Getting it exactly backward

Last Sunday I heard a priest discuss a section of the Gospel of Mark. In the passage, as Jesus is headed to Jerusalem to die, his disciples — behind his back — are arguing over which of them is “the greatest.”

The scene would be laughable if it weren’t so tragic.

In Christian belief, the second person of the Trinity is on his way to give up his body as an atoning sacrifice for mankind, and the dunderheads behind him are getting chesty with one another over who has the best spiritual CV. He’s thinking service; they’re thinking personal glory.

About the time the congregation was ready to mutter a collective “How pathetic,” the Rev. Curt Norman asked, “Of course, we never find ourselves in such arguments, do we?”

And, of course, we do.

We do it in all sorts of endeavors, including, as Norman went on to note, spending hours watching games on TV each weekend “to find out which one is the greatest.”

I’m not someone who thinks engaging in competition is a bad thing, but I do believe that context and perspective are absolutely crucial. Fans often lose perspective. So do high schools and universities. Society as a whole, one could argue, has lost perspective over athletics.

That includes, of course, the players.

In Lawrence, Kan., in the past week there have been three altercations between athletes. No, this wasn’t Jayhawks vs. Wildcats or Cornhuskers or Sooners. This was Jayhawks vs. Jayhawks — basketball players vs. football players — in ugly incidents that involved race baiting and violence. And what were they about?

About women. About status. About ego. About who rules the roost in Lawrence, Kan.
Apparently, this animosity between teams has existed for years at KU. Said one former Jayhawk football player, “It’s a big ego thing. It’s like who pretty much runs the school, who’s better.”

One non-athlete asked why players fought with each other when they all were beneficiaries of full-ride scholarships, while other students pay thousands of dollars for an education.

“I feel like they need to chill out,” the student said. “They’ve got the good life.”
You would think so. But the disease of ego, the disease that blinded the disciples to what life was truly about two millennia ago, continues to blind us today.

It may be misguided that athletes are idolized in our society, but idolized they are. As such, they’re in a position to effect positive change, to serve the greater good by serving others.

I know that there are KU athletes who, through work in the community, do exactly that. While others, wearing the same color uniforms, figuratively traveling the same road, are fighting — literally — over who should be serving them.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Hurrah! — the cheat is back — hurrah!

Justine Henin is making a comeback.

How exciting (yawn).

The Belgian is, indeed, a former No. 1 player, but I have no use for her — and haven’t since she cheated Serena Williams in the the 2003 French Open.

Remember?

In the middle of the third set of their semifinal, Williams started to serve, only to have Henin raise her hand to indicate she wasn’t ready. Her serve interrupted, Williams put the ball into the net.

But the referee didn’t see Henin raise her hand, and Henin wouldn’t cop to having done so. Point, Henin. Then game, Henin. Soon match, Henin.

Utterly classless.

I hope Williams beats her like a drum.

Perhaps they have a point

Critics have attacked the recruiting practices of Binghamton University basketball coach Kevin Broadus, saying that since his 2007 hiring he has lowered school standards.

While Broadus has given the Wildcats a winning team, his point guard, Emanuel ‘Tiki’ Mayben, now has given Broadus’ detractors the evidence they need to make the coach’s life miserable.

New York cops have charged Mayben, who last season set a single-season assists record for Binghamtom, with possessing and selling cocaine.

"I did all I could," Broadus said, according to The New York Times. "I tried to help the kid."

Some kids, coach Broadus, don’t want to be “helped."

Friday column: Before you hit the 'Send' button ...

A while back I decided to never send a meaningful e-mail without letting some time pass between the writing and the sending — preferably a full day.

You ask why?

Really?

Like you’ve never clicked on Send and thought, “I really wish I had that back … ”

Maybe I shouldn’t have worded the e-mail that way. Maybe I shouldn’t have blown off spell-check. Maybe that phrase — as colorful as it is — shouldn’t have been applied to (my boss, my banker, my mother-in-law, my fill-in-the-blank).

