little sweet revenge via his middle finger.

 Later on, he realized how idiotic he looked.  Here is his statement:

"I apologize for my actions after the game Sunday.  I let my emotions get the most of me in the heat of the moment. Those actions in no way represent me, my team and my university, and I regret letting so many people down."

Brent, you're forgiven as far as I'm concerned, but next time just get on the damn bus. 

You can see Brownlee in all his bird flipping glory after the jump...