Athletes who did not speak to the media

Story today that the NFL has threatened to fine Barber if he doesn't speak by Friday, $10,000, and $20,000 more if he still hasn't spoken through the conclusion of Sunday's game. Lovie Smith pleaded ignorance as to Barber's media boycott because he has "more important things to worry about."

 

If they don't require athletes to speak to the media during the regular season, then how can the league fine Barber?

 

I don't blame Lovie. It's not his responsibility to make someone talk.

I don't think players should be required to talk. I think they should be made available in the locker room though. If they don't want to answer questions, they can tell the reporter "No comment..."

 

I don't know. Apparently they do require them to. It said that he was in violation of the NFL media policy. That was a total bush league move on his part to cut out on Sunday and leave his teammates to deal with the wreckage. Good way to lose your teammates in a hurry.

 

From Sean Jensen's blog. Apparently the only reporters allowed to meet with Barber both work for the team's website. To be fair, that's not totally uncommon in the NFL.

Here is the transcript as provided by the Chicago Bears:

Q. How tough was last game?

A. "I'm looking forward to this week. Practice yesterday, guys are really excited about this next week, and that's really what it's all about."

Q. You ran for 108 yards but made two costly mistakes late; your thoughts on last week's game?

A. "My thoughts on it is getting to this next week and just preparing as much as I can to be ready for this game of course."


Q. When Caleb Hanie sat next to you on the bench at the end of the game, what did he tell you?

A. "I'm all about this. I'm ready to go today, tomorrow. Just make sure guys are ready to go this week and still have got the same type of enthusiasm and excitement for this game."

Q. While you want to talk about this week, is it tough to put something from previous game behind you or do you just focus on upcoming game?

A. "That's all. (He's referring to upcoming game.) Anything else could possibly distract you. So for me personally, I'm just all about making sure I know what I'm doing this week and understanding the concepts for this week and understanding the protections for this week so I can be at my best."

Q. One of the crucial plays last week was when you went out of bounds ...

A. "I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but I just move on. Just bear with me."

Q Why do you stay so quiet?

A. "I've been like this all my life. Really high school I wasn't a guy to be in a TV interview, only when I was asked to do it. That's kind of something that I hope people will respect from me. It's not like I don't do it. I do do a few, but I believe because of the circumstances that took place, a lot want to know. But like I said, it's all about this week and doing what I can do to help this ballclub win."

Q. Forget about us. What about your teammates; do you feel you have to say anything to them after a game like that?

A. "Even after that, guys here are great. That was blessing and that's what it's all about at the end of the day because that's who we are. I believe that being here even though it's been for this short period of time, the fellas in there, you've got some big dogs, 'Lach, Briggs, the offensive line, and it's just great to have that [support] going to the next game with that on your shoulders, knowing that guys have got love for you."

Q. Will it be hard for the team to shake off that type of loss?

A. "We've just got to go ahead and move on like I said and just learn from it and just go onto the next game remaining enthusiastic about finishing out the season strong."

 

When I was covering Alabama, they played Minnesota in the Music City Bowl. The obvious visiting team angle was Barber and Laurence Maroney, who were one of the few college tandems to rush for 1,000 yards in the same season (they did it again the following season).

The Minnesota SID set up an interview session with the Alabama media, but Barber canceled at the last minute (though Maroney showed up and was hilarious, saying "this place sucks. I could never live here" when someone asked him what he thought about Nashville). Barber ran for about 220 yards in the game, and was named MVP. He didn't show up for the post-game press conference.

 

That was actually Barber's last season with the Golden Gophers. Maroney and Gary Russell each had more than 1,000 yards the next year. That team returned to the Music City Bowl the next season, which set up one of my favorite post-game, on-field interviews of all time. Maroney was asked immediately following an MVP performance about his future plans. He replied, bluntly, grinning the whole time (I wish I could find this video), that he was definitely going pro and done with college football forever.

 

Yeah, that's right. I guess they had also done it the season before.

 

Pride ended his career with a few years in independent leagues (I believe he had a few cups of coffee in the bigs during this span), where he perpetuated the most poignant act of random kindness I've ever seen in a locker room.

This particular year, he was playing for the Nashua Pride--no kidding--and I was stringing for their local paper. I went into the locker room, which was as bare bones as you would expect from an independent league--no nameplates or anything like that--and asked the first person with whom I made eye contact where Player X (a career minor leaguer whom I wouldn't recognize by sight) was sitting.

A bunch of jokers who would never sniff the bigs thought it'd be fun to send me around the room looking for this guy. One would point this way, one would point that way. Honest to God, I didn't care. I'd been in big league clubhouses before, these guys weren't going to intimidate me. So I nodded, smiled and figured, fuck it, I just won't talk to this guy.

Pride comes along, sees what is going on and asks who I want to speak to. I tell him, he motions to follow him. I do so and he walks over to the player, taps him on the shoulder, points to me and tells him I want to speak to him. He nods at me, I shake Pride's hand and I interview the player I've been looking for.

A room full of people and the hearing-impaired player is the one to step in and facilitate the interview. I thought that--terrible but inadvertent pun here--spoke volumes for his character. I could tell, in just a few seconds, that this was a guy who emphasizes with anyone who might feel like an outsider and would do whatever he could to make him feel comfortable.

 

This is one of the great misconceptions of all-time. Rice made the HOF because Boston writers offered up "Rice belongs in the HOF" columns/articles every year for the last 10 or so years of his candidacy. The guys he treated the worst, on a daily basis, almost unanimously supported his candidacy.

And all these articles--most of which included interviews with Rice--mentioned his assholishness with the press (and make no mistake, the guy was and remains a Grade-A asshole) and how it might be impacting his candidacy. Who knows how many of the writers who did vote for him did so to disprove the notion that they were keeping him out of the HOF b/c he was a raging asshole? He made it by less than 10 votes, I believe. A very good case can be made that being an asshole got an undeserving player into the HOF (and he is the worst player voted in by the BBWAA, by far, in the last 30 years, at least). If he'd played in Pittsburgh and been named Dave Parker, he could have given reporters roses every single day of his career and never sniffed the HOF.

 

Wow that was beautiful and edifying, thanks for sharing

 

Why was Jim Rice so uncooperative and distrustful of the media? There must be some reasons for this stance.