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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Miami analyst fired

Associated Press The Spokesman-Review

MIAMI – Former Miami player Lamar Thomas lost his TV analyst job Monday over comments he made during a sideline-clearing brawl involving the Hurricanes and Florida International on Saturday.

Comcast Sports SouthEast, a regional cable network that hired Thomas before the season, also decided to edit out his comments before the game is replayed later this week.

“We were disappointed in the incident that happened on the field and regret the way it was handled in the broadcast booth,” CSS general manager Mark Fuhrman said. “We do not support or condone the inappropriate comments made by color analyst Lamar Thomas and have taken the necessary steps to prevent a similar situation from ever occurring again.”

CSS, which is available in 5.5 million homes, will replay the game twice Wednesday.

Thomas made his comments as dozens of Miami and FIU players stormed the Orange Bowl field and fought during the third quarter, an incident that led to the suspension of at least 31 players and forced officials from both schools to publicly apologize for the melee.

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” Thomas said as the brawl raged out of control. “You come into our house, you should get your behind kicked. You don’t come into the OB playing that stuff. You’re across the ocean over there. You’re across the city. You can’t come over to our place talking noise like that. You’ll get your butt beat. I was about to go down the elevator to get in that thing.”

Miami and FIU campuses are 9 miles apart. Miami won 35-0.