YOU KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN AS SOON AS YOU HEARD IT

Former University of Miami football player and broadcast commentator on the Hurricanes' broadcasts Lamar Thomas was sacked Monday by Comcast Sports Southeast for his excited trash talking on the air during the five-plus minute brawl during the UM game against nearby Florida International University played Saturday evening at the Orange Bowl.

All you have to do is read what Thomas said, and you knew this would happen in the aftermath:

''You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked...You don't come into the Orange Bowl playing that stuff. You're across the ocean over there. You're across the city over there. You can't come over to our place talking noise like that. You'll get your butt kicked. I was about to go down the elevator and get into that thing...Why don't they just meet outside in the tunnel after the ball game and get it on some more...You don't come into the Orange Bowl, baby -- we've had a down couple of years -- but you don't come in here talking trash...You come in here talking smack, it's time to get it on. We let you play in our stadium -- they play well, I got to give it to FIU, they played well so far -- but you cross the line at some point.''

Thomas blamed his naievete for his on-air tirade, telling the Miami Herald:

''I'm very new to this whole media thing,'' Thomas said. "I'm an ex-player. I love the school I was doing games for. I'm very passionate about the University of Miami. I love those kids just like my brothers. I played with my emotions on my sleeve, and I broadcast games just like that.

"Unfortunately, this thing blew up into a national event, and I was caught with my pants down. If I had to do it all over again, I would be a little more tactful.''

It was clearly crossing the line, and any rookie broadcaster should know better than run his/her mouth off like that. Having been in the radio business for 15 years, I've seen and heard folks get canned for a lot less.

BTW: This is the same Lamar Thomas that was one of two UM players indicted in 1992 in a Federal inquiry of financial aid fraud relating into Pell Grant forms they filled out between 1989-91. They entered pretrial diversion programmes, which allowed the indictments to be dismissed.