The problem with instant communication is, well, it’s so … instant. And if it’s a problem for a cautious 58-year-old journalist, imagine the problem it can be for a brash 20-something athlete with a Twitter account.

Such as Washington linebacker Robert Henson, who after his team was booed in Sunday’s 9-7 win over the Rams, wrote the following:

“All you fake half hearted Skins fan can … I won’t go there but I dislike you very strongly, don’t come to Fed Ex to boo dim wits!!”

As if calling his team’s fans dim wits wasn’t enough, he added, “The question is who are you to say you know what’s best for the team and you work 9 to 5 at Mcdonalds.”

One might riposte that at least those who work at McDonalds work at McDonalds. Henson, on the other hand, hasn’t been on the field for a single play in the first two games of the season.

Later — I imagine shortly after a brief discussion with the people who sign his paychecks — Henson apologized for his remarks. Even better, he deleted his Twitter account. But his cached remarks will live forever.

As will those of Kansas basketball player Tyshawn Taylor, who decided not only was it a good idea to get into a fight with some Jayhawk football players Tuesday, but it was a good idea to talk about it on Facebook.

“I got a dislocated finger … from throwing a punch … so don’t let the news paper gas yall up aite,” Taylor wrote.
Later, Taylor posted, “(racial slur)s be muggin me … you know I’m mugging back.”

All of which might make it difficult for Taylor to deny involvement in the melee if it comes time for police to file charges.

This year, Google offered its Gmail users a way to “undo” a sent e-mail within five seconds of it being lobbed into cyberspace. To my knowledge, there’s no comparable way to undo a Tweet or Facebook message.

Even if there were, you can take it from the examples of Messrs. Henson and Taylor — for that matter, you can take it from me — that five seconds is not nearly long enough.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Actually, Floyd, I look at you as a putz

Floyd Mayweather Jr. doesn’t like that journalists have reported on a few of the alleged “whoopsies” in his life. Such as:

* His being sued for $167,000 unpaid on a loan for a half-million dollar luxury car.

* His owing the IRS $6.17 million in unpaid taxes.

* The seizing of handguns, ammunition and bulletproof vests from his home — along with two cars — in the investigation of a Las Vegas, Nev., shooting.

Mayweather has a theory on his press coverage:

In America, he said, “If you're rich, you're a rich [n-word]," he said. "If you're poor, you're a poor [n-word]. If you're smart, you're a smart [n-word]. At the end of the day, they still look at me as a [n-word]."

Mayweather went on:

"The fans in the UK showed me more love than in my own country. That's crazy ... Sometimes I'll sit back, I'll be in my theater sometimes, and I'll think: 'Imagine if I was the same fighter that I am, and I was the same person that I am, and I was from another country. Can you just imagine how big I'd be?'"

Yeah, I have funny thoughts when I’m sitting in my theater, too.

Floyd, there are 194 other nations in the world, and 131 of them have never had a world boxing champion in any division — Burkina Faso, Myanmar and Slovenia, just to name three. You could be big, soooo big.

The airport is that-a-way.

Copy editors are here to help

Dear Dunta Robinson

During Sunday’s game — a 24-7 loss to the Jets — you wore shoes with the words “Pay me Rick” written on them, a reference to Texans general manager Rick Smith and your contract squabbles.

But as a result, whatever money problems you have just got worse, as the Texans have fined you 25 large. They say it’s because you sent the wrong message. I say it’s because you dropped a comma.

You wanted to write, “Pay me, Rick” instead of “Pay me Rick.” The latter indicates you wanted to be paid not dollars but Rick, which probably just confused team management.

Contract demands — especially those written on shoes — always benefit from clarity.

The faces on the walls

Recommended reading: Alan Schwartz’s New York Times piece on Baltimore Ravens’ cornerback Domonique Foxworth and his personal museum of artifacts of the civil rights movement.

Foxworth has mementos of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcom X, Rosa Parks, Tommie Smith and Thurgood Marshall.

