It is time for That Other wide receiver to quit sniffing his own greatness

By Gregory Moore, Blackathlete.net columnist

SAN ANTONIO – It is time for Jerry Jones to realize that his $10 million gamble is a $10 dud of a ball player. If you want to see a snake oil salesman make money, take a good look at Terrell Owens. Owens is the only football player that I have ever seen who can spin his hype machine to the point that grown men simply believe what they see in the mirrors. Forget about the smoke because these owners are so blind, they don’t need smoke to hide the illusion. And what’s the illusion? That Owens is a game changer. Owens is no more a game changer than Lassie was an Emmy award-winning actress in a daytime drama series. Owens is basically a wide receiver who would be better served in a pair of nylons trying to sell the public on a new malt liquor than trying to be the next great Cowboy in Big D.

Yes I’m saying it. Owens is a bad seed that should have never been signed by the Cowboys. This is classic Jones though. Instead of him listening to his coach, he’s listening to his marketing staff. Jerry needs to stop listening to his son and everyone who thinks a big time star will save this franchise. This team has a big name in Roy Williams but what the Cowboys need this season is playmakers and they really need one on the offensive side of the ball. So with Jones signing Owens, I can understand why that would be a logical choice. But now we are all looking at #81 as he rests his hamstring. Owens has yet to be a team player and all I keep hearing from him on the sound bites is a bad PM Dawn impersonation of “Me, Myself, and I” that even William Hung would be proud to call him a friend.

Well Dallas fans don’t look now but I think I told you so. Owens is a canker sore that just doesn’t go away. He is like that gnat who constantly follows you around the house, bugging the hell out of you. Or worse, he’s the diva in a community play that thinks he should be on Broadway but has no singing voice, dances like a Clydesdale with weighted horseshoes and bellows like a bull in heat. He continues this from play to play and things just remain the same. If you think Owens has changed then maybe you haven’t read the Dallas/Ft. Worth papers this morning, then you are truly missing out on what has become Owens’ trademark for teammate alienation. According to both the Dallas Morning News and the Ft. Worth Star Telegram, Owens has been fined $9,500 for missing team meetings and multiple rehabilitation sessions.

Well hot dog. Who would have ever thought the bleached Zebra wouldn’t be able to grow back his black stripes at the end of August. Owens proclaimed in March that he was a new man that he was grateful for the opportunity. Yeah right. He promised the fans that it was going to be a show. Oh yeah it’s a show all right. It’s prototypical of the type of nonsense that got his sub-par performing behind ran out of Philly and shipped out of San Francisco. This is the very reason why Jones should have his head examined and for him to stop meddling with Bill Parcells’ grocery list. Get rid of Keyshawn Johnson for someone who is more a malcontent than a pro bowl wide receiver? Yeah that’s right Jerry, talk it over with Stephen. Somewhere the two of you failed to put clauses into that darn contract and now that OTHER wide receiver known as T.O. is running amuck at Valley Ranch.

What is truly amazing is the fact that if you go to his website, he’s got a new look and he’s got a new theme song called, “I’m Back”. Nice beats. Whoever the rap group is, the lead raps about how people have kept Owens down, how he’s got a new team and that he’s no longer in the black and green. Sorry fellas but you guys are doing nothing more than following Owens’ lead. That theme song is a farce. Instead of I’m Back it should be a snipe from Deion Sanders’ “Must Be The Money”. What Owens has done is once again put everything on him and took the limelight away from a team once again. Instead of being a team player, you have become the player hater once again.

I know it’s hard for the Dallas media to even roast him the way they should. There’s nobody up there who has the gumption to challenge Owens’ desire to be a team player. Nobody has yet to question his work ethic and there definitely haven’t been a single sports talk show host up there willing to tell Drew Rosenhaus that he and his client have given this team a bad image. The media up there in Dallas won’t even think about doing such a dastardly deed because they want this marriage to work. Well maybe that’s the problem. They want this to work. I don’t want to make this morbid but Owens’ presence as a Cowboys’ player has done nothing but shone why many think Texans can’t think straight without the cowboy hat on.

The Cowboys have a diva and they need to squash her quick. Owens is so out of control now that when he really starts up, Jones will constantly keep saying, ‘Uh everything’s fine. Bill and T.O. will be just fine. They just have a difference of opinion on some things”. Yeah it’s called practice. It’s called being at team meetings. It’s called showing up at rehabilitation sessions so that you can get your non-performing butt on the field. It’s called being a consummate professional at all times. Oh damn I went to far with that last comment. Owens couldn’t spell professional because he’s never been one his whole career. When was the last time he had a pro bowl appearance? 2003 and that was the year he decided to throw Steve Marriuchi and the San Francisco 49ers under the bus. He’s a diva and Parcells had better rein him in.

So how do you reign in a player like Owens? It’s simple. You basically humiliate him so that he understands what humility is all about. The Cowboys really don’t need Owens as much as everybody thinks. He wants to rest and not play in any pre-season games? Fine. He doesn’t play in the team’s opener either. As a matter of fact, I wouldn’t deactivate him. Leave him on the active roster. Have him suit up and think he’s going to be in that first game. Let everyone know that it will be a game time decision. And when it’s time to announce who will be the starting wide receivers, those receivers are Terry Glenn and Patrick Crayton with maybe Sam Hurd and another one waiting in the wings. Where’s T.O. then? Try fifth wide receiver for that game. The guy who doesn’t get his number called. That’s called letting the player know who’s in charge on and off the field. If he and super mouth Rosenhaus want to cause a stink? Let him. Evidently what both of them fail to realize is that they are arguing with a billionaire who has Super Bowl rings; they do not.

Parcells knows this all to well. That is why in his mind, the OTHER wide receiver of choice he likes is Glenn. It’s the very reason why Drew Bledsoe and him have hooked up in the past two games with great plays. When Crayton comes back, Bledsoe will look for him too because Crayton doesn’t want to be no part of Owens’ bandwagon. As we all like to say down here in the heat, “this is how we do it, Texas style”.

It is time for Owens to quit smelling himself. The greatness he thought he had really hasn’t been there since the 2002 campaign. That’s four years removed. Hell Bledsoe got a Super Bowl ring during that stretch as a back up. It is time for that other wide receiver to quit thinking he can play the field. It is time for Jones to realize that he has possibly made a mistake and he needs to start reassessing where he is on this project. This team needs to win big time and they need to do so before moving into the new building. The fan base want to feel good about America’s team and it is Jones’ job to ensure that feeling is as positive as possible. And if that means distancing yourself from that other wide receiver, then do so. I already have. I am tired of watching him try to play the three ring circus on a team that I have grown to love since I was probably five or six years old.

It is time for T.O. to find himself. That other wide receiver needs to hurry up and find himself or Parcells needs to let those other wide receivers that the top spot on the wide receiver depth chart is up for grabs. Either way, this team needs to win and the distractions are not helping the situation at all.

