Oh, my. LaMichael James, Oregon running back whose breakout freshman season bailed out the Ducks after LeGarrette Blount's Falcon Punch, has been arrested in Springfield, Oregon for domestic violence. From KEZI in Oregon:
He (James) was booked at the Lane County Jail just before three o'clock Wednesday morning.
The Lane County Sheriff's Office website lists James' charges as strangulation, assault-4 and menacing.
While good news for incoming freshman RB Lache Seastrunk, it's dismal news for Oregon. James was the cornerstone of their offense last year and a terror on the zone read play with Jeremiah Masoli (who may or may not be in legal trouble all his own.) The loss leaves not just a hole on the depth chart, but takes a serious chunk of production out of the Ducks' offense for 2010 if he's convicted and inevitably kicked off the team.
Fulmer Cup-wise, it's hard to imagine those aren't felony charges unless Oregon has a previously unheard-of casual attitude towards the strangulation of domestic partners in a non-cooperative fashion. Assault-4 looks to read "fourth-degree assault," which is usually a misdemeanor, while menacing is also usually a misdemeanor unless a deadly weapon is used. A man-sized D-1 running back may, indeed, be considered that.
Conservatively, let's say three points for strangulation, one each for the misdemeanors, and then add in Rob Beard's one point for fourth-degree assault in the street fight that got him kicked in the head and hospitalized, and that's an aggregate score of six points for the Ducks, who have suddenly become your Fulmer Cup favorites with a total score of seven on the year and more possibly to come.
What's going on with Oregon? It's like they're on QUACK! <---shoots this joke with elephant gun