Says Foxworth: "Not often, but on occasion I feel guilty. I have all this because I run real fast and I tackle people. I recognize why I’ve been able to do this. It’s not all because of me or my family or my teammates or my coaches. It’s more because of the faces on the walls in my basement."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/sports/football/15foxworth.html

Any surprise here?

When Buffalo signed wide receiver/malcontent Terrell Owens, the team averred that T.O. had been unfairly maligned as a bad teammate and would, in fact, be a wonderful leader for the young Bills.

He’s how he led the team following its opening-season loss to New England: He split without talking to reporters. The man who was given the key to the city upon his arrival, obviously had a key to the back door, and used it.

Meanwhile, Leodis McKelvin, whose fumble set up the Patriots’ winning touchdown, answered every and all question.

That’s leadership.

Friday column: Note to athletes: Get over yourselves

Detroit pitcher Fernando Rodney grabs a baseball at the end of a game and hurls it into the press box. His excuse?

“(I was) emotional. It’s nothing bad. I know I’m not supposed to throw the ball, but I’m feeling in the moment.”

Tennis star Serena Williams verbally abuses and threatens a lineswomen at the U.S. Open. Her excuse?

“I was in the moment.”

Manchester City striker Sheyi Emmanuel Adebayor is accused of deliberately stomping on the head of an opposing player and celebrating a goal in a way that resulted in a rain of objects coming from the stands and an injury to a steward. His excuse?

“People who know me, who love me, know that sometimes the emotion is a big part of being a human being,” Adebayor said. “For maybe two or three seconds after scoring the goal, sometimes you just can’t control yourself.”

In other words, I was in the moment.

In other words, I get a pass.

Well, no — you don’t. Any more than Kanye West does for stealing Taylor Swift’s glory during the MTV music video awards show; any more than Joe Wilson does for his outburst during President Barack Obama’s speech before a joint session of Congress.

The “cult of me,” it has been argued, is a legacy from the Enlightenment, enhanced by postmodernism and deconstructionism, and fed by the Sixties and the self-esteem movement.

Wherever it came from, it’s here with a vengeance. The result? Community ideas about right and wrong take a back seat to individual experience. It’s all about my truth, my reality, my experience, my moment.

For the self-validators among us, however, there is the inconvenient truth known as Other People.

For Rodney, it is the reporters he sent scurrying.

For Williams, it’s the line judge she threatened — and Kim Clijsters, whose moment of victory over Serena was marred by her opponent’s blow-up.

For Adebayor, it was Robin van Persie, whose face he lacerated — missing the Arsenal player’s left eye by centimeters — the fans he incited and the steward who took a bottle to the head in the disturbance that followed.

Because there are Other People, even in this “me” climate, there can be consequences for bad behavior.

Rodney was suspended for three games. Williams was penalized on match point and fined, and other action is still possible. Adebayor was charged by England’s Football Association with violent conduct and improper goal celebration and is expected to receive a three-match suspension.

The lesson hopefully learned: All of us are responsible to more than our emotions. We’re responsible to each other.

To the next athlete tempted to worship at the altar of individuality, I say, take a look at the folks around you. Guess what? They’re individuals, too. They’re just not you.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Even when he was killing those dogs?

Here’s the thing.

If you’re going to wear something in a football game as an endorsement or sign of support — such as Terrelle Pryor wearing eyeblack with the name “Vick” on it — you really need to be able to explain that support.

It doesn’t have to be much, but it has to be coherent.

And saying the following, as the Ohio State quarterback did after the Buckeyes’ season-opening victory over Navy, doesn’t quite cut it:

“Not everybody's the perfect person in the world. I mean everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me, whatever. I think that people need a second chance, and I've always looked up to Mike Vick, and I always will.”

“Everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me ...” What?

“I've always looked up to Mike Vick”? Always?

How to inflame a crowd

After Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount made what might turn out to be the mistake of his life — punching Boise State’s Byron Hout after the latter taunted him for the Broncos’ 19-8 victory — the big screen at Broncos Stadium showed the punch over and over and over.

