A judge this week declared that Jeremiah Masoli's offense is minor. His stats clearly indicate otherwise, but I'm not in charge. But even though his offense was deemed minor, (in spite of passing for over 2,000 yards and rushing for 668 yards) it got his recent crime demoted from a felony to a misdemeanor. Masoli, obviously a music lover, stole 2 laptops and a guitar from a frat house on campus. Imagine how easy he would have gotten off if his offense had been better...
After the loss to Boise State in the season's first game, Oregon went on to win the PAC-10 championship. Mostly from the work of Masoli, now suspended for the 2010 season, and also from the work of LaMichael James, who rushed for over 1,500 yards, a PAC-10 freshman record. James was suspended for the opening game of the season. His crime was much less serious than Masoli's crime. James merely beat and choked his girlfriend.
Kudo's to Oregon coach Chip Kelly for meting out such strong punishment to two star players. This could only have been made possible by the recent signing of Temple, Texas running back, Lache Seastrunk. I think we can only hope that this doesn't become a string of renegade chokings by running backs from Texas.