Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
University of Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount was reinstated this week after being suspended for the team’s last seven games. The “powers that be” in the Pac-10 decided he had suffered enough for the cheap shot he landed on defenseless Boise State defensive end Byron Hout, after the Broncos laid a beat-down on the Ducks in the season opener.
The reason Blount was given a second chance is because he improved his attendance in class and at team meetings and participated in the recommended counseling programs. Really, that’s all it takes? Just show up to class and mandatory team meetings on time, and we’ll let you back onto our nationally-ranked football team — a team that reeled off seven wins without you before getting “Rick-rolled” by a bunch of nerds from Stanford University last weekend.
We’ll give you a shot to prove to the scouts you deserve a spot on a pro roster because you’re obviously a high character guy. Clearly after failing to qualify academically to play at Auburn and spending two years in the purgatory known as East Mississippi Community College, you’ve really dedicated yourself to your studies. You deserve another shot.
Frankly, I’m a little more than annoyed. Chip Kelly suspended Blount for the rest of the season, and that should have been the end of it. Letting Blount back on the team is like punishing a kid for a month, then letting him off a week later because he didn’t miss a shower and brushed after every meal. It’s ludicrous. Rewarded for going to class? Rewarded for showing up to mandatory meetings? This is stuff you’re expected to do as an athlete. You’re supposed to be punished for not doing it, not rewarded for finally getting around to it. There should be no room for improvement regarding attendance, because as a student-athlete, it is your obligation to attend as many classes as possible, barring illness or family tragedy.
As an elite athlete, Blount already had it put into his head that he is above the law. He is entitled to special treatment because he can run fast — from angry fans — and hit hard — when the other guy isn’t looking. His reinstatement is not going to do anything to combat that belief.
Let’s not forget that one of Chip Kelly’s first acts as head coach after replacing Mike Bellotti, who Blount clashed with on a regular basis in his first year, was to lift Bellotti’s suspension of Blount from the previous season for failing to attend team workouts. Why the reinstatement? Because he improved his attendance in the classroom and in team meetings. I’m bordering on incredulous at this point.
Oregon doesn’t even need this guy. Sure, they lost to Stanford and that really sucks, but LaMichael James, who stepped in after Blount’s suspension, is the second leading rusher in the Pac-10. He’s 12th in the nation right now. I think I’d stick with the hot hand — or legs, as the case may be — and make sure Blount gets the rest of what he deserves.
People are talking about this like it’s a well-deserved second chance for a guy who, by his own account, would like to “prove to people that their lasting impressions of [him] are not what they saw in Boise.” This is not a second chance. Blount got his second chance at the start of the season, and it took him one game to blow it. He got a second chance at the start of last season after he left a community college to play for Oregon and couldn’t even get along with the winningest head coach in Oregon history. He’s had plenty of chances, and it’s clear he’s deserved none of them.
Yet again, though, athletic privilege has reared its ugly head, and we see a guy who hasn’t been able to keep himself together at all since setting foot on the Eugene campus getting a chance he hasn’t earned.
Blount started the season on the watch list for the Walter Camp and Doak Walker awards. The man can play football, and if he had kept his hands to himself like we all learned in kindergarten, he’d probably collect one of them on his way to the league, where he’d be rewarded once more with a ridiculous contract he wouldn’t deserve under any circumstance. Rookie contracts have gotten that crazy.
There are things I would give up in one second to have half the athletic ability LeGarrette Blount has been endowed with. I just don’t understand why unmatched athletic prowess so rarely combines itself with unimpeachable character, maturity and intelligence. The NFL doesn’t need another Larry Johnson, Jamal Lewis, Chris Henry and the list goes on, but thanks to the win-at-all-cost mentality of both the college and professional ranks, with LeGarrette Blount, that’s exactly what they’re going to get.
Bangor Daily News