I am pissed.
Not so much because my college fantasy team has gone down the crapper like a dead gold fish, but it’s the reason why that’s making me angry.
So far I’ve lost starting running back Anthony Dixon (suspended after DUI arrest), Heisman winner Sam Bradford (shoulder injury) and my other starting running back, LeGarrette Blount (suspended for season).
It’s the suspension to Blount that is really killing me and I only partially blame Blount. In case you were a college football fan who was just rescued from being lost in the woods, Blount is suspended for the year after he “sucker punched” Boise State’s Byron Hout after the Broncos beat the Ducks 18-9 as 3.5-point favorites (
Betjamaica.com) last Thursday.
Now, the punch wasn’t very bright. Neither was the fact Blount tried to fight with fans in Boise after that. But he definitely didn’t deserve to have his football career ruined by being suspended for the season. What’s worse is that none of this would have ever happened if it wasn’t for the new handshake initiative from the American Football Coaches Association.
The association wants players to shake hands before college games this year in an effort to show sportsmanship.
It’s garbage. And in this case, it might have helped contribute to Blount’s run-in with Hout.
As part of the initiative, a selected group of Broncos players shook hands with a selected group of Oregon players prior to kickoff of this highly-charged game. No problem there – things went off without a hitch as you would expect.
The problem comes after the game. Instead of players shaking hands then and congratulating one another on a hard-fought game – or retreating to the locker room - Boise State players were milling about and beaking Oregon while the Ducks headed for the locker room.
Pow! Down goes Hout.
I don’t think players would be so inclined to chirp the opposing team’s players if you have to shake their hand, one by one, and look them in the eye. Because if you shake a guy’s hand, look squarely at him from arm’s length and say “that was for your momma”, you’re going to get punched. Pretty much guaranteed.
On the flip side, if you sucker punch a guy when he’s shaking your hand just because you lost the game, you’re pure scumbag and everybody knows it. You deserve every severe penalty you get.
But when you’re just walking past a guy, there’s a little more of a feeling like you can beak him in such a manner and get away with it.
Whatever Hout said, it wasn’t very nice. Maybe Oregon had it coming for all their revenge talk all summer. Maybe not. What I’m saying is this likely would not have happened if the players were shaking hands after the game like they used to.
Let’s treat these guys like men and get rid of this stupidity. Football is a physical game. Guys get hit. Not everybody will like everybody else when it’s over. But it’s more of a lesson in respect for everyone involved when you can go through a physical battle like that and still have the class to shake hands at the end of it.
I just fail to see any good in shaking hands before the game when the captains already do it anyway. Let’s hope this is the last incident of its kind this season.