Clay Bailey

Memphis Commercial Appeal

Normally, my sports colleagues Mark Giannotto and Tom Schad get to break down Tiger events — Giannotto on basketball, Schad on football.

Now, it's my turn to study a Tiger showdown — the Arlington Tigers.

As was well-documented, a melee broke out during Tuesday night's Arlington High graduation at Bellevue Baptist Church. A fist-flailing, hair-pulling, chest-shoving, water-pouring throwdown that apparently started over someone sitting in a "saved seat."

I spent portions of the last three days watching videos of the fracas to figure out what happened.

I have come to the conclusion that it's impossible to know for sure. But let's take a look.

A couple of disclaimers

We still don't have an explanation if there were any arrests, but we do know one woman was on the floor, her hands cuffed behind her.

Also, if at any point in Wednesday's coverage I described that woman as the "hair-puller," I misspoke. No reason to single her out with that description. There were plenty of folks pulling hair in this scuffle. But she did have the most effective tactic — snatching one woman's hair while pounding away on her head.

We aren't blaming anyone in particular for causing this. Who knows what happened before the videos? And, we are not going to identify anyone by name, you know, to protect the innocent and so forth.

However...

The key players

THE PRINT DRESS WOMAN: The woman in the animal-print, brown-tone dress with longer dark hair. She is recognizable as the most active of the combatants and would end up handcuffed.

THE ADVOCATE: The woman with the black top, striped pants and short hair, and friend of The Print Dress Woman. She acted as an accomplice in the brawl and also stood by The Print Dress Woman when she was handcuffed.

THE CAMERAMAN: The guy in the light-colored shirt with the striped pattern, who is in the middle of the confrontation holding his camera aloft apparently to protect it. His seemingly peacemaking actions at certain points were betrayed by his active moves at others.

We will not provide any other descriptions of clothing or tattoos on the participants.

Let's go to the videotape

I'm not saying this started the whole escapade, but when The Advocate pours water in the direction of a young woman, things escalated quickly.

There is a younger man alongside The Cameraman whose long hair is pulled by The Print Dress Woman. The younger guy is hollering: "Don't touch my (expletive) girlfriend." A word of advice: You should never use that word as an adjective in describing your girlfriend, wife, fiancee or domestic partner.

The initial confrontation involves The Print Dress Woman and The Advocate on one side of The Cameraman and the younger man and people sitting with him on the other.

But suddenly from the opposite end of the row, a woman in a blue sleeveless dress comes from behind and grabs the hair of The Print Dress Woman. The Advocate again has the The Print Dress Woman's back, grabbing a handful of hair and sending the woman in the blue sleeveless dress to the ground.

The Print Dress Woman and The Advocate immediately turn their attention away from The Camerman's crew to her.

Based on the events, there's one certainty: None of them wore a wig to the graduation ceremonies. No weaves or extensions, either.

Only on the video vantage from above can you see a man in the row holding a toddler in one arm as he shoves The Advocate back in her seat with his non-toddler-holding hand. I believe he later makes a brief appearance in the church lobby video when The Print Dress Woman is on the floor handcuffed. He is confronted by The Advocate.

The most subtle move comes from The Cameraman. As The Print Dress Woman has her back to him brawling with the woman in the blue sleeveless dress, he gives her a solid hip check when The Print Dress Woman bumps into him.

As the ruckus wanes and security arrives, The Print Dress Woman still has her right fist balled up ready for more.

Final thoughts

Let's get away from the whole outrage over "this was in church." Sure, I know it was at Bellevue Baptist. Just like other graduations are at Hope Presbyterian. But, in my way of thinking, once they are transformed into a graduation hall because they have more seating capacity than anywhere else, the church thing kind of falls to the wayside. Want to consider it a "church"? Don't convert it to an auditorium for graduations.

It's a good thing Bellevue has its seats bolted to the floor. The only thing missing was a chair shot and eye-gouging.

Finally, something has to be done about this whole "saving seats" practice. If it is an important event — like graduation or Christmas church services — get there early, sit down and wave to your friends and family who show up at the last minute and are seated in the balcony.

Clay Bailey is a suburban reporter at The Commercial Appeal. His Outside the Loop column appears twice a week online and in print on Mondays. He can be reached at bailey@yourappeal.com and 901-529-2393. Follow him on Twitter @claybailey9.