That was helpful exactly how?

Jeter and Gehrig

Derek Jeter passing Lou Gehrig as the all-time Yankee hits leader is as perfectly appropriate as Barry Bonds passing Henry Aaron as baseball’s all-time home run leader was perfectly inappropriate.

Friday column: More than one punch thrown

Boise State’s Byron Houk has been around football for a while and should know better than to tap a losing player on the shoulder after a game and taunt him to his face. Broncos coach Chris Peterson was right to get in the linebacker’s grill for his actions eight days ago, and right to discipline Houk. Still, it’s worth remembering Houk is 21.

Oregon’s LeGarrette Blount has been around football for a while and should know better than to punch an opposing player, regardless of the provocation. Ducks coach Chip Kelly was right to suspend the running back. Still, it’s worth remembering that Blount is 22.

Looking considerably older are the yahoos in the Bronco Stadium stands who helped incite Blount’s actions in the moments following the punch, when Blount had to be first restrained, then wrestled into the safety of the locker room.

From the YouTube video “Boise State Fan Hits LeGarrette Blount,” you can see Blount moving toward the locker room, looking composed. Then you see a Broncos fan moving though a row to get closer to Blount.

Finally positioned near the athlete, the fan screams an obscenity and points at Blount, which sends the newly agitated Blount away from the fan, who follows Blount’s movements — through still from the safety of the stands. As Blount, now being restrained, sees a different fan lift a chair as if to hit him with it, the first fan throws a punch at Blount.

It’s unclear from the video if the punch connects; Blount says it did. In any case, it’s at that point where Blount has to be wrestled into the locker room.

That scene of an out-of-control Blount having to be manhandled to keep from going into the stands certainly contributed to the decision to suspend him for the year. Now, he’s lost his senior season and, some say, his chance at an NFL career.

What’s wrong with people?

We all know "fan" derives from "fanatic," but the over-identification that some have with “their” team never ceases to amaze me. These Broncos backers — only on the scene because they paid to be there — acted as though they were personally victimized by Blount’s fist.

While Oregon suspended Blount for the season, the school preserved the player’s scholarship and his opportunity to practice with the team. Blount would be wise to embrace both the academics and the practice. He has something to learn from the situation, and something to show — his audition for the 2010 NFL draft starts now.

Houk, whose need to gloat served as a trigger to the nastiness, also has something to learn from whatever internal discipline Peterson has imposed.

And the yahoos?

The only discipline they face is the embarrassment of the video of them going Neanderthal — that’s assuming, of course, they’re capable of embarrassment. The way they acted — at their age — makes one wonder.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

No, William; bombs AREN'T funny

You’re 38 years old and you live in an age of terrorism. You were alive and presumably sentient during such incidents as the Oklahoma City bombing, the Centennial Olympic Park bombing and, of course, the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Yet you think it’s a good idea to plant a fake bomb at Tropicana Field before a Rays-Red Sox game?

Well, yes you do if your name is William L. Jordan and you work as a mechanic for the Tampa Bay baseball team.

The device, which had wires sticking out and emitted a “beeping” sound, was found about 2 p.m. Tuesday by maintenance workers who, not having Jordan’s sense of humor, called police.

When the police arrived, Jordan came forward and explained the “bomb” was a hoax. Police, also not sharing Jordan’s sense of humor, arrested him.

In an e-mail notable mainly for its corporate stiffness, Rays vice president Rick Vaughn wrote, "His actions were in very poor taste and do not reflect the values of the organization.”

(Well, that’s a relief.)

Bad publicity (what else?) for Formula 1

Formula 1 hasn’t gotten the best pub the last few months.

There was Max Mosley, the president of its governing body, and hookers being filmed engaging in S&M activity with — some thought — Nazi concentration camp overtones.

Then there was Bernie Ecclestone, Formula 1 chief, publicly praising Hitler as a man who knew how to “get things done.”

