UO's LeGarrette Blount Suspended for the Season

Paulie Brading

OK football fans: was the suspension of University of Oregon LeGarrette Blount for an entire season the decision you'd hoped for or not?

I watched the game, watched the sucker punch, watched a man out of control and asked myself if Duck fans would put sportsmanship above winning a few more games? What say you?

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    LaGrrette will remain on scholarship and stay on the team. He will not play in any games including Bowl games. He is still a member of the U of O football team. His career at Oregon is over.

    Enough?

  • Cafe Today (unverified)
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    Blount

  • ben (unverified)
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    Blunt acted like a spoiled brat out of control democrat at a health care rally. Personally, I am surprised Blunt didn't bite the guys finger off.

  • Joe White (unverified)
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    Has he been charged with Battery yet?

    This should not be 'just a school matter'.

    He should face legal consequences.

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    Blount not facing charges was the decision of BSU's staff, not that of anyone with the Ducks. And frankly, it's their choice, so I've got no beef with it.

    The thing is... now BSU's Hout just getting a talking to looks bad. They're gonna lose some serious face over this if they don't upgrade the punishment to their player.

    I've just been cruising college football columns and discussion boards since hearing of Blount's suspension and I seriously think Boise's gonna lose a lot of respect if they let Hout off the hook. Maybe it's not entirely their fault since they've got no control over what the Ducks decision was gonna be. But the contrast in punishments is there for everyone to see and it makes the Ducks look responsible and the Broncos look like really poor winners.

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    USAtoday's Cherner and Weir: What about the guy who taunted Blount?.

    I'm guessing that when Hout was jawing away at Blount at game's end he was saying something other than "Nice game." Trash talking is out of hand across-the-board in sports, and if one player is going to have his college career ended over this incident it seems like the other also needs to suffer some bench time. Otherwise the message is to keep going after opponents verbally, and see if you can make them explode.

    I agree. Blount got a dose of just desserts. Hout isn't.

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    Messed up the hyperlink. Here's the URL

    http://blogs.usatoday.com/gameon/2009/09/and-what-about-the-guy-who-taunted-blount.html

  • Old Ducker (unverified)
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    It's not just Blount losing control over Hout's taunting, it's his assaulting fans as well. I'm happy with this decision. Blount will never don Oregon uniform again, but he gets to finish his education, if he chooses. I also agree that Hout should suffer some penalty. Mostly I view this as a result of the unpunished unsportsmanlike and injurious conduct that BSU's #21 perpetrated last year.

  • meg (unverified)
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    He one punched a giant douche bag who deserved it Was it right? No, and he should get a game for it, two max. But it's time for guys to be held accountable for running their mouths. Maybe it's the hockey in me.

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    Good points about the taunting made above. I think off the team and into angry management, no practicing, etc. But that's why coach Kelly gets paid more than even the U of O president does, to make these kinds of decisions and isn't that just a wonderful thing?

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    To be clear, he's a senior - which means that a season-long suspension means that he's been kicked off the team.

    And I actually think that letting him keep his scholarship is a good thing. His NFL career probably evaporated too, which means that he's going to need some education. Hopefully he'll seize the opportunity.

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    You can still go to school and not play physical sports. Maybe the UO isn't for him, but there are others. Our federal student loan program is wonderful (not) - maybe he can join the rest of us and at least pay for one year of what they charge these days to get your degree. If he wants it, he will get it.

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    His NFL career probably evaporated too, which means that he's going to need some education. Hopefully he'll seize the opportunity.

    He probably is going to be undrafted now, but some team will take a chance on him I bet. If not the NFL, the CFL, UFL, AFL, or AFL2 will probably be interested.

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    I guess I need to explain that I think sports are a huge part of our cultures and good sportsmanship is a demanding virtue. These young men are trained from a young age to focus themselves and with that come a responsibility for self-discipline. The game was over. That team was better prepared than us and it wasn’t just that they were blue. The integrity of the team, the school, us – this is on the Huffington Post for goodness sake. We have to do what is right for him and the team. Oregon has an integrity streak and people are concerned about that right now and frankly, I understand.

