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Joe Schad of ESPN Tweeted today that Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount has been reinstated to the Ducks’ active roster.
Blount was eligible to come back last Saturday at Stanford, but as we told you last Friday, Ducks Coach Chip Kelly preferred to bring Blount back at the friendly confines of Autzen Stadium in Eugene, not on the road. Read more…
Tweet this afternoon from PORTLAND OREGONIAN columnist and sports radio host John Canzano:
Blount is eligible to return Saturday as the Ducks play at Stanford, but it doesn’t appear, at least from Canzano’s Tweet, that he’ll make the trip. Read more…
As if Jim Harbaugh didn’t have enough to prepare for on Saturday, now there’s rumbling that this may be the week LeGarrette Blount rejoins the Ducks. Of course Stanford’s head coach shouldn’t fret too much; anyone who’s been following college football at all (what do you mean you haven’t?) knows that Oregon is doing passably well without him.
We knew that coach Chip Kelly was contemplating bringing Blount back at some point. The bigger question is, why? Is it wise to roll a grenade into the middle of a seven-game winning streak? Some say it’s for money, others that Kelly wants a hole card as the Ducks move closer to the really important games. Or, could he really just have the kid’s best interests at heart? Only Chip knows for sure, and he’s playing this one cagey.
Tim Tebow probably never wanted to see the day when he’d be lumped in with such damaged goods as LeGarrette Blount, Michael Vick, and - ugh - Jeff Fisher. But here it is and here we are, Tebow: Tony Dungy has come rushing to your aid. Yes, the St. Jude of sports, the patron saint of lost causes and dog killers. Dungy. Accept it.
Dungy’s latest comments came to Dan Patrick this morning when talking about drafting a quarterback for a team with a Top 10 pick. Patrick threw out alternative choices like Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, and Jake Locker. Nnnnnope. Because Tebow’s a winner, you see. Winners win games. Oh yeah.
Got to thinking today about the Univ. of Oregon playing the Tony Dungy card in its case for the reinstatement of LeGarrette Blount’s playing career. (Along with the other prominent figures cited by UO Coach Chip Kelly as party to Blount’s image overhaul: Dr. Harry Edwards, Kermit Washington and Jon Gruden.)
Considering that virtually every media account of Blount’s future reinstatement included a mention of Dungy visiting with the player, I set out today to find out just how much time Dungy has spent with Blount.
After an extensive online search resulted in virtually no details, I contacted prominent OREGONIAN columnist John Canzano and Univ. of Oregon Executive Assistant Athletic Director of Media Services (SID) David Williford to find out what they knew.
Williford emailed this response about the Dungy-Blount exchange: “I don’t have info regarding Blount’s contact with Coach Dungy, other than I know it was by phone. I don’t know how many times or how long.”
Canzano’s responds after the jump. Read more…
Pat Forde of ESPN.com today writes this of LeGarrette Blount’s written apology published in the Eugene student newspaper last week:
(LeGarrette Blount and ESPN.com’s Pat Forde)
“While Blount’s letter follows all of the dos and don’ts you can find at www.perfectapology.com, it also carries the unmistakable whiff of a ghostwriter. Call The Dash cynical, but the likelihood that Blount was the solo author of that letter is roughly the same as Rice’s chances of earning a BCS bowl bid. (”Agony of defeat”? Now there’s a phrase on the tongue of every college kid. If this were the 1970s.)
Nobody here is naive enough to think Blount wrote the entire letter on his own.
But if Forde’s so sure Blount didn’t write the letter, why didn’t he contact Blount and ask him? Or Blount’s coach Chip Kelly? Or Blount’s “legal representation”? For Forde’s comment to be as brassy as that, wouldn’t you think he would’ve at least lined up some material evidence to support his aggresively condescending assertion?
Apparently not.
If the same apology came from Tim Tebow or Colt McCoy or Todd Reesing or Matt Barkley, do you think Forde would be so patronizing?