Now we have the specter of a cheating scandal, the possibility that Renault driver Nelson Piquet was ordered to crash against the wall toward the end of last year’s Singapore Grand Prix to bring out the caution flag and enable teammate Fernando Alonso to win.

At the time, Piquet explained that his car had been virtually “undriveable” after bottoming over the bumps on his heavy fuel load.

But that was then — before Piquet was axed by Renault for failing to satisfy performance clauses in his contract.

Now, there’s an angry reaction from Piquet, references to “some strange situations” involving the team and whispers of an investigation by FIA.

The moral of this story might turn out to be, “Be careful whom you fire.”

http://www.itv-f1.com/news_article.aspx?id=46771

Ready for college? Heck, ready for life

A lot of prep athletes moving on to college have problems with maturity and judgment. That won’t be a case with one Kaleb Eulls, a Yazoo County (Mississippi) High School football player.

Eulls and three sisters were on a school bus Tuesday when a 14-year-old girl brought out a .380 semi-automatic handgun and began threatening to shoot.

While in fear of his life and the lives of his sisters, Eulls did four things perfectly.

First, he talked to the girl and tried to calm her down; as he did that, he opened the back emergency door and helped as many students out as he could. Then, when the girl — getting louder and louder — looked out the window for a moment, Eulls sprang forward and knocked the gun out of her hand.

Finally, he scooped the gun off the floor, ran out of the back of the bus and disarmed it.

Eulls is headed to Mississippi State, which means the Rebels will have at least one young recruit whose maturity level they won’t have to worry about.

Friday column: Some things you expect; others ...

You’re the Cincinnati Bengals (God help you).

You have a history of drafting athletes with “issues,” which helps explain your 46-49 record under Marvin Lewis. So you draft massive Alabama lineman Andre Smith, who has both character issues and weight issues.

Smith sits out all of training camp and most of the preseason before inking his contract, then shows up this week — all 335 pounds of him — and promptly fractures his left foot in a simple drill.

Surprise.

* * *

You’re a teenager in the little, nowhere town of Noosaville, Australia (pop. 6528), and you’re up to no good. You and a buddy enter a house at night and accidentally awaken what you take to be an old biddy.

No problem.

You just grab her by the throat and threaten her — that’ll keep her quiet, you think.

Only this biddy grabs you by the ear and strikes you in the groin — with her titanium knee, no less — then other people in the house show up and sit on you and your pal until the police arrive. Now you’re facing charges, as well as the ignominy of being taken down by a 72-year-old grandmother.

But this, you discover, isn’t your run-of-the-mill grandmamma. It’s Aussie swimming great Dawn Fraser, who won gold medals in three — count ’em, three — Olympic Games. And she appears to have taken umbrage at your actions.

“I was threatened by the way he spoke to me and I’d never been spoken to like what he called me,” Fraser said. “I think I lost it.”

Yes, it seemed like an easy score, but in life there’s always the unexpected.

Surprise!

* * *

You’re Michigan athletics director Bill Martin, the man who hired Rich Rodriguez to be the Wolverines head football coach, spiriting him away from West Virginia. (That's Rodriguez in the photo above, assuring somebody of something back in his Mountaineer days.)

When you employed him, you knew he’d once agreed in principle to coach Alabama, only to pull out at the last second, leaving the Crimson Tide red-faced.

You knew he’d promised Mountaineer recruits he’d be in Morgantown the rest of his career and had even signed an extension at West Virginia four months — count ’em, four! — before quitting to come to Ann Arbor.

You knew in West Virginia he’d agreed to pay a $4 million buyout to the Mountaineers if he broke his contract to jump to another school, then tried to weasel out of paying.

Now, your coach is flatly denying the charge by current and former players that he cut corners with the NCAA rules that limit the number of hours the student-athletes spend on football-related activities.

But the NCAA is investigating, and if it turns out Rodriguez’s word on this — as in so many other things — can’t be trusted …

Surprise?