FEELING NO COMPASSION FOR KOREN ROBINSON

I am not feeling any compassion for Koren Robinson. Nope. Not one iota of compassion. And if the Vikings’ ownership wants to get rid of Dwight Smith, I say send his ass packing too. My compassion for grown men who are given the world in so far as making a living playing a child’s sport has officially run dry when it comes to breaking the law. When the NFLPA files the grievance against Robinson’s firing, I say to the Wilf family to go ahead and let him keep his little $1.3 million. But if the union thinks that the Vikings don’t have just cause, I think they need to re-assess what’s really important in the league. The biggest problem (well one of my biggest problems) I have with the union is that they constantly are trying to make guys like Robinson out to be misunderstood. These guys aren’t misunderstood; they are undisciplined with no regards to structure of any type. As a matter of fact I say let me throw Adam Jones in the fray as well. The three of them, and any others in the NFL, who have committed crimes against society, need to be fired from their respective teams and the teams need to eat the grievance to prove a point.

I have long said that if the NFL really wanted to clean up the bad apples in the league, it starts with holding these players accountable for their actions. I firmly believe that if Georgia Fontiare had held Leonard Little to a fire of accountability, he wouldn’t have had that second DWI charge. If the Dallas Cowboys had started holding guys accountable back in the glory days of the 90s, I firmly believe that Michael Irvin wouldn’t have been the person he was back then. Well it’s better late than never and it is time for the league to take a stance.

The NFL is not the playground for immature men who go and have babies out of wedlock because it’s fashionable. It’s not a league where they can dress any way they want and think that because they play the game, they can act as thuggish or boorish and not be held accountable for those actions. Sorry I’m not buying into that premise. I may not like how Paul Tagliabue has taken the individualism out of the game but I will agree with him on players being professional and accountable for their actions. Smith, Robinson and Jones do not fit into the prototypical mold of a professional athlete and the league needs to back its owner on their dismissal.

It is time for the owners take a stance on these bad boys of the NFL. There are children watching and having them on the teams is a bad precedent. It is time for this league to make every single football player responsible for his actions on and off the field and if that means taking the extraordinary step that the Vikings did on dismissing a player, then so be it. In the end it might be the best thing for this league and for the fans.

Prentice Gautt: A man whose accomplishments should inspire today’s collegiate athletes

By Gregory Moore, Blackathlete.net columnist

SAN ANTONIO – When it comes to the quiet voices in sports, probably no one fits this mold any better than Prentice Gautt. Dr. Gautt is remembered by friends and family for his accomplishments but this football season, the Oklahoma University family will remember him by having the helmets of this season’s players sport a ‘38’ decal on them in his remembrance.

But who is Prentice Gautt and why is he getting such an honor? To know that answer, you need to travel back to an era that not many Americans are proud of and that is the era of segregation. It was during this era that Brown v. Board of Education was successfully fought by a young Thurgood Marshall. That historic case took place in 1954. The emergence of that win helped propel a young Gautt into the history books of a state that may not have been ready for integration at that time and to have a young African American play sports and succeed at a traditionally all-white school was virtually unheard of. But as many articles, wikapedia.com and answers.com entries show, Gautt’s achievements at the high school and collegiate levels were indeed historic in themselves.

Prior to Gautt going to OU, he had made an historical mark at the high school level. At Douglas High School, in his first game he helped the team win 13-6. He was also the first African American football player to play in the high school all-star game. When he got to Oklahoma, coach Bud Wilkinson did the historic thing of allowing Gautt on the team. Like Don Haskins would do at Texas Wesleyan some nine years later with his decision of starting five African Americans in a basketball game, Wilkinson’s decision paid off with a national title in 1956 and produced a running back that averaged numbers unheard of to this date.

As written in many web pieces, Gautt went on to play seven years in the NFL for the St. Louis Cardinals (that’s now the Arizona Cardinals) and later became very active at the collegiate level. He received his doctorate’s degree from the University of Missouri and was the associate commissioner of the Big 8 conference from 1979 until 1996, when that conference was dissolved. That conference was merged with the Southwest Conference and is the Big 12, as we know it. Upon that merger, Gautt took the role of associate commissioner.

Many who have known him over the years remember Dr. Gautt fondly. A few follow teammates and admirers e-mailed me to let their voices be heard about the kind of man Dr. Gautt was.

John Hadl, from Kansas University athletics, wrote to me saying: “Greg, when I visited the University of Oklahoma on my official visit, Prentice was my host. He was the nicest, most considerate person I've ever been around. Later in life we became good friends through his work for the Big 8 and the Big XII and my work at KU. He was a God fearing, wonderful person and is missed by all.”

Another person who got to know Dr. Gautt well was his teammate, Jim Hart. Jim played 19 seasons in the NFL and wrote the following about his former teammate: “Prentice was a Gentle...man! He was one of the hardest working people I have ever run across. A nice man! The most memorable feeling I have for Prentice was that he was one of the most Christ-like people I have ever met. I never heard him say a bad word about anyone. I am a better person for having known Prentice Gautt.”

Finally, Abner Haynes chimed in the other day about his experiences in knowing the former Sooner.

“I new him as we did not have many black players in the Southwest at the time, Only OU and North Texas. ‘PG’ was a class act from day one,” Haynes said via e-mail.

A LIFE THAT SHOULD BE A SHINING EXAMPLE FOR BLACK PLAYERS

Dr. Gautt’s collegiate and professional careers are indeed extraordinary but what should be a shining example to many African American football players in today’s society is how Dr. Gautt conducted himself off the gridiron. Think back about the time in which he played in. Segregation was so real that even today I have older friends who continuously remind myself and others about how they didn’t have this luxury or couldn’t shop in this store.

“Today’s athletes are a bunch of spoiled divas,” one friend told me a while back. “They couldn’t handle the adversity of being told that you can’t stay in this hotel or hearing, ‘Boy, I don’t care how much money you got, we don’t sell cars to Nigger people’. Today’s hot heads would be beaten down and thrown up under the jail cell.”

When it comes to the conduct that today’s athletes have, I’d have to concur with this friend in his assessment. Today’s athletes, whether they are at the collegiate or professional level, have it so much easier than Dr. Gautt and others did during their playing days. They have it so much easier and yet they are throwing it all away just as easy. Look at the actions of Koren Robinson and Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones as prime examples. Look at their actions. How can anyone be proud of those two young men at a time when it seems as if the only character issues forthcoming are coming from Black athletes?

But Gautt was a man who was probably as humble as he was forgiving. To survive during an era in which he played his collegiate and professional ball, Dr. Gautt had to be strong willed yet flexible in his tact. He had to be diplomatic at all times and from what his former friends, colleagues and teammates say about him, it was his faith in God that brought him through such adversity. It is the type of life that really should be modeled by these young men of today and it is just one of many life stories that are out there for them to emulate and to have success in their football careers.

REMEMBRANCE SHOULD BE ONGOING

As great as the upcoming event will be in Norman this year, I have to wonder if any of the OU players will take those festivities to heart. Will Adrian Peterson realize that if it weren’t for Dr. Gautt, he may not even be where he is today on that football team? Will Paul Thompson forever thank Dr. Gautt posthumously for being a beacon of hope in a state where racial issues are not quite as resolved as many want to believe. And what about many other African American players coming OU’s way or playing at the high school level. Do the parents of these young men understand the importance of Dr. Gautt’s achievements and why it is important to strive and be academically successful as well as athletically successful on the playing field. Will these parents understand why it is so important to have positive role models like Dr. Gautt for their young athletes to admire and then help them achieve their own dreams by using his life and the lives of others as the guiding rails to success?

