ESPN is reporting that members of the Kansas basketball and football teams have been involved in multiple altercations on campus with each other since last night. The first incident resulted in guard Tyshawn Taylor dislocating his thumb. Taylor for his part has been extremely helpful to police by admitting on his Facebook page that he dislocated the thumb while throwing a punch. Way to implicate yourself there champ.
I am not sure how common or uncommon this sort of thing is. ESPN said the respective head coaches, Mark Mangino and Bill Self are often in attendance at each other's games. Based on my general observation that is usually the case, especially since basketball recruits are often brought to football games and vice versa. Roy Williams' support of all things Tar Heel is well known. Roy is often on-hand at football games and even makes the trek out to Omaha when the Heels have played in the College World Series. In most cases, if the game is televised then being there adds to visibility which presumably augments recruiting.
The question here is one of how the players on different teams interact with one another. According to Deadspin, there have been issues between football and hockey players at Michigan and Michigan St. In my own experience as a student-athlete at UNC Greensboro, there appeared to at least be a common bond among all the athletes at the school. Granted, you were closest with your own teammates but they were never any incidents I can recall where members of one team had issues with players on another. Of course there was nothing like the same tension that can exist between two nationally recognized teams since UNCG was a lower mid-major school when I was there. In Chapel Hill, the basketball players outwardly support the football team, attend games and some of them, like Marcus Ginyard, went to support former Tar Heel Cam Sexton as he played for Catawba against St. Augustine's earlier this season. UNC also has had a history of dual sport players which have served to bond the two teams. The only real issue UNC football has is players getting in fights with one another inside dorm rooms.
The simplest answer is this was a case of college students being college students. Some trash was talked. Punches were thrown. Thumbs dislocated. Butts were reamed by the coach. Community service was rendered and life went on in Lawrence.