Two stories in the world of sports caught my eye this weekend. First up, the one that can only count as absurd.
A couple of weeks ago, former Miami player and now Cleveland Brown first-round draft pick Kevin Winslow II was in a motorcycle accident, tearing his ACL. He was in an empty parking lot, trying to learn how to pop wheelies from what I recall. You may remember some of the debate about this incident since Winslow's contract with the Browns expressly forbids him from riding a motorcycle in order to cover this type of injury from occuring. There was a lot of debate on sports call in shows about should Winslow be required to pay back some of his salary and/or signing bonus since he would not be able to play for Cleveland this year. It was a pretty big debate here in Nashville, so I can only imagine how it must be in Cleveland.
Now, as a Vols' fan, I have no love lost for Winslow. He was the idiot after the Vols went down to Miami in 2003 and took care of business, blasted the media saying he didn't know what a Vol was and he was a soldier. (Well, except that part where no one shoots at you and odds are there aren't snipers on the football field..but other than that, Kevin, totally the same!) For a while, it looked as if beloved Redskins might pick him up in last year's draft but thankfully Clevleand took him, thus saving this humilation from being a part of my team.
Now, I understand that he's young and made a mistake. But then again, it is forbidden by his contract. Also, he should have a bit more sense.
And the story seemed to be going away until Friday evening when his father went out of his way to talk to the media.
It was caught on tape and it's been playing all weekend.
"It's a long career," he said. "I played nine years in the National Football League. Technically, I played six years — two strikes, two major injuries and I came out OK. We look at it as a long-term career.
"You guys look at it as a moment in time and you blow it out of proportion. This Jerry Springer mentality of journalism, you guys are better than that. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Presidents make mistakes. Senators make mistakes. Journalists, if you still call yourselves that, make mistakes."
Those are just some excerpts. The whole blasting runs about three to five minutes. I love how Winslow Sr blames the media, Jerry Springer and society. He also spends a lot of time talking about his great accomplishments, as if to remind us all of who he was. He also claims to have talked to the Cleveland fans about the sitatution, which I don't think any of their camp has done.
Honestly, it just all makes me laugh. I mean, I understand the guy standing up for his son. And I'm sure the sports talk shows in Cleveland have been a bit brutal. But I think Winslow has only made things worse for his son, not better. The story was starting to go away and now it's back on the front burner.
Again, thank goodness the Redskins didn't draft this guy. We've got problems of our own with Sean Taylor who refuses to do something simple like call back his coach. What is it with Miami players going to the NFL and acting like idiots?
On a totally different note...
Congratulations to Kelly Bradshaw on becoming the
first female drum major for the world-famous Pride of the Southland Marching Band (best marching band EVER!) Bradshaw, 19, beat out four other finalists who were all male for this honor.
In 90 days, Bradshaw will make her world debut when the Vols play host to UAB to kick-off the 2005 season. Man, I cannot wait for football season to start and hear the Pride play the greatest fight song of all time, "Rocky Top!"
posted by Michael Hickerson at 6/05/2005 12:05:00 PM |
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