Dr. Gautt’s remembrance should be more than just a Homecoming event on Oct. 21st of this year. It should be more than just a sticker on the back of a football helmet. It should be about celebrating the accomplishments one man did in the changing of a world where racism was very much prevalent but yet he did his own civil rights movement without any marches or sit downs. For his 1956 teammates, this day should be a chance to remember that they stood with Prentice Gautt during a very hellacious time. They too took a stance against racism. They were courageous in doing so because they looked upon him as a teammate; not just a Black kid who needed protection. For the rest of us, we need to look at what Dr. Gautt did at Oklahoma and realize that he helped open some doors at a school that may not have wanted to do so until possibly the mid 1960s. But for whatever reason OU allowed this historic change to take place, everyone is better off for it.

So this season, as you watch the Sooners play against their rivals, let’s all remember that when we see #20 running for the end zone, let’s say thank you to #38 for allowing #20 to take that fame and glory.

Here’s to Prentice Gautt; a man who’s courage both on and off the field has shaped the lives of many young African Americans and continues to remind us of why we need to fight against the chains of racism as a whole; no matter what your ethnicity or color may be.

Where does an employer’s obligation end and a player’s responsibility begin?

By Gregory Moore, Blackathlete.net columnist

SAN ANTONIO – Anyone remember Dwayne Goodrich? In 2003, Goodrich was driving his Mercedes Benz sedan down IH-35E and barreled into three men who were just being good Samaritans at the time. Goodrich, who was with the Dallas Cowboys at the time, had left a strip club in the early morning of that accident and was driving at an excessive amount of speed. His lawyers have told a civil jury that Goodrich was not drunk when he plowed into the three men but if you are believing that story, then you are making an excuse for a man who knew all to well the harsh realities of drinking and driving. How about Leonard Little? Does that name ring a bell with anyone? It does with me and the countless others who have felt that Little was being protected by the St. Louis Rams and, indirectly the NFL, for allowing him to continue to be employed after not being convicted once but twice for a DUI/DWI in which one case he was found guilty of causing the death of Susan Gutweiler on October 19, 1998. Little was charged with involuntary manslaughter at that time and received such an easy sentence that he turned around and got arrested and charged again on April 24, 2004 in Ladue, Montana. Well if neither one of those two NFL players ring a bell or if the situations they were involved in haven’t stoked a remembrance pattern that is noteworthy, then the fact that Koren Robinson has been arrested in Minnesota is no surprise for you either.

In case you don’t know about this one, Robinson was arrested this past Wednesday doing 100 mph through a 55 mph zone and had a field sobriety test result of 0.11. Now what makes this so tenuous is the fact that Robinson has violated the substance abuse policy and will be suspended for four games at the beginning of the season and possibly more because this would be a third violation of that policy. When the news broke about Robinson’s latest escapade with the law, many who have taken the stance of saying that Robinson, like Little or Goodrich, have an illness and need sympathy. Many will say that it is up to Robinson’s employer to help him. So I ask you, just how are does the NFL’s obligation in helping a player with a substance abuse problem end and where does the player’s own responsibility begin?

The NFL and the NFLPA have come up with a policy that every player knows about. As a matter of fact, the league has a series of policies in place but one that supercedes every other one has the following phrase in it: “Engaging in violent and/or criminal activity is unacceptable and constitutes conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the National Football League. Such conduct alienates the fans on whom the success of the League depends and has negative and sometimes tragic consequences for both the victim and the perpetrator. The League is committed to promoting and encouraging lawful conduct and to providing a safe and professional workplace for its employees”. That is the first paragraph of the Personal Conduct Policy that the NFL and the players abide by and it adheres to every single other policy that the players must follow. So how can anyone expect the NFL, a ‘corporation’ that employees hundreds of people, is expected to hold a player like Robinson by his hand?

The problem with many wanting to put the blame on the league and/or the union and not on any player is that you basically enable the player to continue the bad behavior. We have become so lackadaisical in coddling individuals that we are so willing to appease them for their bad behavior rather than give them the reality that they should be a part of. Many in the medical field continue to say that alcoholism is a disease and I still believe that it and or drug use is a choice issue. There was not some impish demon sitting in Koren’s blue BMW sedan that night and saying, “Here Koren, drink this down and punch the accelerator”. There was not somebody in his company that forced him to drink whatever consuming amounts he did and then told him, “Say man, go out there and act a fool at 100 mph”. There are no such things as demons people when it comes to alcoholism or drug addiction. Either you made the choice to go down that path and abuse your body or you didn’t and are clean and sober every day. It only becomes an illness because of the fact that the actions you do when inebriated affect your judgment. But is it to the extreme of where you continuously coddle these athletes who continue to break the laws of society? Yes I am saying that our hypocritical society is hell bent on sending Joe Drunk to the pokey for driving while drunk or under the influence for years to come but then will go to great lengths to protect the privileged, pampered professional athletes of our adoration.

Maybe Koren needs help and he should go to a substance abuse treatment facility. But the league and the union need to look at him now and say, “You are on your Koren. We can’t support you this time”. When you make a mistake that gets you into a bit of trouble and being arrested for a DUI is your first offense, you deserve sympathy and support. But that’s it. That’s your mulligan on the course of life. The moment you do the same behavior over and over again, you deserve to be cut loose from any support that you think you deserve because now it’s time for you to face the battle by your lonesome.

People may say that I’m being heartless but what’s more heartless, me saying that a grown man who knows the law and continues to break it deserves to have his candy ass locked up in the drunk tank and be embarrassed or to be sympathetic to the family of a woman like Susan Gutweiler, who didn’t deserve to die in that fashion? Guess which side I’m going to take. I will hang a law breaking athlete like Goodrich, Little or Robinson out to dry every single time, every single minute and each opportunity that comes up. And the support of your employer has to stop sooner rather than later. Grown adults don’t need to be coddled; they need to be held accountable for their actions and if that means you can no longer be employed in the field that pays you millions of dollars, guess what? That’s the price you pay for letting a bottle of whiskey, a can of beer or a drug like marijuana or crack cocaine control your life and your future.

Sometimes hard lessons need to come from when you have fallen hard into a deep sink hole and for Koren, this is a lesson that he needs to learn by himself or else he’ll continue to drink and drive and get paid millions of dollars by an employer that is enabling his bad behavior.

IS T.O. CONTINUING TO BE A DEMAGOGUE ON HIS NEW TEAM?

Believe it or not but Terrell Owens is running for office. He’s running for public office folks and this is no joke. He wants the public’s sympathy for his little hamstring twinge and he is willing to sacrifice his teammates by not practicing in order to gain your support. Does this sound familiar? It should because he did the same thing last year in Philadelphia. Oh by the way, in case anyone is wondering, Terrell Owens is probably now one of the most over hyped wide receivers that has ever played the game. He has no Super Bowl victories. He has no serious career numbers that are even worth talking about putting him into Canton. He is pretty much a better-polished player of above mediocre performance than Randy Moss. His few career highlights have afforded him nice paychecks but if anyone is thinking that Owens will lead the Dallas Cowboys to the promised land, then they are drinking some very dangerous colored water.

