LeGarrette Blount’s Future Is Fuzzy, Ask Again Later
Labor Day seemed as good of a day as any to clean out the Sidelines attic of all the rubbish that no longer had any real use for us in the office, foolishly concluding that our future-gazing crystal ball was one of such items. There are no surprises left in sports, right? Of course Tila Tequila risked getting choked out by a San Diego Charger. Of course Venus Williams was going to get busted out in the third round by a player who’s been breastfeeding for two years. And of course an Oregon Duck was gonna do some punching to start the college football season.
I mean, who couldn’t see those things coming?
In the case of Oregon’s pluckiest Duck, LeGarrette Blount, there are enough unknowns left in that kid’s future to make keeping the ol’ crystal ball around a while longer seem like a decent idea.
Obviously, most NFL teams aren’t going to want a player – any player – who attacks the opposition, teammates, and fans no matter what his stats might suggest he’s capable of. And make no mistake, this single incident does paint him as “someone who does this.” That’s the way it goes. Half an athlete’s job is to put a ball into or onto some sort of goal. The other half is not doing anything dumb while they do it. Blount was only able to complete half that task and because of that, he’s been branded. From here on out, Blount is no more a man guilty of a single incident of angry hysteria than Ron Artest is someone guilty of a single incident of punching out chubby Pistons fans.
All right crystal ball o’ mine, is Blount’s punishment fair?
He did act like a damn fool on national television (the worst time to act like that) and his damage was most certainly not imagined. But his season is over and, as a senior, it suggests his career might be kaput too. Blount’s been allowed to practice with his Oregon teammates, he’ll no longer see any of the spotlight associated with playing for a Division I university. Staying with the Ducks will serve only as a chance for a recommendation from Oregon head coach Chip Kelly and top-dollar conditioning while he awaits the NFL draft seven long months from now. His only other option is to play for a non-Division I school and hope that the Cowboys are paying attention to whatever goes on at the University of Portland.
Either way, the writing’s on the wall, all because Byron Hout had a sweet “Yo Mama” joke that he just had to test out on Blount.
No one argues that Blount had some sort of punishment coming, but a whole season? Effectively a whole career?
When Kermit Washington almost killed Rudy Tomjanovich on December 9, 1977 he was suspended 60 days (26 games) and was back by the all-star break. Rudy T had to retire soon after that incident.
[UPDATE: Washington reached out to Blount shortly after the incident.]
Detroit’s Ty Cobb climbed into the stands to beat up a disabled heckler on May 15, 1912 and got a 10-day suspension. He played more games that season than all but two of his teammates.
Then there was (of course) Artest’s odyssey into the Palace of Auburn Hills stands. That incident was so nasty it’s become shorthand for bad athlete’s behavior. Like “Hitler” has become for evil, “vanilla” is for boring and “Aerosmith” is for sellout. Tru Warrior lost the remainder of his season (86 games: 73 regular season, 13 playoffs) but has since maintained a successful career five years later.
But everyone mentioned above were professionals, with money (sorta) and experience. Since when do we punish the youngest the hardest? Blount didn’t climb into the stands, nor did he put anyone anywhere near the hospital.
It’s been said that if Blount wasn’t prepared to pay the penalty, he shouldn’t have gone berzerk all over the Smurf Turf last week. But that’s the thing. Perhaps right before LeGarrette used “Blount force” to knock the smile off Hout’s smarmy 80s-villain face, he thought to himself, “Gee, is this worth the 3-5 game suspension I’ll probably get? Yes. Yes, it is?” The saying goes: “Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time.” In Blount’s case, it’s closer to “don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time-and-a-half.”
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Photos courtesy of Flickr
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