One Team, One Heartbeat

After watching another wild day of college football Saturday, I asked myself, "Why do college football players need to have their names on the back of their jerseys? And especially their home jerseys!" To me this is just tacky. Names on the back of the jerseys just detracts away from the whole "one team, one goal" concept. It is not about the individual player, but about the team as one unit coming together and winning. Skip Holtz, head coach of East Carolina University, backed up his reason for removing players names from the jerseys: "One of the players came to me and said that we have had the names on the back of the jerseys for awhile...I said that we have the important one (East Carolina) on the front, so I don't care about the one on the back." The university itself is more important than the popularity of the individual player, who, at most, will only contribute four years to a university's historic endeavors.

For the average fan, many do not know all 40-plus players on the football team, let alone the benchwarmers. But there is no need to know every player's name. That's why we pay the announcers the big bucks to tell us the name of every player that catches the ball or makes a game-saving tackle. Either at the game or on TV, the announcer will comment on the previous play, "Jahvid Best down to the 30 yard-line, Eddie Shoe with the tackle." Both the offensive and defensive player who made the biggest impact on the play are mentioned.

It Takes 2 To Tango

We all know about LeGarrette Blount, running back for the Oregon Ducks, 'sucker-punching' Boise State's Byron Hout after the game Thursday night. The University of Oregon was swift in suspending Blount for the remainder of the season. Props to Oregon for not hesitating to give Blount what he deserved. But, it ticks me off that Boise State refrained from suspending Hout for taunting Blount. Clearly Hout went out of his way and makes sure to grab Blount's attention by pounding him on his shoulder pad and visibly passing on a few words to Blount. If Hout hadn't gone out of his way to taunt Blount, none of this chaos would have happened. Hout would not have been punched, Blount would not have attacked fans in the stands, and Blount would not have ended his college career (many analysts are even saying that Blount has ruined his future career in the NFL). Hout deserves at least a one-game suspension, if not more. A couple cliché's come to mind when replaying Hout's actions after the game: "Celebrate like you have been there before" and "Lose with respect, but also win with respect." Hout did neither! The NCAA needs to interfere and suspend Hout. Sportsmanship is the name of the game in college football, and the NCAA needs to take action.