NCAA Player LeGarrette Blount Offers Textbook Example of Bad Sportsmanship

LeGarrette Blount isn’t famous. But the Oregon running back could be a household name by the end of Labor Day weekend — for all the wrong reasons.

The college football season kicked off Thursday, and Blount went berserk after Oregon’s 19-8 loss to Boise State. During the postgame handshakes, he sucker punched Broncos defensive end Byron Hout in the jaw. Then, Blount went on a two-minute rampage, doing his best impersonation of a Neanderthal. He pushed teammates. He wrestled with coaches. He even attempted to rush Boise State fans in the stands before being restrained by police on the field.

Fellini would have been proud of the chaotic scene. It made the running of the bulls in Pamplona look like a Sunday stroll in Central Park. It was ugly.

It also was the most running Blount did all night. After finishing with minus-5 yards on eight carries and catching just two passes for 12 yards, he had reason to be frustrated. But that doesn’t give anyone the right to cold-cock an opponent or act like a thug.

Nobody likes to lose. Vince Lombardi famously said, “Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser.” Lombardi likely broke a chalkboard in his day. He might have even flipped a table or tossed some chairs. Probably kicked a trash can, threw a clipboard and unleashed a few profanities over the course of his Hall of Fame career. But we never heard any stories of Green Bay Packer players ripping the heads off Chicago Bears following a game that didn’t go their way.

Losing disgusted Knute Rockne. He hated to lose more than he loved to win. George Allen said Rockne liked bad losers because “good losers lose too often.” But Rockne never advocated violence, and his Notre Dame teams never made headlines for anything other than beating the pulp out of Army — and every other rival — on the gridiron.

There are enough aphorisms on losing to fill library stacks. The quotes go back to the days of hieroglyphics. Ever hear of an Egyptian king who enjoyed losing power, glory and riches, who took well to being taunted that his city was weak, his culture was on the decline and his civilization was on the brink of falling?

Any competitor despises the empty feeling that comes from coming in second place, finishing on the wrong side of history. Whether it’s in a game of cards or the Super Bowl, defeat is a bitter pill to swallow.

But we’ve all been there. Losing happens to everyone. No one bats a 1.000. No quarterback has a 100 percent completion percentage. No coach goes undefeated.

No one wants to make a habit out of failing, but that’s a part of success. The true measure of a person is how he or she deals with adversity.

Anyone can stay positive when things are going well, but what happens when things don't go well? Does a person stay down, or does a person use the disappointment as motivation to improve and win the next time? Does a person learn from the mistakes and get better, or does a person let all the negative emotions wreak havoc and be a source of destruction?

Life is all about choices. And there are consequences for making the wrong ones.

Blount apologized for playing the role of savage, but the damage may already be done. If his senior season gets flushed down the drain, his shot at an NFL career probably won’t be far behind.

That’s a steep price to pay for being a poor sport.

Update: Oregon suspended Blount for the season.