O.J. Simpson got away with murder, but Simeon Rice couldn't get away with leaping. Thank goodness NFL rules are tougher than Judge Lance Ito.

Rice, a defensive end for Tampa Bay, did the unthinkable Monday night in overtime of the Bucs-Colts game. (If you are a squeamish type, you might want to stop reading.)

He leaped to try to block a Mike Vanderjagt game-winning field goal attempt.

If you think that's bad, consider what this hooligan did next.

Rice, in obvious and blatant disregard for NFL rules, sorta-kinda landed on a teammate after the infamous leap. He didn't even try to manipulate gravity so as to hang in the air and wait until there was a clear landing zone for his 6-foot-5, 268 lb. frame.

That slacker.

Fortunately, referee Johnnie Grier was there to put Rice in his place. He noticed Rice's atrocious leap and penalized him for unsportsmanlike conduct. And rightly so.

Rule 12, Section 3, Article 2 of the 2003 Official Playing Rules of the National Football League clearly defines the unsportsmanlike conduct/leaping penalty as follows:

"Clearly running forward and leaping in an obvious attempt to block a field goal, or try-kick after touchdown and landing on players, unless the leaping player was originally lined up within one yard of the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped."

Rice was lined up about four yards from the line of scrimmage when the ball was snapped.

I just don't know what he was thinking. Maybe before the Monday night game he watched an episode of ESPN's Playmakers, where star running back Demetrius Harris snorts cocaine just before the game and proceeds to shred the defense despite being under the influence.

Maybe Rice figured that he could get away with unsportsmanlike conduct if Harris could get away with using cocaine.

Wake up, Simeon! Leaping is not the same as using cocaine. It's much worse.

I haven't seen such a deliberate act of illegal behavior in sports since golfer, and notorious rule breaker, Jeff Maggert hit a bunker shot that ricocheted off the lip of the bunker and hit him in the chest in the British Open.

Maggert was obviously trying to bank the ball off the lip, off his body and out of the trap. The criminal was punished with a two-stroke penalty. The penalty cost him victory in a major championship. I say he got off easy.

So did Rice. All he got was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that cost the Bucs the game. No fines? No suspensions? What's to stop another player from leaping?

NFL rules are tough now, but they must be made tougher. Otherwise, the league will turn into complete anarchy. The prisoners will end up running the prison.

Receivers will get away with catching passes. Quarterbacks will keep on flinging the ball with reckless abandon. Kickers will continue to abuse pigskin after pigskin.

And Rice will inevitably leap again.

Rice sympathizers will have you believe that he was simply trying to make a legal play on the ball. They'll say that he only put his hands on his teammate and didn't really land on him.

Furthermore, they'll preach that the only reason that Rice made any contact with his teammate was that the teammate was blocked into him. They'll argue that the unsportsmanlike conduct call was not made in the spirit of the rule.

Sorry, I'm not buying it.

Rice was wrong. There is no excuse or explanation for the bonehead play he made.

Wait, maybe there's one.

Where did Rice go to college?

Josh Purse is a junior in communications. He can be reached at sports@dailyillini.com.