Owens’ actions are showing me exactly why I think he is nothing more than a demagogue in the NFL. He has everybody bamboozled into thinking that he is the answer to the Cowboys’ problems. Even Deion Sanders believes this nonsense and I always thought Sanders was fairly intelligent. Well maybe I have to re-think my posture on Primetime now. Maybe that flip against the Carolina Panthers some years ago has done more damage that it may be perceived if he is thinking that Owens is a perfect fit for this club. The only fit that Owens is to anyone is himself. A team player he is not. A guy who will go into the football trenches with you during training camp he is not. He would rather be treated like royalty rather than get down and dirty with the commoners known as his teammates. Sanders wasn’t like this. Michael Irvin certainly wasn’t of this ilk. The make up of what made the Dallas Cowboys champions under two head coaches in four years doesn’t exist in Oxnard, California.

Cowboys’ fans have been looking for a ‘savior’ of sorts since the retirement of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Michael Irvin and Jay Novachek and sometimes they are willing to almost settle for anything that may be a glimmer of hope. But let’s take into account the verbal exchange that one Texas journalist had with head coach Bill Parcells and his “come to Jesus” meeting. How appropriate since Owens says it is his faith in God and that he thanks the man above for his ability to play football. Well let’s take this a little further for Mr. Owens. See I remember another phrase that had a religious reference to it and that usually came from my mother or grandmother when it was time to get my butt back in the right frame of mind of obeying them. Forget about the “come to Jesus” meeting Owens needs to have with Parcells. What Parcells needs to do is to let this superficial of a football talent know that if he doesn’t come into this training camp ready to give his all, “so help him God” Parcells will be forced to let him play behind Patrick Crayton.

If you don’t think that will work, think again. If there is anything that Owens relishes more than his relationship with God, it is his relationship with dead presidents and if he doesn’t perform this season, that fat contract he got becomes just another piece of paper in his collection of wasted memoirs of a so-called great wide receiver.

Do you hear that noise Barry? That’s fate walking up on your career

By Gregory Moore, Blackathlete.net columnist

SAN ANTONIO – Click. Clack. No that’s not the latest commercial by Under Armor that has several former college football standouts, now pros, touting the latest gear for the serious player. No that’s not even the spikes that Barry Bonds would hear as he walks down the ramp way unto AT&T Park at Candle Stick. What he is hearing is fate as she begins her walk towards his career. What he is hearing is the sounding of a bell that is so deafening that even his trainer, Greg Anderson, will not be able to run and hide from. That noise he is hearing is another member of the BALCO family about to have her own career end because she is hooked on the juice. This is what Bonds is hearing.

Marian Jones is now the latest BALCO client to have her career end in controversy. Let me jog a few memories in case no one remembers anything about the Bay Area Laboratories Co-Op case that is almost a part of our societal landscape in sports. When you start examining the hierarchy of this once proud institution of cheaters, you realize that the track and field wing was pretty dominant at one time. Just look at the clients that Victor Conte had in the Bay Area who were Olympian caliber runners: Kelli White, Tim Montgomery, C.J. Hunter and Marian Jones. When I wrote the piece “The House that BALCO Built”, it was during a time when things were fishy near Alcatraz and Pier 39. Let’s realize something for a moment. Anyone who was testifying at that grand jury hearing had to know at least two things: either I’m clean and I’m ratting out a competitor and I’ll gain an edge in competition with him/her gone or I’m guilty as sin and sooner or later the United States Anti-Doping Agency will be coming for my own career. Even with immunity from the federal government, that didn’t necessarily mean you were going to be safe down the road. Case in point, ask White what happened to her career and she’ll tell you that she cheated. Ask C.J. Hunter, Jones’ ex-husband and he’ll probably not want to talk about his own career in which he was a big steroid user but is now working with college athletes as a trainer. Better still let’s ask former boyfriend Tim Montgomery and Hunter together about Jones’ drug use.

Jones has flunked a drug test back in June and the reason for all of this conjecture is that it may be possible that Conte was telling the truth a while back. Conte told ABC’s “20/20” in December of 2004 that he had supplied Jones with steroids including EPO. Jones and her lawyers later sued Conte and he recanted but now with this new revelation of a possible drug test failure, it seems that Jones may not be so truthful after all. And let’s add to this story line the fact that Justin Gatlin, another track star, has failed a drug test and Floyd “too much testosterone” Landis has failed his test at the Tour de France. In America this doesn’t seem like a big deal but if you start reading the European papers, you’ll see that many Europeans do not like the American sports stars at all because of all of this cheating.

Which now brings me full circle back to Bonds himself. I have always contended that if Barry really wanted all of this to go away, all he had to do at the very beginning was to denounce that he had never taken any performance enhancing drugs and be willing to be subjected to as many medical probes as it took to clear his name from the BALCO regime. Instead Bonds wants to try and play hardball and that is not something you want to do when your career is literally on the line. Let’s put the steroids accusation in Pandora’s box for a moment and let me play a Texas lawyer for the prosecution. If the feds really want Bonds, I continually contend that you lock up Greg Anderson just because he wants to be a complete lap dog and you basically send the IRS agents in and have them go over Bonds’ financials with a fine tooth comb. Is anyone listening to me up in San Francisco on this? You won’t get Bonds on anti-doping because Major League Baseball protects him. That’s the golden goose. But if you just want to bust his chops, take the tax evasion angle and let’s see where it leads.

Now does that mean that the feds may not be able to get Bonds on a steroids conviction? Not from their angle. That’s why you let the USADA do their job and you threaten Major League Baseball with another investigation by Congress and let the politicos like John McCain toy with the pulling of the anti-trust exemption. You get the USADA involved on the drug testing procedures and watch what happens. Bonds will retire the moment that agency comes in. Why can I make such a claim/ Well it’s quite simple. What the USADA has is a weapon in investigating till they find something. How long did it take them to finally catch up to Jones? About two years or so. How long did it take them to catch up with Hunter, White, Montgomery and others in the track and field world? About a year to two years. How long do you think this entity will find something on Bonds that will stick and force baseball purists to look at his numbers in a totally new light? Try about two to three years.

That is what Bonds and others who had a BALCO link are fearing right now. And it’s going to be “click, clack” until Bonds realizes that he can’t cheat his way through life anymore. And it will be that sound that’s heard until there’s a resolution of this issue, an admittance of guilt or innocence and/or a satisfactory result that puts this part of the BALCO case to bed.

JONES, PART II: DEFINATE BLACK EYE FOR TRACK AND FIELD

We won’t know the results of Jones’ “B” sample from a June test but this is still a black eye for the sport of track and field. Whether our track athletes realize it or not, because they are making money overseas, they are a reflection of this country and right now what the world sees is a bunch of cheaters. In Europe, there is no other place in the world where you can go over and make good money and have the adoration of thousands of appreciative onlookers. U.S. track and field stars have cultivated Europe to the point to where it’s the place to make your money and still come back to the States a winner.

But now with Jones caught up in an EPO scandal, with Gatlin being looked at as a liar to many who thought he was going to be the bright hope for the sport, and the countless others who will be coming forth in failed tests, the great European melting pot is fast becoming the bubbling caldron of disdain. One British tabloid wrote this past week that, “The Americans earn all their money in Europe, but it is clear that the rules are not being respected in America in the same way that they are here”. The comments came from Hansjorg Wirz, the Zurich promoter and an influential figure on the world governing body, the IAAF. Wirz’s comments are from an article that appeared in a Scottish paper and it is definitely a sentiment that is spreading across Europe.

