After the opening week of the 2009-2010 college football season, what have we all learned?
After the opening week of the 2009-2010 college football season, what have we all learned? Irony provides tremendous amounts of humor and, well ... irony. I'm referring to LeGarrette Blount's much-replayed sucker punch, which landed with precise execution on Boise States' defensive lineman Byron Hout's face. This punch, which will live in infamy, happened during the NCAA's "sportsmanship week."
While the irony does provide humor, this is a very sad occurrence. Blount's career as a college athlete is over. He will have to sit out the rest of the year for attacking Hout. On the other hand, the more curious part of the story is Hout's side. What did he say to anger Blount and why wasn't he punished for it?
The first instinct by the media was to say that Blount reacted to a racial slur Hout threw his way. It seems like a logical assumption; racism is deeply rooted in American history and has been a source of frustration for minorities. But could an alternative view be that Blount is a raging lunatic and let the game get the best of him?
Blount had been in trouble before for missing team meetings, events, etc., but he was reinstated before Oregon's spring practice. ESPN also reported that he talked about how he wanted to get revenge for the beating the Oregon Ducks took from the Broncos in Eugene the year before.
So we already know that this was the game on his mind through summer practices. The frustration of the loss reached a tipping point after the game when Byron Hout tapped Blount on the shoulder to get his attention and shouted something in his face.
Without a doubt, Hout deserves to be reprimanded as well for provoking Blount. There is no place in football for that kind of pointless trash after a hard game.
However, to blame the altercation on a racial slur allegedly said by Hout seems to be jumping the gun. Accusations have no place in this conflict. They will only compound the issue and further demonize both players. No one will know for sure what was said except for the two players involved. Even when they recount what happened, the facts will be distorted to improve their own images and defame the other's.
The bottom line here is that both parties need to keep moving on with the season and keep their mouths shut as they have been doing. Arguments over whether or not Blount's suspensions and Hout's lack of punishment are fair will continue for years. This is a pointless argument, but it will be perpetuated by fans with nothing better to do than gripe about issues that are irrelevant.
As a person with no stake in this overblown issue, I can say it was very easy to sit back and laugh at the fireworks going on in Boise, Idaho. Week one of college football is now over, and I realize why I have missed it so much since last January. Let the games begin.