Sports letters: Ducks upstaged

This is an apology to the University of Oregon. A few months ago I submitted a note that was a little disparaging of Oregon and its football program, specifically about the problems with its players and arrests, convictions and other deplorable situations with law enforcement.

I now see that one of the outstanding representatives of that fine university, Jeremiah Masoli, was dismissed from the team and has subsequently transferred (or paroled) to the University of Mississippi. That that university would actually accept him and admit him to its university is perhaps a subject of a future note.

Now for the apology. As was pointed out by a Ducks friend, Oregon is a misdemeanor case compared to the felony case at the University of Florida. It seems that after five years of the Urban Meyer regime (starting the sixth year) it has been reported there have been 27 Florida athletes arrested. Twenty-seven in five years? Is this the norm for college football? I think not.

On a positive note, last Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Florida got its butt kicked by Alabama. I am not sure if that was a meaningful victory for Alabama as I do not know if Florida had all of its best players at the game. Perhaps some, or many, could not make the trip because they could not get permission from the court to travel outside of Florida.

So my apology to the Ducks. Perhaps they are trying to clean up their program by getting rid of the undesirables they probably should not have recruited in the first place.

And as for Florida, perhaps it will be lucky enough to get into a bowl game in Florida so it can have all of its best players available without having to get court permission to travel out of state.

Ronald Garrett

Spokane