Whitlock column on Bill Maas

He makes a great point here -- no Muslim with a turban is getting on that plane after a handgun was found in a carry-on. Don't fool yourselves.

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/columnists/jason_whitlock/story/264284.html

 

Whitlock's right. Why on earth would they let that asshole on a plane an hour after bring a loaded gun there?

 

I love the "i packed the wrong bag" excuse. I travel a lot and i don't ever accidently grab the wrong bag--know why? Because like most of people, I only pack my bags when I know I have to travel. Why would Maas need another packed bag? Is Maas keeping some other bag pre-packed just in case he's sent on a last minute assignment to Iraq or the next great national crisis? Lame excuse...

 

"Maybe it was Maas' cousin's gun?"

 

Once I got to the usual Whitlock agenda, race-card paragraph, I quit reading:


Or maybe Bill Maas doesn’t fit the description of the kind of athlete-turned-celebrity that we’re comfortable blasting. We save our hardest hits for Blackman Jones and hip-hop athletes who live in faraway cities.

 

I agree with him, but when was the last time Maas took the field?

It should be news, but Bonds and Vick are bigger stories because they are currently playing. Maas also never broke a record Ruth had or was considered the savior of a franchise.

 

Whitlock's glossing over the obvious distinction here--Maas has been out of the league for about 15 years and is largely a forgotten nobody.

It's not that he's getting a "free pass", its that he's not significant enough for it to concern us. If he'd gotten busted for this stuff during his playing career when he was still somewhat in the limelight it would've been one thing, but its hardly the media's responsibility or catering to the public's interest to report on the post-career transgressions of every washed-up former lineman out there.

 

Barry Switzer agrees.

 

And when did Maas become an athlete-turned-celebrity? Is he a celeb in KC?

 

I'm sure people can speak to this better than I can, but he's done a lot of media -- radio, for sure -- in town since his playing days. I think that's the celebrity Whitlock is referring to, not things lingering from his playing days. Without the ties to the local media and all his years on the radio, it wouldn't be nearly as big of a story in KC. (not that it's that big anyway)

 

Exactly. You'd have to spend more time explaining who he is before even getting to the story itself.

 

No, you're glossing over the obvious distinction that this is a local column and that Maas remains a celebrity in KC. It was not written for those of us sitting in Alabama or Oregon. It was written for his neighborhood.