Kids, learn a lesson here…you just can’t go around punching people in the face. If you are a public figure like a football player, people will dig up every little thing you’ve ever done. I’m not going to blame The Oregonian’s John Canzaro for doing his job; that’s what reporters do. Instead, you can take in the following and decide for yourself…

Two football seasons ago. Closed practice. Autzen Stadium. Running back LeGarrette Blount was carrying the football on a play that swung wide when he was met by two University of Oregon defenders.

Defensive back Jairus Byrd and linebacker Jerome Boyd grabbed Blount and shoved him toward the sideline. A scuffle broke out, facemasks were grabbed, bodies tangled and then Ducks head coach Mike Bellotti hurried toward the mess, trying to break up the players.

Blount threw a punch.

It missed Byrd and Boyd, but caught the side of Bellotti’s face — square.

Two Ducks teammates and a former assistant coach told me about that punch on Thursday.

That practice punch was dismissed as an accident. A simple expression of sport emotion by a player who wants very much to be the best he can. Football is a physical game, we’re told. Bellotti never publicly talked about it and did not return a call Thursday on the matter. Ducks teammates, aghast on the field as it happened, laughed about Bellotti’s shocked reaction with one another in the locker room after practice.

Blount, Byrd and Boyd were kicked off the field, but were not disciplined. And I suppose that punch — unlike the infamous one he threw at Boise State on national television last season – might have been mostly forgotten if it weren’t for the punch Blount threw at an NFL practice on Wednesday.

Consider that Blount is trying to rehabilitate his image. Consider that he went undrafted, despite being blessed with God-given football talent. Consider that he must know, down deep, that he’s being watched. Even – no, especially – when he’s tempted to lose his composure. And yet here Blount was, clenching a fist after having his helmet pulled off on consecutive plays, and throwing a straight right hand as he bounced on his feet like a tired boxer.

Video of a Tennessee Titans practice scuffle from Wednesday shows several players shoving one another, and Blount, helmet off, walking back to the huddle. He bumps defensive end Erik Bakhtiari. They shove each other. Then, Blount throws a punch to the facemask of Bakhtiari, who demonstrates restraint by not throwing one back.

So, what say you?