The Sideline
With one punch, one awful decision made in the heat of the moment, Oregon’s football season was trashed last Thursday night in Boise, Idaho.
Boise State physically dominated the Ducks, allowing zero first downs in the entire first half and winning 19-8. But it is what went down after the final whistle blew that will be remembered long after most football fans forget the final score.
By now you’ve probably seen the video replay. Several dozen times.
LeGarrette Blount, the Ducks’ Heisman hopeful running back, after getting shoved by a Boise State player who wanted to get one last bit of trash talking in, delivered a quick jab to the Bronco’s jaw, sending him crumpling to the turf.
What happened next turned Blount from a hothead, who simply reacted poorly, into a thug, a lowlife, a punk. As Boise State coaches and players simply tried to separate him from the crowd, he backpedaled, obviously not wanting to get sucker punched in the same way. Seriously weak stuff for a stud running back trying to prove a point.
As coaches and teammates attempted to get him off the field and away from the chaos, he decided to resist, to shove and hit his own guys, trying to get to some fans who were screaming at him. This is where he stepped into legendary sports flip-out territory; only a select few athletes have lowered themselves to fisticuffs with patrons.
Blount was quickly dealt with, suspended the following morning for the remainder of the season. His absence will be felt on the field, and Oregon would probably win two or three fewer games because of it, but it is the lasting impact of what happened on the blue turf in Boise has doomed this season.
For a team coming into 2009 with high hopes, this is the worst case scenario. In new head coach Chip Kelly’s first game, in their toughest road test of the season, to not only get dominated on the field, but to have their star player be the one to lose grip on reality, will send this team tumbling downhill.
In a strange way, “the punch” makes Oregon the team to watch in 2009. If they rally around Kelly and a core group of veteran players, they may limp to a .500 season.
It’s amazing what a little testosterone mixed with misdirected anger can do.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Sep 11 2009. Filed under Sports.
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