    Hopefully he get the help he needs now and proves to himself that he can do it because the NFL should put up with that type of behavior either. It’s embarrassing.

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    Corrections:

    NFL should not put up with that type of behavior either

    Hopefully he gets the help he needs

  • commenter s (unverified)
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    It would be interesting to know what Hout actualy said. If he called him a F@#@@'n N@#@#ger, I'd say Hout had it coming. Aside from that, maybe the Ducks can generate more than 152 yards total offense without Blount.

  • Boats (unverified)
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    Five-minute major penalty for fighting carried forward to the next meeting between the teams.

    Blount could have a UFC career ahead of him if he worked at it.

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    commenter s": I wonder if the N word was used too. Still, the classy thing would have been to walk away and then tell his teammates what was really fueling that fella if in fact he just called a black man the N word. That would piss me off and I’m not even this man’s literal teammate. Wow, this I all hypothetical of course. I hope Idaho would have more class too than for one of their players to use that word to a black person.

  • RyanLeo (unverified)
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    Blount is never going into the NFL. The University of Oregon is an educational institution without the balls to dispense real justice and rid themselves of this 2Pac, thug life wannabe muther effer. Only cowards back pedal after throwing the first punch.

    Anyways, why are we talking about yesterday's trash? It has been disposed of and we should continue on with real news other than some back and forth regarding the soon to be Oregon version of Maurice Clarett.

  • meg (unverified)
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    No " N " word was used. Hout said "Nice ass kicking", something Blout promised was coming.

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    "The University of Oregon is an educational institution without the balls to dispense real justice"

    Those are strong words and I see your passion. I too want titanium leadership. I went there for a time. We must be just, I agree with you on that but we don't have to be thugs ourselves. The guy needs some help. There is a psych department on campus for goodness sake. That is if he stays and that may be up to him ultimately. I feel for the guy, especially if…let’s hope it didn’t happen.

  • Buckman Res (unverified)
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    It would be interesting to know what Hout actually said. If he called him a F@#@@'n N@#@#ger, I'd say Hout had it coming.

    Doesn’t matter if Hout said “F-ing Nigger” or “Nice ass-kicking”, no verbal taunt warrants an assault. Short of a genuine physical threat to Blount, which in this case there wasn’t, he should have turned and walked away.

    That’s what a man would have done.

  • RyanLeo (unverified)
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    Thugs ourselves?! Don't make me laugh.

    Blount like every other athlete with the potential to make it big has been cradled by the system ever since he showed his potential on the field.

    If anything, the people to blame are his handlers (ie coaches and other close family) for not spotting and helping him with his inability to handle getting his proverbial ass handed to him with a prick up it.

    We all fail in life. The measure of a man is not how he behaves in good time, but how he behaves in the rough times.

    Last night, Blount was measured and he failed to differentiate himself from lowlifes like Maurice Clarett.

  • mp97303 (unverified)
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    ESPN's NFL draft guru Todd McShay has Blount #53 overall and #2 at RB. Talk about a multi-million dollar screw up.

  • commenter s (unverified)
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    Yeah, there is really no excuse. Even if the N word was used, Blount should have just walked away.

  • RyanLeo (unverified)
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    Now that we are talking college football, I looked up Boise State University's remaining schedule. (http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/teams/bbe/schedule)

    A bunch of nobody's whom will be lucky to win half their games if that. I hear that San Jose State is real scary. Likewise, Bowling Green, Miami (OH), and Nevada are real contenders. Laughing my effing azz off!

    I hear from all these Idaho folks that Boise State and the WAC had been robbed since 2005. Well, look at the craptastic schedule you guys make year after year to get that perfect record and then ask yourself if you are worthy of a title or Rose Bowl when you only play one team in the top 25 during a whole season?

    Boise State, do you want respect? Then schedule USC, Alabama, Louisiana Tech, Texas, and Arkansas into yours just like every other title contender does.

    Otherwise, the rest of your schedule is equivalent to Ohio State University playing a different Kent State every other week.

    A weak schedule does not command a bowl game. You get what your schedule deserves.

