Football: Dunk's F-bomb fuels debate

It was hard to keep track of all the bombs in a game with 750 passing yards, but there was little mistaking the one Guelph's Justin Dunk dropped in close vicinity to a The Score camera during the University Rush game on The Score on Saturday.

Right after the Guelph QB broke a 22-yard TD touchdown run in the third quarter, a live blog reader noted , "Dunk said and I quote: Fuck Western ... to the camera and the audio was picked up live." Some cisfootball.org users also caught the swear word and have had a lively discussion over whether there should be consequences. There does not seem to be any dispute it was said.

Everyone has heard that word before (in a normal shift in my job, I might hear it 100 times). Having a face-of-the-franchise player who is used to promote OUA football saying it in front of a national TV audience, in reference to the opposing school, is hardly acceptable.

Dunk is a unique talent who is a lot of fun to watch (it will hard to picture Guelph without him next season). The same I-can-do-anything braggadocio he shows when he's snapping off 60-yard throws and keeping pass plays alive for 12-15 seconds might also lead him to go over the edge once in a while. Saying that emotions were running high in a close game in front of a loud stadium is no excuse. Ninety players dressed and 89 of them did not walk up to a camera and say the F-word.

It's not clear if this will become a larger story; from a media standpoint, it's moot since Western won the game, 41-39. The Mustangs' defensive players have faced Dunk before and no doubt have no trouble getting fired up to face the cocksure pivot. If this can be handled with a Sunday or Monday phone call from Guelph's coaching staff to their Mustang counterparts (as so often happens between coaches when something controversial happens), so be it.
Next PostNewer Post Previous PostOlder Post Home

13 comments:

  1. I hope this little incident won't affect Dunk's consideration for the Hec, but it might.
    I'm sure some will take offence to what he said, but as anyone who ever played the game will tell you, far worse things are said between foes on the field.
    I expect Dunk to get a formal reprimand from the OUA and an apology will be issued to Western.
    Beyond that, I can't see anything else come out of this, except perhaps a strong recommendation to Mr. Dunk that any further incidents would be dealt with considerably more harshly.

    ReplyDelete
  2. If it's any consolation, he wasn't the only college football player who had a cuss word picked up on camera. Thing is, he wasn't saying it toward the other school and there were what, 40, 50 NCAA games on TV yesterday, as opposed to 2 on national TV in Canada?

    Simori Lawrence, who plays for Minnesota, was heard saying "motherf!cker" during a game that was on the Big Ten Network. (Lawrence collided with a yard marker in an, uh, sensitive area and you know how football players don't wear a cup.)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Whether Dunk apologizes or not to Western is of small consequence.I am sure their feelings were not hurt. He was not caught using profanity by accident as sometimes happens. He deliberately approached the camera to do so. His apology should be to those with families who were watching the game expecting a good show of sportsmanship by Canada's university athletes. To the OUA for damaging the fine product they are trying to bring to a larger audience.
    Apparently he walked off the field at the end without participating in the traditional handshake. A fine sportsman!

    ReplyDelete
  4. When Carleton's women's soccer team was caught breaking the school's code of conduct for athletes they were heavily sanctioned. Forfeited two games. ineligible for individual awards this season, must do community work during the school year,the team will not be allowed to participate in the winter indoor soccer league they usually play in.
    It took guts on the part of Carleton's AD to take action to make the point to everyone that such behaviour was not going to be accepted. Will Guelph's AD have similar guts to discipline this one star player for a similar breach of conduct?

    ReplyDelete
  5. So much for all the stuff Guelph was putting out there earlier this year about how his temperament has changed. I would expect some sort of sanction on him (not really sure what) and a formal apology to the OUA, and the viewers of University Rush. This is just really poor on his part. I think it kind of goes without saying that you don't go to a camera and say that.

    Besides, if it was kosher I'm sure there would be enough verbal offensive-ness to put us back in the stone age from just one Western-Queen's game.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Some might suggest that if the Carleton AD really had guts she would have suspended the program for the rest of the season.
    Anyway, it's like comparing apples and oranges.
    In the case of Carleton, it was an entire team engaging in naughty behavior, including binge drinking.
    In Dunk's situation, it's a case of a young man with a large ego and a very small sense of humility opening his potty mouth in front of the world, so to speak.
    Whatever action will be taken against I suspect will come from the OUA.
    I don't think the Guelph AD is willing to inflict severe punishment on him, because as he goes so goes the team.
    In other words, without Dunk, they're sunk.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Football, played with even the smallest amount of intensity, isn't debate club or band practice. Others have already posted that you could hear much worse if you are along the sidelines so let's drop the false hand wringing. As far as I could tell, from the Score's telecast, Helen Lovejoy wasn't present (I doubt many kids watch University Rush either)so we really don't have to worry about the children. I'm a Western fan and Dunk's conduct doesn't bother me at all. The coaches will take care of this behind the scenes and the rest of us can hope for a Guelph trip to London later this year.

    On another note, Sager mindlessly blogged that Queens was the class of the OUA. Now that type of analysis and commentary should be punished.

    ReplyDelete
  8. As previously explained, it was a tongue-in-cheek comment. The only thing punishable is failing to realize there is room for irony with OUA football, because it is clearly more important than curing world hunger, curing cancer and AIDs, keeping Iran from building nukes and bringing the troops home from Afghanistan combined.

    Western, Guelph, Queen's seem to be the top tier of the OUA, no one else is in their class although Laurier has potential if they work out the kinks on offence.

    My top ten this week is Laval, Western, Calgary, Montreal, Saskatchewan, Queen's, St. FX, Saint Mary's, Guelph, Alberta, so there you go.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sorry Sager, you'll still have to get in touch with the Mercury and issue an apology.

    Sager, think of the children, please. Won't someone think of the children?

    ReplyDelete
  10. You've made your point, whatever it is. Move on.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The kid's true colors came through.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Aren't these games on tape delay and edited out if there is a problem ? Using the short form for "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" seems to be no bases for offence. In the heat of battle, getting smashed by Western over and over on his runs and passes, I don't think he was in his right mind and should be absolved.
    I think Western won't go along with an amnesty because they would like to see him out of the playoffs since they know he can beat them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. The Score games are live. Rogers TV games are tape-delayed and edited.

    ReplyDelete