Probably what is so troubling is that in America we like to poke our chests out like we are the world’s biggest country of following the rules when it comes to athletics but we are not willing to hold our athletes accountable. Wirz’ comments come in lieu of a motion in front of the IAAF in Beijing this week and he will definitely be pushing for an exclusion of countries that do not ban their athletes immediately upon learning of a failed result.

Many people want to say that these athletes deserve due process and that is why the “B” sample is so vital to that process. That may be all well and good but why should we be protecting a bunch of cheaters in sports? There is no doubt that an athlete can medically test for an abnormality after a urine test and after it is found that maybe the athlete took a cough syrup or prescribed medication, that athlete should be cleared. But when we are talking about professional athletes who have taken performance enhancers and they know they have taken them, there should be no more due process to prolong their careers.

In the face of the world’s views on this issue, the sanctity and nobility of the American athlete is at stake all because there are those who would rather cheat their way into the record books rather than just bust their humps and do what is necessary to train right, compete hard and let the chips fall where they must. Right now with Jones now caught up in this doping scandal, the world is looking at the United States and wondering how much cheating is a norm in this country. To be honest, it might be time that we all look at this situation in the same light as the Europeans are doing right now. Doping in athletics is a big problem in this country and we are nowhere near solving it any time soon.

Where does freedom of the press meet the obligations of the public in sports?

By Gregory Moore, Blackathlete.net columnist

SAN ANTONIO – It has finally happened. The problems of the mainstream, hard hitting news world for journalists has now filtered down to the sports department as a federal judge has ordered two San Francisco Chronicle reporters to divulge their sources on leaked grand jury testimony. The Chronicle printed the judge’s ruling, in part of which said “The court finds itself bound by the law to subordinate (the reporters') interests to the interests of the grand jury'' in discovering the source of the leaks, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White wrote. "The grand jury is inquiring into matters that involve a legitimate need of law enforcement.''

In case you have been out of touch with the latest BALCO story line, Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, helped prompt professional baseball to adopt new rules to police steroid use by players by writing a series of reports on the BALCO case as it unfolded and on the implication that San Francisco Giants’ Barry Bonds had possibly lied to a federal grand jury. As the case stands now, Fainaru-Wada and Williams are now at the center of the very tornado that they had written about for so long.

Fainaru-Wada said after the judge’s ruling, "We're steadfast and resolute in that we're going to stand behind the sources.'' He and Williams remain hopeful, he said, that "at some point there's going to be a judge or judges who recognize the public good of the stories ... and ultimately we will prevail.''

This may seem humorous for some and indignation for others but what these two reporters are facing is real right now. Bucking the federal government on a grand jury summons is serious business. New York Times reporter Judith Miller spent time in jail after she refused to name her source in a CIA leak case that ultimately led to former CIA agent Valerie Plame’s cover being blown. Miller’s ordeal began in 2003 and she is now free after a deal was struck by her lawyers. The Times stuck by their reporter and in the Chronicle, the paper said it would do the same.

"We will not comply with the government's effort, which we believe is not in the best interests of an informed public,'' Chronicle’s editor Phil Bronstein said in his paper when the story broke about the ruling. He continued to say in a Chronicle story found online that the ruling "does not change our complete commitment to Mark and Lance. We support them fully in maintaining the confidentiality of their sources. We will pursue all judicial avenues available to us."

That’s a strong endorsement for any writer but when you have done some really good work that has led to the public awareness and safety of literally thousands of people, one can understand why these two reporters are getting the kind of backing from their paper and from the parent company, the Hearst Corporation. But what many are not aware of is that in today’s society, the sports pages might as well read “Metro Section – Part II”. There is as much of a hard hitting news journalism aspect of sports because of so many athletes committing crimes normally found on the Metro pages as there are box scores, features and commentary about outdoor fishing and poker. Today’s sports reporters have to become investigative reporters of their own genre simply because the stories out there are too unreal to not cover.

But does the U.S. government have the right or audacity to actually want to jail a segment of this country’s structure simply because they may not have been able to have the resources necessary to uncover information that may prove helpful to their case? When it comes to Fainaru-Wada and Williams, the government is definitely trying to take that stance. And it is difficult to understand why at a state level, reporters are protected under the shield law but the federal government doesn’t want to do the same. Imagine the kind of near effrontery it may have taken for former Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, along with former FBI deputy director W. Mark Felt to have broken the Watergate scandal that ended then President Richard M. Nixon’s presidency. If these reporters had to disclose their source and there was a grand jury investigation going on, do you honestly believe that the country would have hard about this story? Do you think that we would have known of the complicity that went about in trying to hide this from the country?

While the work that these two sports writers have done comes no where near that of national security, it is still no less important to note that this is just another case of where our system of justice is very much flawed in some key areas. Putting journalists in jail for doing their job is something that we would have expected from countries where true “freedom of the press” does not exist. But the question needs to be asked now. Despite what many law scholars may say is the right thing to do, legally, does this country truly believe in a freedom of the press or is this just another smoke screen that has been slowly unveiling itself with the evolution of technology and the microwave access to it? Is the information that this one informant may have told these reporters so important that the government cannot get it for themselves? And what happens if it is found out that the information that led as the foundation for a very successful book is nothing more than mere transcripts that the government already had in possession? Can the Chronicle then go after the prosecutors and/or government for overzealous prosecution and willful reckless trampling of the paper’s constitutional right to freedom of the press and/or speech? What then happens to these two reporters? Are they martyrs of a new generation of journalists who see this as their own version of peaceful “civil rights” demonstrations?

No journalist is ever setting out to break the law and defy any law enforcement agency. In most cases the two entities work congruently and help each other get their jobs done efficiently. However it seems that sometimes today’s press is truly more about the welfare of the society and sometimes finds itself needing to buck the system, so to speak. A good press should be allowed to protect the populous in a way that is both beneficial and necessary. Sometimes that means that reporters must protect sources from the government for the good of the very people the government should be protecting.

I support Fainaru-Wada and Williams 1,000,000,000 percent. And I’ll do so by going out and buying their book at the nearest bookstore this weekend. I might decide to buy two or three for friends. Sometimes you have to take a stance for the common good and if these two reporters must be locked up in jail to protect a confidential informant who has truly helped this country t a time when steroids was rampant in a sport we all love, then it’s the least I could do in buying a book and helping their cause financially. Who knows maybe one day I will need the same kind of backing from a writer that doesn’t know me but believes that the work I did not only saved countless lives but made a difference for generations unbeknownst to us at that time.

Pissing off a segment of the community because you told the truth is a good thing for all these days

By Gregory Moore, Blackathlete.net columnist

SAN ANTONIO -- I thought it was hilarious as heck when a friend of mine called me the other day and said I got his listeners looking for me.

“Greg, you’ve started some [bleep] up here,” my friend told me. “They’re even calling the show after ours and wanting to ask who the heck you think you are with that conservative banter. Do you have any idea what you’ve done when you said that Black people need to quit using sports as the excuse for getting out of the ghetto?”