  • RyanLeo (unverified)
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    Now that we are talking college football, I looked up Boise State University's remaining schedule. (http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/teams/bbe/schedule)

    A bunch of nobody's whom will be lucky to win half their games if that. I hear that San Jose State is real scary. Likewise, Bowling Green, Miami (OH), and Nevada are real contenders. Laughing my effing azz off!

    I hear from all these Idaho folks that Boise State and the WAC had been robbed since 2005. Well, look at the craptastic schedule you guys make year after year to get that perfect record and then ask yourself if you are worthy of a title or Rose Bowl when you only play one team in the top 25 during a whole season?

    Boise State, do you want respect? Then schedule USC, Alabama, Louisiana Tech, Texas, and Arkansas into yours just like every other title contender does.

    Otherwise, the rest of your schedule is equivalent to Ohio State University playing a different Kent State every other week.

    A weak schedule does not command a bowl game. You get what your schedule deserves.

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    RyanLeo:

    I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions when you said “real justice.” What do you mean by that term? I am both concerned about the integrity of the team if he is allowed to stay on even practicing, and what is best for him. I don’t think he should have a scholarship after last night, but I am free to disagree with the decision.

  • Ted Olson (unverified)
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    Blount shouldn't have any problem playing in the NFL where moral standards are apparently a bit different than they are in college football. After all, they hired Michael Vick didn't they? Blount's rules of "debate" might also be better understood in the NFL.

  • Bob Simmons (unverified)
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    So many comments on this board and elsewhere are a disturbing reminder of the damage done to our society by modern, politically correct, almost Orwellian "groupthink." I'm referring specifically to the predicable knee-jerk response of so many people who automatically assume that the Boise State player simply MUST have called Blount the so-called "N" word. As always, whenever a black man freaks out and creates a savage spectacle of a completely uncivilized nature, there are those among us whose worldview requires that they insist that "it's not his fault. It MUST have been racism!!"

    To think otherwise, after all, would force us all to question the entire welfare state and manner in which it has created a social and financial incentive for large groups of irresponsible mothers to raise what are essentially fatherless, "feral" children. Raised like cats--feed em, send em to school for free breakfast and lunch, job done!

    I am certain (because I am an adult) that the BS player did not use the dreaded "n" word during the incident in question, but I am equally certain that a large part of America was thinking it...

  • BOHICA (unverified)
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    I'm shocked, shocked to find that fighting is going on here! (With apologies to Captain Renault).

    Jebus, what do you expect from a violence soaked culture? Boats mentions the UFC up thread. Exactly! We want to see blood and gore. Its like the old joke, "I went to fight and a hockey game broke out".

    Meanwhile we dismiss the continued death and destruction being carried out in our name all over the world because the Pentagon learn from Vietnam not to let the American people see the brutality of war.

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    finally got a chance to watch the video of the incident. two things.

    1, that Hout doesn't get at lest a 1-game suspension is pathethic. regardless of Blount's actions, jumping into him and taunting him after the game is totally unclassy, immature and not what i think a team would want. if Boise State doesn't have the moral fortitude to punish him, the WAC should.

    2, BSU should get some kind of WAC sanction for showing the clip over and over on the big screen. that was really stupid. talk about not thinking.

    disappointed as Duck fans are with Blount (not to mention the game itself), we can be really proud of Kelly, Belotti and the UO program. they gave the player the right punishment, but they did not ruin his life. they've given him a chance for growth and redemption, and i hope he grabs it. the NFL is still a possibility for him, but that's the lesser of his concerns. being about to live his life successfully, in whatever vocation, is his real need. Chip Kelly & Mike Belotti have given him that chance, not something very many PR-anxious schools would do.

    go Ducks.

  • Unrepentant Liberal (unverified)
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    Blount's crime in this case stems from his choice of crossing the line from socially approved violence during the game to socially disapproved violence after time ran out.

    I used to enjoy watching football but the violent, bone-smashing, ligament tearing, head injury inflicting core nature of the sport has severely dampened my enthusiasm.

    It's all kind of a cruel joke anyway. If he had his helmet on and time was still remaining, venting his anger and aggression on the field would be praised by his coach, the fans and the broadcasters. As it is he's now just a national pariah because he broke the rules.

