A thought on LaGarrette Blount

I am not going to hold off on this, even though I'm pretty sure tomorrow I might feel less serious about this.

As anyone with ESPN knows, tonight Oregon squeaked out a win over Oregon State 37-33, and it was a nice win for the Ducks that will send them to the Rose Bowl. I will root for them in the Rose Bowl, and I am not exactly heartbroken about the Beavers. I mean, I really don't care much either way, but it would have been fun to see the upset.

Here's what I'm troubled by, and I'm honestly curious what your thoughts are.

LaGarrette Blount. Let me remind you of a few things about this young man....


I'm guessing that refreshed your memory. Anyway, he is the young man who threw a punch at the start of the season on national television. He is the young man who Chip Kelly suspended for the season and then magically unsuspended for the season and said would play once he climbed various rungs on an imaginary ladder.

He has been eligible to play for a few weeks now. He hasn't played.

Until the Civil War. Until the Ducks are down 9 points in the third quarter against the Beavers and their shot at the Rose Bowl is on the line.

And maybe I'm blowing this out of proportion, but I just think that's tacky. I'm not saying that the Beavers shouldn't have stepped up and shut him down when they needed to, or that the Ducks wouldn't have won without him (I think they would, and could have). I just get a bad taste in my mouth about it. Not sure why. It just felt a little bit like Chip Kelly saying, 'We're in a tight spot. Here's a guy who they have very little film on, who hasn't been a part of our offense all season but who has practiced with us. Let's throw him in at an opportune time.'

I am not even saying that as a coach I wouldn't have done the exact same thing.

I'm just saying I thought it was tacky.

That said, I also thought both their defenses looked like shit. And that the Beavers let it slip away and made a bad call to go for it on 4th and 15 with 6 minutes remaining. Again, I'm not sure how I would have done things differently, I just don't agree with the call.

And on that note, here's something else I find tacky:

That is thanks to my friend Mike. And that, complete with three separate (and to my mind unnecessary) fonts on one T-shirt, is why I rooted for the Beavers.