Oh but of course I know what I said was controversial in the Richmond, Virginia demographic of a little sports radio show I do every Saturday morning. Of course I knew that if I said that it’s time for Black people to stop using sports as the crutch to get out of poverty that I’d have people wanting my ‘head’ on a silver platter. But yet has anyone ever thought about that maybe the very reason why Black people get so upset when somebody makes this statement is because it’s true?

When was the last time an African American child told anyone in his family that he wanted to be a doctor of pediatrics and not a doctor of slamology? When has a struggling mother NOT tell her gifted athletic son that she wants him to have an education FIRST and if that education allows him to use his athletic gifts to jump start his financial well being, then all the better? When has a group of counselors REALLY sit down with the football team and tell those who are academically ineligible that their playing days are over because their grade point averages are more important to the school than their yards per carry average or how many games they have won?

When it comes to Black adults who truly know that it takes an education to get out of the ghetto, how many of these adults are truly going about that task of changing the mindset of the kids they come in contact with and the parents who they barely speak too?

All of this has come to life because of what Maurice Clarett has done in recent days. With more and more young Black men thinking that sports is their way out of impoverished areas, more and more adults need to show them that there are more opportunities not trying to be the next major superstar these days. The problem with this is that the examples out there are few and far between. It is so much easier for these kids to try and emulate a professional athlete and aspire to reach that point than to think that they can gain equal satisfaction in more meaningful careers; some of them sports related.

But as I told my friend, I’m not going to back down from what I said. I can’t back down until somebody proves me wrong and that won’t be happening any time soon.

FOX, ESPN MAKING BIG MISTAKES IN FOOTBALL COVERAGE CHANGES.

I watched Monday Night Football last night and I’ve got to say that I am not impressed at all by the tandem of Mike Tirico, Joe Thiesman and Tony Kornheiser. While I’m at it, I seriously doubt that I will be watching Fox’s coverage of the NFL pregame show either since they want to use Joe Buck and the crew on location. It’s just hard to believe that NBC is about to take over the ratings war and they’ll do so by default because Mickey and Rupert just haven’t done their homework on product branding.

NFL pregame shows are important to fans because they do provide the analysis and entertainment value that many football fans have grown accustomed to. The reason why Fox’s pregame show has been so successful is because they had a foursome tandem that got along well. ABC’s Monday Night crew worked because it was not only that of Al Michaels and John Madden but because it was on FREE television. Now that has changed and I think looking at ESPN on Monday Night for football is a mistake the network will soon realize. As for the Fox product, with Buck running the show on location and not having someone like Pam Oliver to help change the demographics of the show, Fox’s product will lose ground too.

On a brighter note I enjoy seeing NBC back in the mix with Bob Costas and friends. ESPN and Fox may want to really look at how the peacock has revived an old product, brushed off the dust and revamped it for 2006. Right now I’m a Sunday night fan now.

SPURS’ BOWEN MAY NOT MAKE USA BASKETBALL SQUAD

San Antonio Spurs fans are going to be disappointed and probably think that there is some type of conspiracy theory if Bruce Bowen doesn’t become one of the twelve members of the team that will compete in this month’s World Championship in Japan but there is a good possibility of this happening.

Bowen has not played a great deal during the exhibition games that the men’s senior team has won and it seems that the current group of young players may actually be willing to showcase that they are determined to right an egregious wrong that previous teams have allowed to happen. If that is the case then expect Bowen to not be a part of this twelve man rotation.

Bowen’s absence on the team, if that happens, should not be looked upon as a slight by USA Basketball or anybody who is affiliated with it. It seems that Jerry Colangelo and company are serious about making a concerted effort at trying to compete seriously on the international basketball stage. If that is the case and Bowen is the next player cut, then he’s helping them win gold by not being on a team that is talent laden. However if Colangelo and company were truly serious about winning in these tournaments, he would stick with his twelve man rotation for the upcoming games and extend an invitation to only six other players to be a part of the rotation; including Bowen, Gilbert Arenas, Amare Stoudamire and three others.

The tragic climax to an 18-year-old who scored the winning touchdown against Miami

By Gregory Moore, Blackathlete.net columnist

SAN ANTONIO – This past Friday I wrote a quick opinion for Fox Sports Radio in regards to the issues that faced Maurice Clarett. I also went on FSR’s JT the Brick’s show to not only clarify my stance to but explain why I felt the way I did in that stance. In my comments I wrote the following:

“Many want to say that it was society, the NFL and even Ohio State that failed Maurice Clarett but in all honesty there are only a few people who failed him. The following people that failed this young man are the following:
1) His family
2) His "hangers on" folk
3) His lawyers and advisers
4) Past coaches and teachers that didn't say no
5) MAURICE CLARETT

Let's take them in order.

1) His family failed him because instead of a family that looked at Clarett's athleticism as a blessing and a tool that could put the young man on a better path than what they may have had, they tried to jump on his back and ride the fame that was fleeting. When it came time for somebody to spank his behind for any wrongdoing or to be the voice of reason at a time when he probably needed, nobody stepped up to the plate.

2) When a person has talent and looks like they are about to leave the "hood", there are people who want to ride that glory bus too. Like family members who are not looking out him, Clarett had a bunch of hanger on types in his life that were his friends when the times were good and plentiful.

3) His advisors and lawyers can take the blame for his failed NFL bid when he was just a freshman. I'll even go so far as to say that even Hall of Famer Jim Brown can share some of this because he didn't help this young man face the fight that was forthcoming back then. Press conferences were given during this time when Maurice wanted to challenge the NFL but not one single advisor told him that he needed to be prepared for "Plan B". In the eyes of these advisors and lawyers, there was no Plan B and was well as the intentions may have been, foresight was needed during a time when there was no road map for what at that time was a monumental court battle in sports.

4) How many teachers and coaches let this young man have things his way in school and life? How many of them did not be a roadblock in his life when he desperately needed one? Part of Clarett's damaged psyche can come from the fact that even in the education process, nobody stood up to him and made him accountable. Verbal tests in college, easy assignments during school, a nod here or a pat there, all of that is a contributing factor that I will give in the last person that failed this young man.

5) Ultimately the person that failed Maurice Clarett was…Maurice Clarett. It was Clarett who didn't realize that he had a gift from the heavens inside his body and that it was his job to use those talents to the best of his ability. It was Maurice who didn't realize that even after being selected by the Denver Broncos last spring that he needed to be mature about his life and realize that he was just another football player who had a chance at making some good money playing a game he loved. Yet it was Maurice who also didn't respect the game in which he loved. Brent Barry said last year during the Spurs season that if a professional athlete doesn't respect the game he plays, the game will come back and bite him in the ass, the foot and anywhere else it can take penance for the disrespect the athlete has given it. In Clarett's case he disrespected the game by not being in the best shape possible when it came to trying to win a court case. The disrespect came when he didn't do well at the NFL combine two years in a row. The disrespect came when he didn't take this job that somebody handed him seriously enough and try to make the Broncos roster. Instead of Clarett respecting the game, he tried to use the game for his own personal gains at a time when he was qualified to take such action.