    I don't in any way condone what he did but I blame the coach, his staff, the fans and football in general for praising and nurturing the more violent aspects of this young mans personality.

  • gnickmckibbin (unverified)
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    Why is blueoregon spending time and space on this??? The big mouths at BSU athletics are priming the pump so to speak. Maybe they will continue their behavior as the season progresses. I wonder if the Oregon coach talked to his players about baiting and being baited in a game such as this one. It reminded me of the situation our legislators had to face last month with town hall meetings, and makes me wonder what is really the mood of our country... I hope that someone in the atheletic dept. @ UO will provide guidance (and some sort of in team encouragement like a job of some kind) for him to make the best of a bad situation. I doubt it, they will probably write him out of the program entirely which will not improve the image of the sports program at UO at all. Mr. Blount should really concentrate on education now. since his potential for a professional career is considerably downgraded.

  • billb (unverified)
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    The kid is a student-athlete , and kids make mistakes. I made my share as a college student. They were right to keep him in the 'family' , but should have suspended him some games , and let him earn his way back. He just threw punches at some obnoxious jerks , many of us , with emotions high would do the same. I say the Guvs of OR/ID have a beer summit.

  • RyanLeo (unverified)
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    Tim Young,

    By "real justice," I mean expelling him from the educational institution. That would entail kicking him off the team and revoking his athletic scholarship.

    This was Blount's second chance. He was already suspended indefinitely in February for "failure to fulfill team obligations." (http://www.sportingnews.com/college-football/article/2009-09-04/oregon-rb-legarrette-blount-suspended-for-season).

    We often forget that when someone puts on a uniform whether it be John Casey's mechanic overalls, a U.S. military uniform, or a University of Oregon ducks football jersey, then your actions are no longer in a vacuum where the repercussions are only felt by you. Your actions are representative of every Oregonian. Displaying that behavior in an Oregon uniform where little kids may look up to you as a role model is inexcusable and unconscionable.

    Blount embarrassed every Oregonian and for that, he should be sent back home.

  • conspiracyzach (unverified)
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    Funny how you Blueoregon types only get interested in sports after a real social and political train wreck like this. It is a very NIMBY point of view you cultivate here. There are some videos shot by fans of the incident that are less widely circulated here in the favorites section: www.youtube.com/luddite333

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    Bad as Blount's actions were, they were a first offense; as far as I know, he has no history of violent, out-of-control outbursts, and clearly this was not a premeditated act.

    A multi-game suspension was clearly warranted, but as a senior, this is effectively the death penalty for his football career. Keeping him on the team and retaining his scholarship would make more sense if he were also given the opportunity to earn a second chance.

    I respect the fact that Chip Kelly had to make the decision that he believed was in the best interests of the whole team and that he had more information in making that decision than we do. But I am troubled by all the people jumping to the front of the lynch mob handing out rope.

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    Football is sort of like Oregon’s front porch. Mr. Roberts we are just concerned. I am happy we are moving on and the guy is going to get what he needs. The experts know best. I am so not one of those. Go Ducks!

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    Football means a lot and all I am saying is people around the nation don't always know what Oregon is really like and sometimes are likely to make judgments based on surface value stuff that you would only see from looking at the outside of our state "house." Some of us are expressing concern over fighting out on the lawn, essentially.

  • j. lowen (unverified)
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    The U of O and it Athletic department did th right thing. Kicking the player out of school would have been a mistake. Having him practice and attend school while having to watch from the sidelines will be much better education IMO.

    I do believe the Boise State coach failed to do as good a job when he didn't at least suspend his player for running his mouth after the game.

  • ducks419 (unverified)
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    heard at end of game Hout mentioned "hey (expletive beginning with N" hows your auntie doing??" referring to Blounts recently deceased aunt whom he was extremely close to. does this make it ok??? No.

    but what the BSU player did was not ok either and Blount and him should both be punished no more than 3 games. Hout initiated contact, blount was being responsible and walkin off field peacefully when Hout came over with his cocky swagger and started the fight.

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    Rumors of what Hout said the Blount are just that... rumors. The only people close enough to actually hear what was said (amid the noisy celebration) aren't saying.

