Notes on the Rose Bowl

I guess the first point to make is that I am not a sports fan—I am a Duck fan. I like playing sports, though I liked it more when I was younger, and I can get into about any game, but I don’t feel compelled to watch unless it is the Ducks. Once upon a time I loved the Blazers, but Paul Allen and Bob Whitsitt blew it, and even though I know they have come a long way from being the Jail Blazers, I don’t think that love I once had will ever come back.

With the Ducks, it’s different. I don’t know that everyone is that way about their school, and I know there are people who are way more passionate about it than I am, but I always want the Ducks to win, and I always care. In actuality, if they win or lose it has nothing to do with me, but I don’t feel disconnected. I guess if you are a fan you get it.

My point in laying this out is that I am not necessarily unbiased as I share my thoughts on the LeGarrette Blount issue. It seems to have died down now, but a lot of nasty things were said about Blount and Coach Kelly, and the U of O sports faculty, and that’s where I want to go.

People calling Blount a thug, well, that’s not that surprising. Even knowing that there is more to him as a person, that was thuggish behavior, and he brought that one on himself. It’s more what happened after that bothered me.

Coach Kelly initially said Blount was permanently done. Some people agreed, some disagreed, but he did eventually change his mind. This is where it started getting nasty, as people became so sure that he was only reinstated because of the Stanford loss, and only put into the Civil War game after the Ducks fell behind, and that it is all about money.

I can’t say with any certainty that none of this is true, but I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, and here is why.

First of all, one loss and falling behind do not necessarily show that the Ducks need Blount. They played better after his suspension than they did in that first game, and while he could have played in the Arizona State game, he did not. He lost his place to LaMichael James, and apparently Blount has been nothing but supportive of James.

Would the Ducks have won the Civil War without Blount? I don’t know. He played well, but so did the rest of the team. Actually, it looks to me like his coming in energized the rest of the team—that maybe it meant a lot to the entire team to have their brother back. That would make sense. Michael Jordan-era Bulls aside, I think the best teams often have an esprit de corps where they do care about each other, and want success for each other, and in a case like that the reinstatement of the one player feels good and is inspiring for all of them, not just the one.

What it looks like to me is that Coach Kelly knew, and rightly so, that he could not have a thug on the team, so he said the suspension was permanent, but because Blount was making appropriate steps to make up for the incident and become better as a person and a player, it made the permanent suspension feel like a mistake. Well, it was his first game as head coach—a mistake is certainly possible, and if it is a mistake it is one that shows his head was in the right place. I think the reinstatement also shows that his heart is in the right place.

I believe if Blount had stayed angry and ready for violence, he would still be benched. He might still make the NFL draft, or have a chance of a walk-on, but that the Ducks would have been done with him. And for that, some people are still mad, but I’m glad that he wasn’t thrown away.

There was another player a few years ago who had been involved in a very serious fight (not on the field). He got his charges reduced and he got to play for the Ducks. That made a lot of people angry too, and it’s not necessarily wrong, but they were able to give someone a chance. I wish I could remember his name. Anyway, he was disadvantaged, he did have a rough life, and you could call him a thug. He didn’t even graduate, actually, which I think is a bit of a sign that he had some issues. At the same time, he is now a family man, employed, and still working on his degree. Maybe that would have happened without the football program, but I believe it helped, and I think that’s worth something.

With Blount, well, if he does make the NFL, he will be a little more visible, but if not, we may not learn how he turned out until some other Duck gets in a fight. (If that’s the case, I hope it’s not for a long time.) Regardless, I hope this helped. I hope the anger management classes helped, and going through the different apologies helped, and that the support of his coach and teammates helped. Even if it doesn’t, I still believe it’s worth the effort.

I guess this is weighing on me more heavily, because sometimes there are people that I want to help, and can’t. Three in particular come to mind, two with legal issues and one who is just slowly killing herself. I wish someone else would be able to do something. Do they deserve help? Not necessarily—they all should have known better, and probably did know better, even if they had to tune that out. Would someone else’s help work? Maybe not. I just know that I still care. They still have value. The worth of a soul is great in the eyes of God, and sometimes we mortals feel it too. I also know that they could do a lot of good if they could get their garbage sorted out. So if there is a chance to reach out and take a hand, do it.

Also, while the lack of self-control displayed was alarming, given the heat of the moment, the disappointment with the loss, and the taunting from Hout, it doesn’t seem like it really makes him a bad person—not like dog-fighting or more malicious things. It makes anger management classes really appropriate, but he did that. I’ll stand with the coach.

I don’t know Chip Kelly at all, but I got to listen to almost all of the football coaching staff when I was there (I took a class). I’ve gotten to listen to Ernie Kent too, and I know that even though they all want to win and work on that, they do seem to care about the men that they are churning out as well. (Coach Kent actually said he made them learn etiquette and public speaking too, which I think is brilliant. I wish someone had done that with Rasheed Wallace.)

I also have seen that the programs tend to have a lot of loyalty, keeping people around and promoting from within. (A part of me thinks that if Coach Monson had just had a better personality he could have stayed longer too, but I don’t really know—it was a pretty bad season.) It is possible for me to believe that their reasons were good and that they are trying to do right.

If we ever get a jerk coach like Lambright or Neuheisel, I will hate it, and if there is ever a really bad scandal, like bribes or criminal cover-ups, I will be devastated, and yet I will keep rooting for the team and hoping that they will become something better. Also, if they have a really miserable losing season, or lose another bowl game, it will sting. I know all that. I am a Duck fan. That being said, that is not the reason that I am okay with the Blount reinstatement. It feels right.

I’m not sure that I deserve some of the help I’ve gotten over this last year either, but I hope that I can live worthy of it. I hope Blount has the same sense of responsibility, and my good wishes go with him.