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A mindless moment Quinton Flowers should regret

USF quarterback Quinton Flowers had the game of his life against UCF, but needs to apologize for a gesture
 
DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD   |   Times
South Florida Bulls quarterback Quinton Flowers (9) leaps to avoid UCF Knights defensive back Mike Hughes (19) and during the second half of Friday’s (11/24/17) in-state rival NCAA football game between UCF Knights and the USF Bulls at Spectrum Stadium at the University of Central Florida (UCF).
DOUGLAS R. CLIFFORD | Times South Florida Bulls quarterback Quinton Flowers (9) leaps to avoid UCF Knights defensive back Mike Hughes (19) and during the second half of Friday’s (11/24/17) in-state rival NCAA football game between UCF Knights and the USF Bulls at Spectrum Stadium at the University of Central Florida (UCF).
Published Nov. 25, 2017|Updated Nov. 25, 2017

He had one of the great games. He has one of the great stories.

USF senior quarterback Quinton Flowers took attention away from both those things with what appeared to be an obscene gesture after scoring a touchdown in the third quarter of his astounding performance in Friday’s 49-42 loss to  UCF.

I didn’t see Flowers’ gesture toward the UCF student section when it happened, but I’ve seen the replays.

It isn’t a good look. A mindless moment, but it happened.

Flowers apologized in a statement. “I apologize if anything I did was interpreted the wrong way. I have always tried my best to be a good representative of USF and a positive example to young people.”

If there was history of Flowers doing this sort of thing, I would tell him his college career is finished, no bowl game. But there isn’t.

We’ve had enough of idiot athlete moments. Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy favorite Baker Mayfield, who has a rich past of being a knucklehead, grabbed his crotch and appeared to yell profanities at Kansas fans in a game last week.

Mayfield was stripped of his team co-captaincy and sat out the start of OU’s Saturday game against West Virginia.

I’d consider Flowers sitting out the start of USF’s bowl game, his college finale.

Like I said, Flowers doesn’t have a lot of history of doing this sort of thing, as far as I can tell. If he does, that’s different.

Quinton Flowers is such a wonderful story. He has overcome the loss of his father and brother to random Miami street violence and lost his mother to cancer. I’m sure he’s an inspiration and role model to a lot of people, which makes this all the more disappointing.

Friday, Flowers was spectacular, throwing for more than 500 yards and accounting for more than 600 yards of offense.

It just doesn’t look as majestic as it once did.

That’s all I’m saying.