    It is highly irresponsible to be passing on unfounded rumors involving racial epithets. Not the least of which is because whether Hout used a racial epithet or not doesn't really change anything. He still initiated contact and Blount still utterly lost his cool. Nothing justifies either player's behavior.

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    I just want to note one of the weirdest stats I've come across in sports: Blount will finish his NCAA career with a season over 1,000 yards, but with fewer than 1,000 yards if you combine his two seasons.

    That is all.

  • John (unverified)
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    With Blount's blunder now the focus of conjecture, presumptions and sneaking suspicions in more than 3000 web articles and countless sports discussion boards over the past three days, what more can possibly be said? LeGarrette has been called everything from a coward to "another Mike Tyson."

    There are more important topics: Knowing what he does from past mistakes, could John Kitzhaber have come up with a better game plan for the Ducks to beat BSU?

    Will Peter DeFazio switch to the Republican Party in order to get Jack Roberts' vote for governor?

    What's with Google's mysterious new doodle on its search page this weekend -- which shows a flying saucer sucking up an "O" in a trackor beam and links to "unexplained phenomenon?"

    Space aliens are in California this weekend to pick up Michael Jackson's body and return it to his home planet. But is that all they have in mind? I hear they plan to abduct Oregon and take us with them -- they'll ditch Republicans, who get motion sickness at the thought of movement toward health-care reform, let alone space travel.

    Google's cryptic on twitter translates to: "All your O are belong to us."

  • Roger Pike (unverified)
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    Obviously, few people in this forum have ever played a down of football. I have. Coaches will tell you: "dancing is a contact sport...football is a hitting sport." They will say, "a good loser is just another loser." They will say, "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing." They will say, "we will hit and we will hit and we will hit and we'll have JV players around to wipe up the blood." It's hard, and brutal...and asking people to make nice after the game is idiocy.

    LeGarrette Blount had been hitting and being hit all day. His team had just stunk up the joint. He was embarrassed and knew they could have, should have, done better...and the frustration was huge. Then some piece of crap grabbed him. The jerk could have just hit the pub to celebrate a great victory. Be he didn't. He grabbed a proud man's shoulder pads and started trash talking in his face. The jerks coach knew it was wrong. His coach ran to pull him away, knowing where where his jerk behavior might lead. Before he could get there Blount blew.

    LeGarrette should be suspended...maybe for the season, at least for awhile. So should the offending Bronco.

    But, if you expect these men to keep the rage that is kindled in them bottled up in the face of that kind of disrespect you don't understand the game. Maybe football, as barbaric as it is, has no place in modern society. I played the game, and I know you might have a point. But what Blount did was a reaction...and one that any football player can understand. NO, I am not condoning it. YES, he should be punished.

    Still, before you go off all holy about how this kind of behavior is assault worthy of arrest and jailing; before you claim it's a hideous offense to all that is just in the world. Before you do that...play a down yourself.

    You'll learn something.

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    Roger, they're kids. They're still figuring themselves out.

    If you put a competitor in a position to get in somebody's head, can you fault him for doing it? If it turns out he succeeded in getting SO far in the guy's head that a fist gets launched at his own head, does that suddenly make it worse than if Blount had just sheepishly walked away?

    You're right, it's competition. And sometimes competition gets ugly.

    But really, where do we get off drawing bright ethical lines, when in the end we're just consumers of the entertainment they provide?

    Lines were crossed, people got pissed. It gave us something to talk about. But really, now we're going to judge these kids' characters? To what end, exactly?

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    Roger, you are making excuses for bad behavior.

    I've consistently called for Hout to be punished more appropriately. But the fact of the matter is that as rough and tumble as it is, football is only metaphorically violent compared to boxing. And boxers absolutely are expected to cease and desist the violence when the ref tells them to or when the bell rings. NO EXCEPTIONS!

    There is no circumstance in the rules of football where opposing players are allowed to go fisticuffs with each other until one is knocked unconscious. If boxers, many of whom are no older than Blount or Hout, can unleash violence within the scope of such vastly less restrictive rules and behave themselves when it's not allowed then so too can football players.

