Football Is Back

Thursday night, college football made its return for the 2009 season. I have been anticipating this season more than any in recent years and set aside my evening to watch Oregon at Boise State. Oregon came into the game ranked 16th in the country while Boise was ranked 14th. I expected a high flying matchup between two teams that are traditionally prolific on offense. For those who watched the game, it is needless to say that I was disappointed. Seeing that the game was on the west coast, my night began with an absolute barn burner, South Carolina at NC State (cue crickets). The Gamecocks won this epic showdown 7-3. Unfortunately, this was not the defensive struggle that one would expect from looking at the score. Instead it was a game characterized by mediocre offense and several missed opportunities.

At 10:15 it was finally time for Boise State and Oregon. The game started and it soon became clear that the game was not of a much higher quality than the early game. Boise State's offense had moments of brilliance but squandered a few opportunities in the end zone when kicker Kyle Brotzman missed two field goals from the left hash. Oregon played absolutely awful on offense and amassed zero first downs in the first half. Despite the horrific play by the Ducks, they went into halftime only down 13-0. In the second half they scraped together a scoring drive but could not handle the Broncos on the blue turf, losing 19-8. Boise did not look like a potential BCS contender but came away with the win, thanks to their defense, in an extremely sloppy game. Unfortunately, all the talk about this game is about what happened after the game was over.

Oregon RB LeGarrette Blount who had talked trash before the game and was taken down for a Boise State safety during the game, was the center of all the controversy after the game. In the post game handshakes, Blount was taunted by Boise linebacker Byron Hout and proceeded to sucker punch Hout in the face as he turned away. A strange scene ensued as Blount was pulled away by teammates and began fighting them off as well. As he was finally being escorted to the exit by Oregon players, coaches, and police officers, Blount went after several Boise fans seated near the exit and tried to get into the stands in a moment reminiscent of the Indiana Pacers and Detroit Pistons debacle in 2004. The whole scene was absolutely reprehensible and marred a respected football program and the opening night of a promising, young season. Unfortunately, there are far too many instances like this in mainstream sports and it does not seem that they are going to end any time soon. I am sure that Hout had taunted Blount and that is to be discouraged, but the way in which Blount reacted will never be okay under any set of circumstances. If punches were thrown any time that there was trash talking on any level of sports, we would see this a dozen times a night in almost every sport. Blount has been handed his punishment and will have a whole season to learn his lesson the hard way since Oregon has handed down his season long suspension. He may also be learning the lesson for a lifetime, because his chances at an NFL career have been virtually destroyed according to some experts. There goes the neighborhood...

LeGarrette Blount's season stat line reads:

Rushes: 8
Rushing Yards: -5

This presents an opportunity for today's installment of the Word of the Day, only today it is a phrase.
The Word (phrase) Of The Day: Happy Trails

I don't think this needs much explanation...