One of the issues lost amongst the sparring and subsequent meltdown of LeGarrette Blount Thursday night was the fact that whoever is in charge of showing replays at Boise State’s stadium opted to show the the opening salvo of the one-man melee on the video board.
Over and over and over again.
Current Oregon athletic director and former head coach Mike Bellotti will, according to The Oregonian, be in contact with his Boise State counterpart “to officially issue Oregon’s complaints with the replays.” He is reportedly very displeased with how the whole situation was handled by the stadium, perhaps rightly so.
Bellotti is expected to lodge his complaints at some point next week.
While there is no excuse for what Blount did, it’s safe to assume that, if the fans in the stands weren’t aware of a Boise State player being punched, part of Blount’s meltdown may -- may -- have been avoided. If fans were ignorant as to what happened on the field, the odds of the chaos involving Blount attempting to Artest the paying customers would’ve lessened.
And, again, there’s no excuse for Blount’s actions. Nor were there for the board operator’s either.
The former was rightfully punished for his actions. Boise State needs to follow Oregon’s lead and ensure the latter doesn’t skate away unscathed.