  • Ted (unverified)
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    When I was worried about Blount getting off easy, I thought it would be a 1 or 2 game suspension, maybe a loss of starting position for the first half of the season.

    I thought a 5 game suspension, academic probation, public apology, and loss of starting position (i.e. Blount doesn't play in the 1st quarter for the rest of the regular season), would be due punishment.

    It probably would have been if this was a black guy hitting another black guy. White guy hitting black guy? Let's not go there. Black guy hitting white guy? In Boise? For Oregon? Well, your whole career is over now. You'll probably never turn pro. Probably never have that athletic career that helps level the income distribution between black and white.

    This is Rudy Tomjanovich and Kermit Washington, NBA 1977. White guy runs over and gets in black guy's face. Black guy loses cool and punches him. Kermit broke Rudy's jaw. Hout will only wake up with a slight bruise on his jaw. Hout will be a conversation piece for NCAA football all year, helping him get the attention of NFL scouts. Blount just lost millions of dollars and a rare shot among African Americans to make it big and give his kids everything he hasn't had himself. This isn't a Mike Tyson thing, it's a Kermit Washington thing.

  • RyanLeo (unverified)
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    Seeing as how this is his senior year, his NFL prospects are basically over.

    He can do the whole Canadian Football thing for a good living, but he will not be living the professional lifestyle.

    For those who say, most of us have never played a down? That is an incredibly inane line of argument.

    Since I have not stolen, raped or murdered, does that not give me the right to sit on a jury and decide whether someone gets jail time?

    Since I am not involved in policy-making, does that not give me the right to come onto a blog and speak about public policy?

    A right is a right, a wrong is a wrong, and you do not need to be an expert much less a beginner to call it how you see it.

    As far as violence after a play, MMA and Boxing are much more violent, but do you see them hitting each other after the match is over? No, thus in even more violent sports than football, there is an agreed upon level of behavior. Blount overstepped the expected level of behavior in football by cheap shotting and back-pedaling like the little coward he is.

    His college career is over, his likelihood of playing in the NFL is nil, and he is damn lucky to still be in school with no criminal charges levied at him right now.

  • Todd (unverified)
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    So many indictments against college sports and especially football violence, but...

    There are men no older than Blount in Iran & Afganistan as we speak. What are they told? "Play hard, have fun and be a good sport?"

    There were dozens of Duck players Thursday who DID walk off the field (a little sheepishly) with a handshake and "good game."

  • Roger Pike (unverified)
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    No punches after the bell in boxing? Really? Nobody breaks the rules? You've obviously never been in the ring. No bench clearing brawls in baseball? College baseball? Really? You've never been on the diamond. I noticed nobody even mentioned the fistfights in hockey. Smart.

    And do NOT offer the argument that the violence in this case came "after the game was over." After how many boxing matches have you seen one competitor grab another and bitch in his face? Never you say? Me neither. But that's what Houck did. Houck extended the game...and it's consequences, and he personalized it, when he ran after Blount, personally, grabbed him, personally, and got in his face, personally. When he did what no other player on that field did, he put the game into unofficial overtime. His coach realized that HOUCK initiated unacceptable behavior that might, almost certainly would, escalate. He ran after Houck, desperately trying to pull the idiot away. It does not matter that the coach showed himself to be lame, later, with his final punishment of a "stern talking to."

    To Ryan: No, my argument is not "incredibly inane" and your argument that it is "inane" is incredibly arrogant. Yes, we are allowed, even required, to make judgments in a great many matters. And we are required to punish people who commit acts that we ourselves will not. That is not in dispute.

    But, self-righteousness and sanctimony have reared their ugly heads in the matter of LeGarrette Blount. Most often, that kind of sanctimony comes from ignorance. So, I asked that we do the thing that Democrats frequently ask of our opponents. I asked that we put ourselves in the other guys place. I asked that we "walk a mile in his cleats." We ask it often. We ask it of the well off when considering poverty. We ask it of the well in considering illness. We ask it of the educated in considering ignorance. We ask it of one race when contemplating the difficulties faced by another. Walk a mile in his shoes. Yes, soberly contemplate Blount's act; but, before you go all self-righteous, at least talk to a few guys who've been there.

