Wild Snowball Attack Incites Backlash Against Oregon Football Players

Video of a wild snowball fight devolving into unchecked aggression against an elderly motorist has incited a wave of backlash against students and football players at the University of Oregon.
The YouTube clip, above, has been viewed more than 2.5 million times since Friday, and exploded over the weekend. It shows the aftermath of an organized snowball fight reportedly put together by members of the Oregon football team to mark the first substantial snowfall in the school's hometown of Eugene.
But after the voluntary college shenanigans end, things turn much darker. Students block the car of retired Oregon art-history professor Sherwin Simmons, then bombard him with snowballs from close range. One student dumps a bucket of snow on the driver's-side windshield of his car. When Simmons gets out to protest, he's pelted with more snowballs from point-blank range, and a bucket of snow is dumped on him.
While some online commentators dismissed the episode as a harmless college prank, the overall reaction was decidedly negative. Oregon's student newspaper, the Daily Emerald, which first published the clip, said it had to disable YouTube comments on the video after backlash against the students turned racial. The clip also rose to Reddit's front page as more and more commenters condemned the students' actions, and users who identified themselves as Oregon alumni expressed their embarrassment.
Making matters more complicated is that some of the students depicted are allegedly players on Oregon's powerhouse football team. When the video reached its viral zenith Saturday night, Oregon offensive lineman Andre Yruretagoyena took to Twitter to offer this apology on behalf of the entire Ducks team:

Embarrassed by the video I just watched. That's not all of us, sending the sincerest apologies.
— Andre Yruretagoyena (@BigAndreAZDK) December 8, 2013

Oregon starting tight end Pharaoh Brown has been suspended for Oregon's Alamo Bowl game against Texas, The Oregonian reported Monday. Other players have reportedly been punished internally.

A photo taken by the Register-Guard shows Brown dumping snow on a fellow student. As noted by the Daily Emerald, someone wearing the same outfit and wielding the same bucket dumps snow on the car's windshield, and then on Simmons himself, in the viral YouTube video.
As the video gained traction over the weekend, commenters on Reddit and elsewhere began to speculate whether the students and players involved could be prosecuted as well as disciplined by the school. But Simmons told the Daily Emerald on Sunday that he would not press charges. However, he did describe the ordeal in some detail.
“Someone started banging on the car, and it was like the snowballs were fists hitting the car,” Simmons told the campus paper. “Then I was blinded by people both tossing snow on the window and racking snow off the roof. They were out of control.”