This column appears on the back page of this week's Score Atlanta. But you get it one day early! Lucky you! Still, stop by your local Kroger, Blockbuster or QT to pick up a hard copy. www.scoreatl.com
College football is back and the coverage was confusing to say the least the first week of the season. Between outrage over a punch, Dr. Lou returning and an ABC color analyst just “Millen Around,” a fan could forget that football was even being played. On college football’s opening night, ESPN played up the SEC vs. the ACC and while the South Carolina/NC State game turned out to be an offensive dud with the Gamecocks taking the contest, the network promised plenty of fireworks in the second half of the double-header between Boise State and Oregon. The network just didn’t say that the fireworks would come after the game, which was a bit of an offensive dud itself. Following an off-season’s worth of trash-talking from Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount, the Ducks could barely make any first downs all night and only a muchtoolate rally in the fourth quarter made the score respectable. However after the game, Boise State defensive end Byron Hout decided he’d let the Ducks running back Blout hear about it. While on camera Hout approached Blout, shouted something at him and mockingly slapped him on the shoulder. Before the Broncos coaches could get Hout out of there, Blout punched Hout square on the jaw and sent the DE to his knees. After the punch, Blout appeared to want to fight some of his teammates who tried to pull him back then appeared to want to crawl into the crowd to fight a fan.
This was of course met with all of the outrage that the Ron Artest incident created several years back. ESPN commentator Bob Davie was “outraged” and railed on Blount in the postgame wrapup and even posted a column on ESPN.com that following day, calling for Blount to be banned from college football. The Punch was shown over and over all morning, afternoon, night Friday, and the following day on Gameday, the topic was broached yet again by Chris, Lee, Kirk and Desmond. Naturally the punch was aired on Sunday as well and the clip was finally beaten into the ground Monday before the Miami/Florida State game kicked off. Expect the clip to make several more appearances this weekend before Oregon’s next game and plenty more throughout the season. However for everyone going on and on about how wrong this was, let’s remember that this kid made a mistake right after the heat of battle. His pregame words came back to bite him following a game where he did not play particularly well. While he should not have taken a swing at the Boise State player, perhaps the player should not have gone up and provoked him. The Bronco defensive end in essence poked the angry dog with a stick and was then surprised when the dog bit back. Blount was suspended for the rest of his senior season and likely cost himself his being drafted this season. ESPN’s Todd McShay had him pegged as the No.56 player available. The signing bonus money and the contract he’ll lose, coupled with the suspension is enough punishment. He immediately apologized to the press after the incident happened. It is time to let him go. Perhaps Boise’s Hout should have received more than just “internal discipline” for his role in the event. The fan in Detroit that threw the beer on Artest was banned from Pistons games. Hout probably had to run some steps. While he didn’t throw any punches, he couldn’t let sleeping dogs lie. Did he deserve to get punched? No, but he didn’t act like he had been there before. Most mid-majors don’t though. Boise State is no exception.
During the Georgia/Oklahoma State game, viewers were probably confused to see ABC commentator Matt Millen’s new segment “Millen Around” during the third quarter of the Cowboys win. Millen rode a tractor in a very confusing sequence that appears as though it will become a regular spot on the network’s coverage. Millen was very good broadcasting NFL games before his stint with Detroit but he just could not quite pull this piece off; it seemed campy. ESPN and ABC has had some success with commentators going out and eating and seeing local sights where the game is being played, but this was just weird.
Finally, Melaine Oudin continues to rally her way through the US Open and the national media is loving it some Oudin-mania. ESPN, CNNSI and the AJC are all jumping on the Oudin bandwagon, giving the 17-year-old Marietta native national and local exposure. Perhaps they all should have simply read Score Atlanta in August 2008, when our paper was the first to interview not only Oudin, but also her coach Brian de Villiers. Score Atlanta continues to follow Ms. Oudin in her run to a Grand Slam title.
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