Normally, I respect Deadspin's approach to the sports news of the day, week, whatever. But not today. Not this reckless and ignorant post from Dashiell Bennett, a guy who I don't know personally but also normally respect. But Dash is as wrong as can be here and I surely hope he's not doing it just to be a contrarian. Because that would be stupid.The title is "Byron Hout Got What He Deserved."
Really? He deserved to get punched in the jaw while he wasn't looking by a thug who talked smack all week long apparently? A thug who then ran away like a little girl. A thug who punched him with his HELMET ON?
I've read a lot about this today, as I'm sure many of you have as well. And the consensus seems to be that Blount was talking during the week about how they owed Boise St. an ass-whipping because Boise beat them last year. And, from what's being cobbled together, it appears that Hout may have gone by and rapped him on the shoulder pad and said, "Nice ass-whipping."
Should Hout have done that? Of course not. Nobody's denying that. He should probably be disciplined, in fact, for inciting this melee. However, he does not "deserve" to be punched in the jaw like that.
What if Blount had broken Hout's jaw? Would he deserve that, too? What an asinine and obnoxious thing to say. God forbid Hout and the Broncos appear "smug" after beating the thug-filled, trash-talking-but-never-have-won-anything Ducks for the second straight year!
Bennett/Deadspin also classified Hout's actions as an "equally egregious display of poor sportsmanship." No, sir. Just... no.
He also says this about the fans at -- remember -- a Boise State home game: "[The] fans should probably have kept their mouths shut too. Blount would have ripped them in half if they didn't have security to protect them."
Wait, so now fans can't yell and scream at a thug who just committed assault on their field? Okay, gotcha. Let me make sure I write down all these rules. Clown.
Oh, and let me ask this... was it also Byron Hout's fault when Blount went after and jacked HIS OWN TEAMMATE in the head?
7 comments:
Once again, J Money hits the target. Bullseye, sir.
I hate all this talk about it being a sucker punch. Hout got up in Blount's grill who in turn popped him in the chin. Hout is an idiot. He poked a bear with a short stick and is surprised that his reckless ignorance and provocation got him popped.
Should Blount have knocked thrown a punch? Of course not. However, the fallout and vilification of LeGarrette is out of whack. He made a mistake while trying to leave the field.
Let's put this in perspective. He didn't swing a helmet a la Miami vs FIU. He didn't look for a defenseless player on the ground to stomp and kick like in the Clemson/SoCar game five or so years ago. He engaged in a one on one fight and popped a guy who made first contact. Sorry but rules of engagement were followed and Hout got what he deserved.
Duck Fan in Nevada
Well, sucker puncher is now done as a duck. Maybe a little excessive, but that's that. And Hout has we he deserves - more playing time...
Warren -- I loathe that argument. It's like the Michael Vick defenders who say he shouldn't have gotten as harsh a punishment as he did because there are guys who do less time for killing people. While that's true, does that mean it's a sliding scale and we should lessen all other punishments because some a-hole got away with murder, for example?
Just because Blount didn't incite a complete melee, we should say he did less wrong? Make no mistake, if not for a lot of guys dragging tough guy Blount away from the crowd, he'd have gotten into it with fans next and THAT would have been an even bigger black eye. You nip these things in the bud so that he doesn't have the chance to embarrass Oregon even more.
I guess one way we could put it into perspective would be this: Blount assaulted another person and was lucky it happened on the field, where the only penalties he was likely to face would affect his playing career.
He's probably also lucky that it was a player he hit. Maybe he knew it was a player before he swung ... but imagine if the first person to talk smack in his ear had been a fan?
I can understand the desire to defend a player on your team, but in this case, it might be better just to wish Blount well and move on.
J Money, I don't get what you loathe about the argument or the general overreaction to the Blount incident. First off Blount has not irreparably damaged the game of football. What he did was make a mistake. A very big mistake.
However, I don't really understand how you can think that a punch is more damaging an act than swinging a helmet at someone or stomping someone on the ground?
What would you do if someone came up to you, slammed you in the shoulder and when you turned around all you saw were 4 or 5 players on the other team? I just find it awfully convenient for those of use who are willing to throw Blount under the bus for his actions, do so from the comfort of our hypothetical armchairs.
As a Duck fan I find LeGarrette's punch of his teammate Garrett Embry much more troublesome than his TKO out Hout. The fan reaction was troubling but from what I've heard he was swung at by a Boise fan which sent him into his most disturbing fit of rage.
In the end he did nothing more than than overreact, which most media outlets and scribes are just as guilty of when covering this story.
Blount DESERVED to be held accountable for his pregame trash talking. I'm glad Hout took care of that. +1 Hout.
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