Tonight’s game between Oregon and BYU should be… uh… well… hopefully better than last year’s Holiday Bowl, right?

The Ducks haven’t won a bowl game since Joey Harrington was quarterback. Given the fact that BYU is a Mountain West team and that the Ducks have as much talent as any Pac-10 team not named “USC,” they have any excuse to not end the losing streak right here and now. But hey, even if they lose it won’t be as embarrassing as what they’ll likely be wearing.

Anyway, things should be pretty heated on the field, at least after Tuesday’s altercation between members of both teams:

What was supposed to be a light-hearted and spirited pep rally for BYU and Oregon and their fans came within a whisker of turning ugly Tuesday night at the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas.
While a BYU captain was giving a short speech on a stage above both teams, which were facing each other, several BYU players started doing the Haka, a traditional Maori war dance. The Cougars do the Haka as a team on the field before every game.
An Oregon player of Polynesian descent apparently took exception to the dance. He jumped over a metal barrier separating the teams and shoved a BYU player. A minor fracas ensued, although no punches were thrown.
Security personnel and BYU team officials were able to separate the players, and nobody was injured or detained for questioning.
“One of their guys jumped onto our side, but nothing really happened,” said BYU lineman Jake Kuresa. “Just a lot of shoving and mouthing off. Luckily, guys kept their cool.”

I didn’t even know dancing was legal in Utah, to be honest.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 21st, 2006 at 16:35 by Ian and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.