Today Oregon announced it was going to probably rescind its season-long suspension of right-cross-impaired LeGarrette Blount.
Based on Blount’s questionable behavior before the Boise State game ever occurred, I didn’t have a problem with Ducks Coach Chip Kelly ’suspending’ Blount for the season. I also think it’s reasonable to rescind the suspension if Blount has shown he can get his act together. (As soon as we found out Tony Dungy was involved, it was a safe bet dude would soon be back in Oregon’s regrettable gear.)
One thing I haven’t seen talked about much, which was mentioned today by Steve Hartman on Fox Sports Radio, was that if Blount’s punch hadn’t landed squarely or the camera hadn’t been so perfectly trained on the jaw-drop moment, Blount most likely wouldn’t have gotten the harsh punishment he received. Of course, that doesn’t excuse what Blount did to Byron Hout, or his outrageous reaction to crowd taunts.
Another interesting observation on Blount’s situation came from respected OREGONIAN columnist John Canzano. Canzano claimed on ESPN-TV earlier today that perhaps Kelly was bringing Blount back because the Ducks had resurrected their season. And that the coach might’ve yielded to pressure from Oregon boosters.
Problem with that though is Oregon has played its best football without Blount, and it’s likely that even if he returns to the team, he probably won’t be the Ducks’ top running back anymore. LaMichael James is averaging six yards per carry since Blount was blown out by his outburst, and he’s likely to continue getting the bulk of the carries,
While there’s been an orgy of media coverage about Blount’s possible return, another sports figure who also got trucked in a colossal case of bad public judgement quietly slipped back into his highest profile gig this week. Read more…
Say, remember how LeGarrette Blount crapped the bed harder than you’d ever seen anyone in college football ever crap a bed in your life? In the span of one game on awful blue turf (and one very eventful postgame), Blount went from a strong contender for first-team all-Pac-10, high draft choice and darkhorse Heisman candidate to a man whose season would end with 6 more suspensions than rushing yards - and he only got suspended once. Shortly thereafter, Chip Kelly announced that Blount’s suspension was to last the season, and that was that on the senior’s collegiate career.
(”Welcome to Paintown. Allow me to introduce you to Mayor McHellfist.”)
But that wasn’t, in fact, that. It never is, really. Despite being a suspended senior with no ostensible hope of playing another meaningful down for Oregon, Blount was never kicked off the team. He began the apology parade shortly thereafter, and even met with the original face-wrecker of sports, Kermit Washington. And lo and behold, just as we mused this afternoon in light of his published apology to the OREGON DAILY EMERALD, Kelly’s about to take the next step toward bringing Blount back in a few weeks. You could just knock us over with a feather, really.
• Why would Allen Iverson ever join the Grizzlies? Because God told him to.
• Andrea McNulty is willing to drop her sexual assault lawsuit against Ben Roethlisberger - as long as Big Ben admits he did it.
• A foolish foursome tries to steal Cal Ripken Jr.’s “8″ statue from the front of Camden Yards.
• The Redskins are redfaced over the bad publicity of suing a 72-year-old woman over season tickets, so they opt not to take grandma’s 66 grand.
• Since when did Cole Hamels go the David Beckham metrosexual route?
LeGarrette Blount has spent plenty of time on the phone lately — what else does he have to do? — getting advice on what his next step should be. (Not contacted so far: Tom Cable, Buddy Ryan). His most recent call was from Kermit Washington, whom you may recall was involved in a rather noteworthy punching incident of his own.
During a fight between the Lakers and the Rockets in 1977, Washington punched Houston’s Rudy Tomjanovich in the face, breaking his jaw and leaving him unconscious. It was probably the most infamous punch outside of a boxing ring until, perhaps, Blount’s blow to the noggin of Boise State’s Byron Hout on Thursday. And according to Washington, it pretty much ruined his life. Read more…
