Remember all of that excitement yesterday about the Oregon Ducks opening the college football season on national TV?
It seems like a long time ago, after last night's game.
The Ducks had the entire country watching them as they kicked off the college football season, and the game went in the worst possible way. I'm not just talking about a pathetic, uninspired loss to Boise State - although that was sufficiently embarrassing to Duck-faithful - because a simple loss would've only meant that fans across the country would ignore the Ducks. "Oh, they're not very good. Let's just forget about them." Just losing to Boise State would only lead to apathy and obscurity.
But Murphy's law decided to kick in. Whatever could've gone wrong, did.
Zero points and zero first downs in the first half. It was so pathetic, even Lou Holtz and was slurring jokes about the Ducks at halftime on ESPN. But as if the poor performance on the field wasn't enough, the post game was even worse.
Ducks' running back LeGarrette Blount, who had promised an "ass-whooping" before the game, suckerpunched a Bronco player in the face as the teams left the field. Yes, the Boise State player was taunting Blount and even smacked his shoulder pads, but Blount went too far and reacted like a pissed off little kid. He punched the player in the face when he wasn't looking, and then had to be restrained from going after fans as he was pulled kicking and screaming off the field by teammates and coaches.
What should have been apathy and obscurity after the game turned into a feeling of disgust. Now, instead of being ignored by fans and the media, Oregon is still in the spotlight, only this time it is for Blount's punch and poor sportsmanship. The punch is being replayed non-stop on TV, sports columnists are calling for Blount to be kicked off the team, and Oregon is being used as an example of the poor sportsmanship in college football.
The eyes are still on Oregon, but in a worse way than anyone had anticipated.
For an entire state of fans that had put their hearts into that opening game, this is the most embarrassing situation they could've endured. The Ducks disrespected the entire state of Oregon in front of a national TV audience with their performance and their actions. And it's not going to be easily forgotten.
Blount needs to be dealt with, whether that's by suspending him or kicking him off the team. His actions embarrassed himself, his team, his university, and his state. I know he was emotional after the loss, and that the Bronco player was taunting him. But you can't punch him in the face on national TV; no good could've come of that. You yell back, you shove him, you do anything except land a right jab on the guy's chin. And with multiple ESPN cameras on the incident, it meant that the replays on national television and the Internet won't end. Oregon has no choice but to discipline Blount severely, if only to save face nationally. They need to send a message that Blount's childish actions do not belong on that team and at that school.
But I fear that the damage has already been done. Every ounce of excitement that had surrounded the Ducks from fans and media has now been replaced by disgust and embarrassment. While yesterday fans couldn't wait until the Ducks opened the season, now those same fans are looking for a hole to crawl into and hide. In a span of less than 24 hours, all the feelings about the Ducks season have taken a complete 180. To lose like the Ducks did was bad enough. To have a player turn your team into a national punchline is even worse.
Yesterday, I said that deep down, we were all Ducks. Today, there's not a speck of green in sight.
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