Members of the Oregon football team were able to take a break from practice and film study to enjoy the snowstorm that hit Eugene last Friday. Unfortunately, some of them didn’t know where to draw the line.
A snowball fight on campus — which followed an earlier, unproblematic fight organized by football players — spiraled out of control when participants began pelting cars and disrupting traffic. The drivers of one of those vehicles was former UO professor Sherwin Simmons, who also had a large tub of snow emptied into his car when he opened his door to confront the snowball throwers.
Though not all culprits were members of the team, photos and video of the events show several men wearing what appear to be team-issued jackets with jersey numbers on the sleeves, and The Daily Emerald identifies tight end Pharoah Brown as the one who dumped snow into Simmons’ car.
Ducks head coach Mark Helfrich said over the weekend that he is aware of the events, and that the players involved will be disciplined.
“On Saturday, I was made aware of an incident that occurred Friday afternoon during the snow day involving multiple Oregon students, including members of the football team,” Helfrich said in a statement. “The behavior exhibited in the video is completely unacceptable and dangerous. We take this matter very seriously and disciplinary actions have begun.”
After falling out of the national title race with two losses in its final four games, Oregon will face Texas in the Alamo Bowl on Jan. 30.
Update: Brown has been suspended for the bowl game, according to The Oregonian.
See a video of the winter fun gone wrong below.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@WeermanAshoka