    Ryan, that you cannot do that is just sad.

  • Roger Pike (unverified)
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    Another thing Ryan,

    Blount plays a violent game. Pain and injury are commonplace. Calling him a "little coward" most likely reveals more about you than him.

    He was chased. Hands were laid on him. He was provoked. He over-reacted. His "backpedalling" was not fleeing the confrontation, as you sanctimoniously, and ignorantly, suggest. He was surrounded by blue jerseys, and put himself in a better position to defend himself.

    Coward? That's pretty easy to say when facing a computer screen.

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    Roger,

    Why do I get the sense from your comments that criticism of Blount is somehow interpreted by you as a challenge to your manhood?

    As for your reply viz boxing, baseball, et al... You are conflating two fundamentally different and unrelated issues. Criticism of Blount does not equal a defense of Hout (not "Houck" as you incorrectly called him). Whether a commenter has played football or not is irrelevant. It's about straight-up logic. To wit:

    • Nothing that Hout did or said justified Blount's reaction.

    • Nothing that Blount did or said before, during or after the game justified Hout initiating contact and demonstrating incredibly poor sportsmanship.

  • bradek (unverified)
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    its proposterous that blount was punished this extremely. regardless of your view on the whole situation, who initiated, yada yada yada. blount doesnt deserve this

  • Roger Pike (unverified)
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    Challenge to my manhood? Hmmmm. It's a thought I don't want to dismiss out of hand, because, in a sense, I guess I do take it personally. But, not, I think, as a challenge to my "manhood." I am reasonably comfortable with my manhood.

    What I am uncomfortable with is what I sense to be a lack of perspective from many, certainly not all, of those who comment on the act in question. There have been those who said Blount should be dismissed from the school. There are those who say he should be in jail. There are some who have called him a "little coward." I object to all of that. I have some understanding of the circumstances and the emotions that led to the act. And I will always react to a lack of perspective that leads to an injustice.

    Since few others see fit to defend him. I will.

    I am not arguing his action was acceptable; or that it shouldn't be punished. But, I suggest that we take it for the misdemeanor it was; not as the most heinous crime committed in the history of sport.

    I agree with you: that nothing Hout (see, I can correct when I am mistaken) did justified the punch...AND that nothing Blount did prior to the confrontation justified Hout's contact and lack of sportsmanship.

    And I agree with bradek that Blount's punishment, though predictable, was too severe.

  • RyanLeo (unverified)
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    Roger,

    I am self-righteous and sanctimonious. I agree with that evaluation of my past comments. Furthermore, I will do you the pleasure of letting yours and mine stand.

    As for this whole "empathize" with the perpetrator, I will vehemently disagree just as much as I disagree with those people who sit on juries and forget that there is a victim in a crime whether it be rape, homicide or simple assault and battery.

    I am sorry, but Blount is not the victim in this matter. Hout may have taunted him, but that did not deserve a cheap shot. Also, lets not forget that Blount would have been in the stands punching Boise State fans ala Ron Artest if there was not security there to stop him from doing so.

    As I see it, Blount's reaction to the taunting made him the perpetrator and the only thing that he is a victim of is his own actions.

  • Kurt Chapman (unverified)
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    I am not a ducks fan. As an Oregonian I watched with horror as blount melted down on national TV after an incrediably poor showing for him personally and for the ducks. He was provoked and Hout deserves more than a mere talking to.

    Provocation aside, Blount crossed many lines. The ultimate being hauled out of the stadium by multiple uniformed officers and an Oregon Assistant Coach.

    Kelly earned the respect of many when he tempered justice with humanity. He has allowed the now former player to remain in school and given him the opportunity to practice with the team. He will not play, but has the options of continuing an education and working out his demons. He could still clean up his act in the next 10 months in time to be considered by NFL teams.

    Now it is clearly up to Mr. Blount.

  • bud (unverified)
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    <h2>You have got to be kidding. I will NEVER watch U of O football again. Coach, what a weenie you are to give in. You are a disgrace to what is right and wrong.</h2>

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