LOS ANGELES – Go ahead and blame Jamelle Horne.

Point your finger at him, write nasty things about him on message boards and text your bff about what an idiot Horne is.

If you’re a college kid, update your Facebook status about more of the same. If you work for ESPN, highlight Horne on your Top 10 Worst Plays reel, and make him feel like his insides have been caressed by the mechanisms of a kitchen blender.

Once you’ve done that, and you’ve used all of George Carlin’s seven dirty words to describe the UA sophomore because of the last-second fouls he committed against UAB and USC – allowing each team to beat Arizona by a point apiece – think about how shallow you are.

In reality, did you miss the first 39 minutes of the game, or better yet, the first 18 games of this season? On Nov. 18, did you notice the game was tied, then you saw Horne dive to foul Paul Delaney III with .8 seconds left? I bet you forgot the fact that the game wouldn’t be tied if Nic Wise made his final shot just seconds before.

Though the dive probably shouldn’t have happened, you’re chastising a player for actually trying hard, even if it was the wrong move to make? While you’re at it, you should go down to the closest ER and tell the surgeon who just lost a patient to internal bleeding that he sucks at his job and nobody wants him around anymore.

What if Wise didn’t lose possession of the ball with 4 seconds left at USC, giving the Trojans the ball back? Does Wise’s intentional foul to give USC a four-point swing mean anything, even though it happened with about 4 minutes left in the game?

“”I’m not sure if that play was nearly as big as the four-point play on the intentional foul,”” said UA interim head coach Russ Pennell.

Maybe you could learn a thing or two from Pennell.

If Jordan Hill didn’t sit with two fouls for the final 9:20 of the first half, and Zane Johnson and Kyle Fogg didn’t foul out of the same game, would Horne still be your verbal punching bag? If the Wildcats didn’t miss five free throws, would you lay off?

Oh, but that’s not you, is it? You’ve got the memory of a fish, and all that sticks out to you is the last foul.

Was it about timing? What if Horne’s fouls were committed during the first play of the game, but the scores remained the same? Would you still have a vendetta for No. 42, or would you finally realize that no player in any game is perfect?

If Arizona won those games, would Horne still be the anti-hero?

Rather than commending this gifted athlete, Arizona “”fans,”” along with the general public, are using Horne’s face as a dartboard. Now, when his name is typed into YouTube, the highlights of the UAB foul come up first, with three-quarters of a million hits. Everyone wants to see the idiot.

But I bet he wasn’t an idiot the night he put up 19 points and 13 rebounds to help take down defending national champion Kansas, now, was he? He wasn’t the worst player in Arizona basketball history when he pulled down 11 rebounds in 40 minutes to help beat Washington State by 10 last season, was he?

He’s got two-and-a-half seasons left in an Arizona uniform, and when he has a great game to help the Wildcats win, will you toot the Horne horn?

Forgive me if I’ve forgotten when this game became about individuals and the team aspect was disposed of. It’s still odd to think that in your mind, one player can lose a ball game for 11 other players.

In reality, you’re the only one who has lost it.

– Lance Madden is a journalism junior. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.