And now we have a young man who was at the pinnacle of the sports world some three years ago sitting in a county jail on $5 million bail. What is tragic is that once again nobody has stepped up and forced this young man to accept responsibility for any of his actions. His lawyers are making excuses as to why he had three handguns and an assault rifle mere blocks away from a witness in his robbery trial. There are those who would rather make excuses to try and explain why Maurice has done what he did instead of confronting the problem head on and assessing the proper remedy for a conclusion to an ugly situation. And when he needs all of those 'friends' to come around and help keep a level head, Clarett has no one to fall back on.

As tragic as this is, this is a stark reality that is repeated far too often in many Black communities where poverty and a warp sense of entitlement, hope and encouragement reign. We have watched this young man self destruct in front of our eyes and many of us who had a position to help him, failed him. Is it our fault that this has happened? For those who should have been much sterner and willing to put a boot up his butt when he needed, probably so. But society didn't fail him. His community didn't fail him. Even some family members and friends didn't fail him. Ultimately the person who has caused this problem is Maurice himself. Luckily for him he made a U-turn when he did. At least this young man is alive to re-think his string of poor judgment calls. If it went on another hour, he may not be here for us to even write or speak on a 'what if' scenario.”

It was that statement that prompted my appearance on JT’s show and we spent a good amount of time debating and/or agreeing on several aspects. Now JT had a problem with me listing Maurice as the fifth person on my list but w=once I explained my stance, he understood why he had to be the fifth person. And with the words that FSR’s Out of Bounds’ co-host James Washington gave just prior to my appearance, I think the national audience got an idea where two Black men were coming from on this topic.

But as I write this article on a Saturday morning, I had to go back into my Maurice Clarett archives and find an article that kind of showed exactly where this young man was PRIOR to last Wednesday’s climatic events of his second arrest in 2006. For that I went back and found the following paragraphs:

“There’s no misunderstanding that this columnist despises everything that Maurice Clarett stands for. That disposition doesn’t come from the fact that I personally don’t know him. As a person, I don’t know Clarett or his family. My disdain comes from the standpoint that a little over 23 months ago this young man was poised to be one of the best running backs in Ohio State history and instead of embracing that chance, he decided to listen to individuals who have inkling what the sports world is all about and that is including Hall of Famer Jim Brown. As much as I respect Brown, sometimes I am really disturbed when he picks up causes that just pan out to being nothing but fool’s gold. Maurice Clarett’s attempts this past year to get into the NFL was just that; an attempt. Then add to the equation that Clarett has caused his former school to go through a rigorous NCAA investigation that proved that the school did nothing wrong and that it was Clarett who actually was the guilty party. Now is the school blameless? Of course not. They had to show the NCAA that they were indeed clean and it gave them a chance to clean up whatever mess they had going on. Yet as many will remember, I wrote a story about how Clarett violated the NCAA handbook and that he should have known better.

But as we are now finding out, this young man is so far removed from reality that it’s downright embarrassing. His recent remarks to a national magazine like ESPN’s makes everyone in the Black community just cringe because there is already a polarization to begin with. Just what is that polarization? The fact that the ‘man’ is always trying to trip up one of ‘our’ own. Let’s be frank for a moment on this subtopic. I’ve been writing about sports and Black athletes for almost a dozen years now and with many of those years dealing with this very issue. There is no true polarization to speak of. There is ignorance of facts in the Black community. There is mistrust, misinformation and flat out denial by many who think that Black athletes deserve special privileges. That is what I call the polarization between the media and the Black community. What Clarett has done, whether he knows it or not, is that he has simply added to this ‘myth’ and once again you have a segment of the Black community thinking that he has done nothing wrong and that he has basically played “Robin Hood” for himself. An interesting concept to say the least.” – taken from the BASN article “Clarett, Artest Showcasing Their Skills At “Polarizing” A Community” that was published on November 17, 2004.

Now to refresh a little bit of history on why I never was in the Clarett camp. I never thought he was all that in college. When he was at Ohio State he played okay and in the Fiesta Bowl game against the “U” and Willis McGahee, Clarett just happened to score the winning touchdown in the game. And that was the very last time we heard from him on the playing field. After that, we had a frenzy of folk and wannabe NFL insiders trying to feed us that Maurice Clarett could go as a top pick in the 2003 draft. There was a court case. There was Hall of Famer Jim Brown trying to give validity to the cause. There was his mother standing by her son. There were so many people in that young man’s camp back then that you would have thought he was royalty or something.

But let’s fast-forward to 2004 and 2005 when he was allowed to go to the NFL combine. In 2004, he was overweight and looked slow. He embarrassed himself and pulled out within 72 hours. And yet there were still people trying to tell the sports nation that he could do this move and there were many of us who bit on that promise. Not this columnist. Not in 2004. Then in 2005, he had a horrible showing again at the NFL combine and pulled out. Still when it came to the 2005 draft, he was picked on the third day when I thought he should have been a Sunday guy (rounds five or six). The Denver Broncos gave him a chance at redemption and picked him in the third. Mike Shanahan thought he could be the ‘savior’ of this young man. Ultimately Clarett showed his true colors and the Broncos dismissed him without even thinking about his future. People thought it was cruel, heartless of the Broncos doing so. They thought that the NFL should try to find him employment. Not this writer and I said so as much when I penned the comments in an article that appeared on the BASN website on September 1, 2005 entitled “The Only Thing Surprising Is That Clarett Lasted This Long In Denver”. In that column I wrote, “Clarett supporters need to ask themselves what chance were they expecting Clarett to get because if you look at what the Broncos did, they have him ample opportunity to step up and make the team. His work ethic on and off the field showed that of someone who either didn’t care because he was a national champion in college or figured he was too tough for his teammates. Add to the huge ego problem the fact that he spent more time in a rehabilitation tub than on the field in pads and that he never showed that burning inside of football players who are trying to make a roster, and you now get the full brunt of why so many media writers, including myself, kept saying that Clarett will never be a featured running back at this level. And for the Broncos, they weren’t missing him and really weren’t concerned. They figured if he didn’t care, they moved on without him.”

I’ve probably written about six or seven articles on why Clarett wasn’t a viable NFL candidate. Over that span I’ve gotten at least a handful of e-mails saying that I should be wiling to help a black man and not tear him down. As I have often responded back if the truth is tearing somebody down, then maybe that was because they never faced the truth in the first place. This is especially true in Clarett’s case now. As I continue to stay abreast of this story, I have read where his mother and girlfriend left the courtroom after a hearing on Friday with no comment. That’s ironic because when her son was in the media spotlight and looked to have a glimmer of a chance at being this huge superstar, Mary Clarett was standing right next to her son and even speaking on why he should be in the NFL. And where are all of these so-called friends and advisers that were there during that time when the gravy train looked so plentiful? Where are the hanger on people who wanted to ride the coat tails back in 2003 and 2004? Where are all of those supporters who e-mailed anyone who was against him trying to get into the NFL? I’ll tell you exactly where they are. They are all sitting on their collective asses hoping nobody remembers who they are and effectively have abandoned Clarett when he needed true friends the most.

