Oregon's "Lame" Duck

EUGENE - At 1 p.m. Friday, six LeGarrette Blount jerseys hung untouched in the Duck Store at Autzen Stadium. Another adorned a mannequin.

An hour later, every No. 9 jersey - including eight youth sizes - were taken down and stored behind the desk, no longer for sale.

Blount's No. 9 jersey - priced at $60 for adult sizes and $42 for youth sizes - had been among the hottest sellers in the past two weeks as a Heisman hopeful. In fact, No. 9 was the only number made available for youth this season. Not for sale anymore....

Why? Well, unless you have been in a coma or locked-up in some ugly bastard’s shed out back…you would know that Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount demonstrated some Golden Gloves skill Thursday night and right now he might have a better shot at a career in boxing than one in the NFL. The Ducks suspended Blount for his senior season, ending on-field opportunities to further raise his once high stock. Now, he potentially has lowered his draft status from second-round talent to undraftable.

Prior transgressions don't help. Blount has been suspended by Oregon before and has had issues with grades and his weight. Plus, it's not as if Blount was considered a can't-miss prospect to begin with. A good senior season for Blount could have elevated his stock. But now he most likely will be limited to pre-draft workouts in order to impress NFL scouts. But those opportunities could be very limited.

Bye-bye! That was the decision announced Friday, 15 hours after the team's star running back melted down on national television, punching an opponent in the face, shoving his own teammates, charging Boise State fans and tarnishing the Ducks carefully cultivated brand by putting it squarely in the center of one of the year's most hotly debated and controversial sports stories.

Replays of Blount throwing punches at Boise State defensive end Byron Hout and teammate Garrett Embry, and his attempt to lay hands on Bronco Stadium fans have been aired countless times on television and viewed hundreds of thousands of times on the Internet since the Ducks' 19-8 loss to Boise State on Thursday night.

Let’s be honest! Good role models are hard to come by these days. Athletes, politicians, grade school teachers and even evangelical preachers are making more and more headlines for their ranks being filled with pimps, thugs, drug-abusers, alcoholic wife-beaters, common criminals and folks of any other socially deviant persuasion you can think of. Is a whole generation bound to be doomed because of this? Was Charles Barkley right when in a 1993 TV commercial he tried to inform America that parents should be the true role models for their children, rather than those in the limelight? Maybe, but at least it makes for interesting reading.

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award (often known simply as the Heisman Trophy or the Heisman), named after the former college football coach John Heisman, is awarded annually by the Heisman Trophy Trust to the most outstanding player in collegiate football.

Mr. Blount you are not the most outstanding…you are an embarrassment to the game. Face it! Your mouth wrote a check that you could not cash….it was you who started this with how Boise State needed an 'ass-whippin.' You just thought you were good enough to get away with it…..proud of yourself now? Loser. Get it thru your head that it is NOT NORMAL to sucker-punch someone...oh wait! I forget...you had trouble with academics as well.

Sorry, I forgot that Oregon couldn't find a way to keep you involved in learning enough to meet NCAA standards (without cheating). So now, not only can you not play football and make it to the NFL...you are not bright enough to know what you did mister! Saying you are sorry in a press conference does not make it 'all better.' People are getting sick of this shit.

Perhaps more attention should be paid to the character of the players instead of the color of the uniforms Duck fans…(honestly…he couldn’t have been a starter in the SEC with Florida, 'Bama, Arkansas, Ole Miss....real teams).

Oh, and Oregon fans? It wasn't the referee's fault this time! Seems like that is always the excuse with Duck fans...boo hoo.