Posted by Jerry Hinnen

As the lead paragraph to this fascinating story out of St. Petersburg correctly observes:

Events leading to the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl are supposed to be fun-filled activities for the teams, their families and fans to participate in.

But with a beginning like that, you can also guess that some activity or other wound up not so fun-filled. And that's the case here, as a poolside dance competition included in the bowl's "Beachside Bash" resulted in some serious trash talk between players from participating teams Louisville and Southern Miss, rising tensions, and eventually the intervention of Florida state troopers to prevent a full-on brawl from breaking out in front of what must have been some seriously horrified Card/Eagle fans.

As for how things got that heated, the players explain:

"Someone said something disrespectful, did a little jawing after the dance contest… it's all good," said Louisville linebacker Dexter Heyman , who was front and center in the fracas. It's "just a little too close to game time, ya know?" .

Southern Miss players had a different perspective.

"They started talking trash about us being in Conference USA, [that] we can't dance… it was stupid. We'll do our talking on the field," uttered one Golden Eagle who refused to be identified. "A friendly dance competition and they take it all serious? It's ridiculous."

See? We told all you layabout whippersnappers out there that nothing good was going to come out of this "Dougie" funny business.

But here's the good news: after Saturday's lackluster slate of action -- in which UTEP, Fresno State, and Ohio didn't seem half as jacked-up for their actual bowl games as these teams seem to be for their just-for-fun dance competitions -- the acrimony in St. Pete promises to give us something worthwhile to watch Tuesday night, even if it's just some postgame "service" applied to the losers.