With that said, I can only surmise that ultimate person at the blame of all of his problems. When I look back at Clarett’s last game on a football field, what I saw was a scary situation. Somehow somebody got into this young man’s head and filled him with such illusions of grandeur that it fooled even the best people in the sports world. It fooled some of the brightest minds that flocked to his aid. Heck it even got BASN’s Black Box to touting how Clarett was being used and that this very site should be supporting his cause. Yet while everyone was at the circus during that time, a few of us writers realized that this young man might be headed down a dangerous path of self-destruction. Little did all of us know that last Wednesday was the day that our worst fears were brought to fruition.

I’ve never wanted anything negative to happen to Maurice Clarett. If anything I wanted him to face reality and understand that he had been sniffing the newsprint far too often when it came to how great he was. As James Washington said on the Brick’s show Friday night, “Clarett was just a freshman that scored the winning touchdown”. That’s all Maurice ever really did that was great in college football. He did his job by scoring the game-winning touchdown in what was the biggest game of his career; at that time. But that didn’t entitle him to anything beyond that. Now his life is all but ruined. He may finally get his wish that he told Tom Friend of ESPN the Magazine by phone.

There are several people who are culpable in the demise of Maurice Clarett and as I stated in my release to the FSR affiliates on Friday, Clarett is ultimately the man who screwed up his life. But think about this for a moment. How many of us actually thought that by scoring the winning touchdown against the University of Miami would lead you to be arrested on August 9, 2006 with four loaded weapons, a bullet proof vest and a bottle of Grey Goose Vodka? Nobody expected a then 18-year-old to turn out to be the thug that he has been rightfully labeled. Nobody expected that turn of events to spawn into something so catastrophic but it did and it came from a pod seed that was probably festering ever since Clarett showed promise on the field. That’s probably a harsh assessment but at this point, it probably the only true assessment as to how his life could turn out so bad after such a promising beginning some three years ago.

Bomar’s mistake brings stipend issue for athletes to the forefront

By Gregory Moore, Blackathlete.net columnist

SAN ANTONIO – Maybe the smartest thing that Rhett Bomar has done in his life is to bring the debate of whether college athletes who are on scholarship should have some sort of stipend and it is a debate that continues to simmer just below the boiling point because as long as things are fine, nobody cares. But the moment a situation like Bomar’s comes forth, the top of the stockpot starts to rattle and pretty soon the cooks in Indianapolis start scurrying around the NCAA rules kitchen. Well they are scurrying again and this time they may actually have reason to ‘think’ about the problem.

The issue brings back a conversation that I remember with several people over the years. I remember what one Wally Renfro had said right here on the BASN website that the NCAA needed to pay these players something that would stave off temptation. I have one thought that paying these privileged individuals was the worse thing in the world but then I began to realize that we are dealing with college students who are not as fortunate as their classmates. I remember that point when I was going through my own collegiate days in the mid to late 1980s. When I was going to school, whether I was paying for it through college loans and the honest hustles of typing up term papers or tutoring students on the PASCAL and BASIC programming languages, or whether my parents were footing the bills and giving me spending money each week that resembled a paycheck, I really didn’t want for anything. Any girls I dated were taken to the nice restaurants that I could afford. Maybe I spent my money a little too lavishly back then but then again, I was able to do that. But looking at some of my friends who were playing collegiate sports at the schools I attended, they weren’t so fortunate. A trip to White Castles in Cincinnati or to Pantera Pizza in Austin back in the mid 80s was a little tough for those guys. Well if it was tough for that group of players then, why should I expect things to be any different now for today’s current athletes on scholarship? I shouldn’t and it hasn’t gotten any better.

Well maybe it is time for the NCAA to start seriously looking at giving all of its student athletes on the Division I level some type of monthly stipend or allowance that allows these young men and women to have some sort of life. The folks scurrying around in that kitchen need to cook up a recipe that includes a decent monetary amount that these athletes can use for their own personal expenditures but make the program strict enough to where they cannot be financing extravagances such as transportation or lavish personal property like expensive watches and what not. They will need to produce a program that gives these students the freedom of not relying on misguided boosters who think they can buy their way into the favoritism of the coaches and athletic directors and they need to develop a program that holds all involved to a high standard of accountability. This is something that should have been done years ago and needs to be done right now.

The NCAA may not want to realize what they have in their kitchen but the rest of us see the dilemma for what it is. It’s sad that every year we are going to have to hear about a student athlete going down the wrong path because of a financial hardship but it will continue unless the cooks in that kitchen figure out how to stop the pot from boiling over and eventually scalding the whole organization. Right now that top is just clanking. It’s clanking but that doesn’t mean that this situation is under control. It’s far from being under control and just turned on simmer. The knob is broke and when it comes to the stipend issue, the water temperature continues to rise in unsuspecting fashion.

WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY AND CHARACTER THESE DAYS?

Staying on the Bomar case for a moment, one has to ask him or herself, just where is the character in today’s athletes? Whether Bomar realizes it or not, he had a choice in his situation. His roommate had a choice and so did Adrian Peterson when story of his little loan of a luxury car first surfaced. Add to this stockpile the problems at Auburn, Miami, Georgia and other schools where players have been suspended, kicked off the team or are under fire for bad decisions and you have to ask yourself, “What the hell is going on these days with these athletes? Is status that so important that they will sacrifice character?”

To put it bluntly, yes. From USC’s Ting brothers leaving to supposedly study for med school to Bomar and others, the bad decision that they are making are far worse than almost anything that has been reported in recent memory. Maybe with the microwave age of our world we are seeing, reading and hearing about these atrocities and we are just reacting to something that is relatively new to us. But yet students and greedy boosters isn’t something new. Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Georgia and other schools have all had boosters who thought they ran the programs and they flaunted money to prove it. The movie “Blue Chips” was as realistic as it came back in its time. And what was probably a movie some fourteen years ago then is every bit as true today if not almost high definition in nature.

A player’s character comes from his upbringing and that’s where you have to start looking. If the parents do their job and teach that sacrifice is not a hindrance in your quest for your ultimate prize, then players usually have great character and go on to be great people. But yet if learning to sacrifice is not a part of the equation on character building, you will have players of questionable ilk in your program. Am I saying that the Grand Prairie product is of bad character? In this instance I am. What Bomar and his roommate have triggered is going to be an investigation from hell that could just wreck the athletic department. OU is already on probation thanks to former men’s basketball head coach Kelvin Sampson. The football program doesn’t need to be put into a similar situation but it could if the NCAA deems it proper.

Whether Bomar and others are sorry for whatever actions they may have done at their schools, the situation still remains that they did something illegal and knowingly knew that it was against the rules of the NCAA. They may go on with their lives but the programs they once played for could be handcuffed for years to come.

There needs to be some sort of accountability from these players. It is upsetting that schools like TCU, Texas A&M Commerce and others are looking at Bomar and want to give him a chance to play football at those schools. It’s a shame because these schools aren’t helping in teaching guys like Bomar accountability. Giving him a scholarship at any school is a slap in the face to OU and Bob Stoops’ program. He can play football anywhere he chooses but he needs to be just a normal student now and pay for his education like so many others do. College loans aren’t the evil that we all make them out to be but if any school rewards a player like Bomar or anyone else who may lose their scholarship this season because of gross misconduct, then that school is just as guilty as the player who put his former school into the NCAA investigation crosshairs. These student athletes need to be held accountable and they need to learn that good character is important in the success of today.